Since weekly I am dipping into the slush pile of my BOSS, this will not be the last time I mention query letters. Sometimes I read things in the inbox that are absolute gems--and I mean this both as absolutely sincere and also as comedic hyperbole.
But I'd like to conclude this three part series with query letter DO's. Again, there are times to break the rules--however, I believe you first need to know and understand the rules, then break them in ways that work to your advantage.
DO finish your manuscript before querying. Agents can't sell ideas, or half-finished books, or inklings of concepts or character sketches. Write the damn thing. Then revise it. Then revise it again. Then have someone else read it, so you aren't sending a manuscript blindly into the publishing world. Make it your best.
DO work on a one to two sentence pitch that effectively sums up the INCITING INCIDENT of your manuscript. I see a lot of queries where someone tries to explain their entire book in one sentence, and it gets confusing and overwhelming for the person reading the query.
When you are explaining your story, all you want to focus on is the inciting incident of your plot. Your characters have an ordinary life, then something disrupts this. Tell me what this is and what sends the plot spiraling into glorious tumult after that.
DO include the basics about your manuscript: title, written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Word count. Genre. Comp titles, if you want to--but don't use any bestsellers as comp titles. Everyone thinks (actually, hopes) that their books are Harry Potter meets The Da Vinci Code, but those are big titles to live up to.
Research the Internet to make sure your manuscript fits into the right guidelines. 7500 words is too short for a middle grade novel; 175,000 is most likely too long for a YA. Know your genre. Know your comp titles. (Make your comp titles recent--C.S. Lewis probably wouldn't be able to sell The Chronicles of Narnia in this publishing climate if it was written today.)
DO send individual queries to individual agents that you have carefully researched and believe to be fitting for your manuscript. Send one query at a time, and please be sober. This is, if not your writing career, then at least a hobby that you have devoted mass amounts of time to. Clear your head and send one query to one agent, then pause. Repeat three or four times, then stop until you hear back.
DO relax, though! If you see that you spelled the agent's name wrong (Doh!), or made a severe grammar error (Doh!), or forgot to include sample pages (Doh!), take a deep breath... correct the mistake, if you can (i.e., send the sample pages with an apology--don't resend the query letter with the name spelled correctly this time). If you can't correct the mistake, know that people like me are reading the slush pile. If you have a killer pitch and a great query, I won't really care that you spelled anything wrong. Triple points if your sample pages rock.
I'll post more about query letters in the future, but these are my basic DO's and DON'Ts of query letter writing! The query letter itself is an art form--few do it well.
Take your time and make it your best!
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