The Do’s And Don’ts Of A Query Letter

Ah, query letters. Terrifying and nightmare-inducing for absolutely no reason at all. When I first sat down to write mine, brain.exe failed to work. What the hell was I meant to say? What were agents looking for? Which comp titles should I have used? Wait, how many comp titles should I have used? How long should this be? Would a typo result in an instant rejection? 

The process is daunting, and is definitely the hardest part of the query package to perfect. I think writing my 98k word manuscript was simpler than writing my first query letter. I’m here to make it a little bit easier for you so that you might not suffer as much as I. 

This will be a combination of things I found worked or didn’t work for me, as well as current industry standards and agent advice I’ve seen on Twitter or agency websites. If you’re reading this blog even six months after I post it, some of the content might be outdated. Publishing industry trends move quickly! 

I received a combined total of 39 full/partial requests for my manuscripts based on my query letter/synopsis/sample pages, so I hope you’ll find my advice credible. Make sure to stick around for the end, as I’ll provide the two query letters I wrote during my querying journey!

THE BASICS

Before I dive into anything else, I want to explain what exactly a query letter is. When I was first told I would need to write a query letter to send to literary agents, no one really took the time to explain what that actually means. And I had no fucking clue. Searching the internet for examples of query letters wasn’t exactly helpful either, as the results I found were all so varied and intimidating, and mostly outdated. So, I’m going to break it down for you.

A query letter (also known as a pitch letter, or sometimes a cover letter) is a one-page introduction to your manuscript and yourself as an author.

Your query letter should be comprised of 6 features (not necessarily in this order, but it’s ideal): 

• a salutation to the agent 
• metadata (more on this below)
• a summary of your manuscript (this should read like the description on the back of a book cover)
• a small biography about yourself and your qualifications or history of writing (this should be about 2-4 sentences)
• any relevant information regarding the manuscript including but not limited to: if this book is part of a series, or any editor interest your manuscript has received in pitch events or personal discussion
• your sign-off (this should include your author name, your email address, your phone number, an author website link if you have one, and you can include your physical address if you’d like, but it isn’t necessary since you aren’t sending your query letter by snail mail)

This description might seem a little too detailed for some, but I know that when I was searching for what exactly to write and how to write it, I would have appreciated a comprehensive breakdown like this immensely. 

Now, let’s get into the do’s and don’ts of writing a query letter.

DO’S

METADATA

The absolute most essential aspect of your query letter is the metadata. This is your title, genre, word count, and comp titles. You cannot send a query without a metadata paragraph! This will tell the agent everything they need to know on their first assessment of your query and whether or not they’d like to continue reading.

Typically, you’ll want to write your own title in all caps, as well as the titles of the books you comp to. Also make sure to capitalize your age range/genre. Below are my metadata paragraphs for A LESSON IN FALLING and SUGAR & SPICE.

I am excited to share A LESSON IN FALLING, an Adult F/F Contemporary Romance capping out at 98,000 words. I noticed in your MSWL that you’re looking for (MSWL SPECIFICS), and I am pleased to inform you that A LESSON IN FALLING is a steamy, character-driven bodyguard romance between a lesbian fashion designer and her bisexual bodyguard. This story combines the protective themes and deadly violence of TWISTED GAMES and the sexy sapphic tension of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO.

I am excited to share SUGAR & SPICE, an Adult F/F Contemporary Romance complete at 97k words. SUGAR & SPICE showcases a high-heat, laugh-out-loud, rivals-to-lovers romance between opposing candy shop owners that have unknowingly cultivated a text message friendship with each other. This story combines the witty, anonymous online friendship as found in YOU’VE GOT MAIL, the intense, queer romantic obsession of SATISFACTION GUARANTEED, and the humorous workplace shenanigans familiar to THE HATING GAME. Acquiring editor, [EDITOR NAME] of [IMPRINT] has expressed interest in this manuscript via Twitter pitch events.

COMP TITLES

Stay calm. Do not freak out about your comp titles. This is the part of the query letter you should have the most fun with!

First, what is a comp title? Well, a ‘comp title’ is a comparison made in your pitch to another published title. For instance, if you were writing a dark academia book with two rivals in a secret society competing for notoriety with themes of death and greed and moral unsoundness, you could say this:

DARK ACADEMIA BOOK blends the bloody and violent secret Ivy League societies of NINTH HOUSE with the competitive, unlikable, morally grey characters found in YELLOWFACE. DARK ACADEMIA BOOK features a star-crossed rivalry similar to THE NIGHT CIRCUS.

See? This is fun!

Generally, you’re going to want to include comp titles of books that have been published within the last 5 years. This tells agents that you’re well-read in your own genre! Sure, you can mention an older book if the certain aspects you’re comparing are similar, but make sure to include 1-2 modern titles! You can also comp a movie, television show, podcast or well-known media from pop culture if it’s relevant, but my advice is to make sure to list 2 books alongside it. Again, this shows that you are familiar with your genre and that you’ve done your research! 

TIP: Try to keep your comp titles within your genre and age range! I really wanted to comp I KISSED SHARA WHEELER for the queer obsession aspect of my novel, but again, you want to showcase that you are deeply familiar with the type of book you’re writing. So, if you’re writing a Young Adult Fantasy book, try and stick to Young Adult Fantasy comp titles. This doesn’t always have to apply if you’re writing a retelling/reimagination, though. If you’re writing a Young Adult Romance reimagination of 27 Dresses, or a Young Adult Sci-Fi retelling of Macbeth, that’s totally fine! Again, just make sure to add other comp titles that are in your genre and age range!

