HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR QUERY LETTER AND WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE IN IT?

Will you be submitting your book to a publisher soon? If so, you’ll want to be sure to make a great first impression with your cover letter, known by some as your query letter. In short, this is your time to tell the publisher why your book is unique, why readers will connect with your book, why your book is an excellent fit to be included in the publisher’s line, and what’s interesting about you and your platform. We pulled a few answers to “What should I include in my query letter” and put them in one place for you to reference. We hope this helps you get your query letter done. See below:

HOW TO WRITE AN IMPRESSIVE QUERY LETTER?

Advice from Harlequin Books

ANSWER:  “The cover letter (sometimes called a query letter) tells us who you are. It shows the editors how you see your project and helps them determine if their series is the right home for your story. Think of a cover letter as a first impression—if you’re professional and enthusiastic, we’ll love the idea of working with you!  Use the cover letter to showcase your book. What is it about your story that will make a reader pick it up? You should hook editors on the key elements and convey tone and character. Make it clear you’ve read the submission guidelines and tell us why your book is a good fit for the series. You should also showcase yourself as an author. Your bio should be brief, but it should tell us who you are, what your platform is and why you want to write for Harlequin. Do you have a great online presence? Do you have previous publishing credits or contest wins? If not, that’s okay! We love discovering new talent, too.

For more tips on writing an eye-catching query letter, read Get in the Door: How to Submit to Harlequin.”

Advice from Reedsy

ANSWER:  “Agents may receive a dozen or more queries a day — and might only sign four or five authors per year. So you can see how making a good first impression in your query is crucial!  Now, there’s no ‘standard’ format that all authors use for their letters. However, before we start, let’s answer this popular question right off the bat: how long should a query letter be? Our universal piece of advice is to keep the letter short. (Think 300 to 400 words at the very most.) Many agents field queries using their phones, so think about how your will letter look on a small screen. Does it give the impression of being a huge wall of text or a disjointed series of singles sentences? If so, revise to make it more concise, orderly, and organized.”

You can get a complete guide and a free course to writing query letters from Reedsy in their post, How to Write a Query Letter in 7 Simple Steps.

Advice from Writer’s Digest

ANSWER:  Robert Lee Brewer, the Senior Editor of Writer’s Digest, says, “The reason queries carry so much weight is simple: Time—and the fact that most agents and editors don’t have much of it. The mission of your query letter is to convince an editor or agent that they want to invest time in you and your writing project. For all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into query letters, it’s actually a pretty straightforward document that consists of an opening pitch (or hook), more (but not all) info on the project, and a little about you as the author.”

You’ll find the full article as well as query letter examples on Writer’s Digest: CLICK HERE.

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