Who’s afraid of query letters? I am! I am!

There are many resources offering practical tips for query letters. This is not one of them. I am not an expert. I only have enough knowledge to be dangerous. But what I do know is they are a necessary part of the process. What I also have heard is that you will in all likelihood get far more rejections than acceptances. This is apparently also part of the process.

What publishers and agents are looking for

From what I’ve heard in an assortment of workshops, they want a concise summary of your WHAT, including the genre, the word count and the comps. Comps are difficult for me because I have the audacity to believe that what I’ve written is the first of its kind and purely original. But, nope. Not really true. Comps are supposed to be recent. They tell your WHO as in who your readers might be and WHERE this will be marketable. Or another way to say it, what shelf would this go on in a bookstore. Fans of X and followers of Y will love this. You also don’t want to over inflate your novel by saying this is the next Hunger Games meets Twilight meets To Kill a Mockingbird for example. That would be a lot to live up to. I mean, if that’s your story, go for it. 

Lastly is your WHY. Why should you be telling this story? Even if you don’t have a list of published stories or novels, what is it about your background that helped you write this story? Are you a musician writing about life on the road? Or are you a teacher writing about Middle School drama? Also, you can mention being active in your writer’s community and provide other ways to experience your writing, such as a link to a website to read more of your work.

Full disclosure – I have NEVER sent a query letter. Like I said, I have some sort of phobia about them. Big chicken over here. Maybe it’s the way they sum everything up so neatly. Maybe so much is riding on that first impression that it’s like meeting a rockstar you adore and kicking yourself for saying something stupid. But I will commit to you today, to write and submit a query letter and report back on how it goes. I’ll do it if you do it! Dare you! We all need to start racking up the rejections like they are badges of honor.Oh, and I forgot one super important thing. Do your homework. Observe what each publication typically prints. Determine what is in their wheelhouse. If there is a genre or an author you emulate, see where they were published. Read what’s in their catalog. Make sure what you are throwing down is something they might be picking up.