If you’re a marginalized author writing a story about marginalized characters, some leniency should be afforded to you regarding your comp titles on the basis that there just aren’t as many mainstream titles written by and about certain marginalizations as there are from white/cis/straight/able-bodied authors.

I once received a rejection that told me I shouldn’t have used The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as a comp title since my book wasn’t historical fiction, but as someone pitching an F/F book, it was hard to find fitting, compelling, and relevant comp titles that fell within my genre. A LESSON IN FALLING is a contemporary romance with dark themes and splashes of humor, it is not a rom-com, so I didn’t want to comp to any rom-coms because that didn’t make any sense. I thought that since TSHOEH is a popular title that showcased a sapphic romance between two world famous characters, and included heavier themes, that it made sense to comp it. And I still stand by that!

But, I took this comment with a grain of salt since the same agent also told me I should have comped a bodyguard romance instead, which I did…right next to Evelyn Hugo. My other comp title was Twisted Games by Ana Huang. Famously a bodyguard romance.

Gotta love querying ❤ 

SUMMARY

This is arguably the most challenging part of the query letter. If there’s anything writers hate more than writing their books, it’s writing their summaries. The most important thing to know when writing your summary is to know the distinction between a summary and a synopsis.

A synopsis (often required alongside a query letter and sample pages when you send a query to an agent) is a play by play of your book that includes every major event, conflict, and resolution with spoilers. This should be 1-2 pages based on what the agent/agency requests that you send with your query. The synopsis is not a part of your query letter, and is a separate document.

Your summary, however, is a part of your query letter. The summary should be 2-4 paragraphs that introduce the agent to the main character, the inciting incident, the conflict, what is preventing the character from solving the conflict, and THE STAKES. I have bolded this because the stakes are universally the toughest aspect of the summary to nail down. What exactly does your character stand to lose if they don’t solve the conflict? Their life? Their love? Their job? Their family? The world? Creating convincing stakes is tough, so take some time on this and really make sure you’ve got a looming threat that’ll leave agents on the edge of their seats and desperate to read more!

BIOGRAPHY

I know it’s tempting to write down your whole life story, but keep your biography simple! About 3-4 sentences is ideal. Make sure to include your age and your profession (if you have one), and maybe even a vague location (for instance, I mentioned that I am based in Texas). If you have any writing credentials or awards, this is your time to brag! Let them know that you’ve previously published poetry, flash fiction, or a short story. If you have a college degree, or you’re pursuing one, tell them about it!

Further, get a little personal! You can mention any hobbies you have aside from writing, your pets, or any sweet fun fact about yourself! This lets an agent know that you’re personable, and perhaps might be easy to speak to and work with!

SHORT & SWEET

Your query letter should be one page, single-spaced, and written in Times New Roman and 12 pt. font. The preferred word-count of a query letter is debatable, but 350 words is what you should aim for. The only times I would recommend exceeding the word count or one-page limitations, are if you have an extensive list of editor interest, if your query was requested during a pitch event and you are including the specific Tweet or relevant information, if you’ve been previously represented by an agent and parted ways, or if your manuscript has 2+ significant POVs. 

Even in these circumstances, I would recommend doing your best to keep it as short as possible. Following this structure worked wonders for me:

• 1 paragraph for metadata,

• 3 paragraphs for your summary,

• 1 paragraph for your biography. 

BETA READERS

I would absolutely recommend finding beta readers willing to look over your query letter before you send it out to agents. Finding community is essential when you’re an author. I’m lucky to have had three agented friends that were gracious enough to read over my first query letter, and their help was invaluable. I’m so serious. It was a hot mess before they left me notes and aided in a complete overhaul of my query letter that changed my understanding of what a query letter actually was. I’m positive that the first draft of my query letter would have garnered zero agent interest. 

If you’re reading this, and you’d like someone to look over your query letter, please shoot me a DM on Twitter or Instagram! I’d be more than willing to help you out! It’s actually quite fun to edit someone else’s query letter as opposed to writing my own. 

KNOW YOUR GENRE

IMPORTANT!!! Please research the standards for your genre (and ideally be well read in your genre) before querying! Knowing the word-count parameters and typical themes found within your genre is non-negotiable. For instance, the standard word count for my genre, Adult Contemporary Romance, is 80-100k words, leaning more towards 80k at this point in time. Contemporary romance (specifically rom-coms) are also preferred to have a happy ending. Agents unfortunately might feel that your manuscript is not query ready if it deviates too severely from the standards (in a way that is not marketable).

It can be quite confusing if you’re someone who’s pushing the boundaries of your genre to really know what genre your manuscript should be classified as. Does a tragic ending make your manuscript Literary or Upmarket? Or is it Women’s Fiction? Does your world building lean towards Fantasy, Paranormal, or Speculative? If you can’t figure it out, write a summary (exactly the description that would be on the back cover of your book once it’s published), and send it out to friends and critique partners for judgment! 

Many agents won’t consider a manuscript that doesn’t conform to standards of the genre! I was rejected by multiple agents for having manuscripts that were too long (98k and 97k), even though the number fell within my genre’s standards. It just toed the line too much for some agent’s preferences.

My best advice to you is to confirm what genre you’re writing in before you begin the drafting process, and to try your best to adhere to the standards. While you might be able to get away with ~5k words above or below the standards, it’s safest to revise your manuscript until the word count is acceptable. Your 200k Adult Science Fiction novel will not be the exception to the rule. Don’t go into this thinking it will be, because it’s not, which sucks ass, but is the sad truth. 

Also, make sure that the agent you are querying is accepting your genre. If they aren’t, it’s most likely going to be a waste of your time. Especially if the agent has specifically mentioned on Twitter, their ManuscriptWishlist page, or their agency website that they don’t accept your genre. I once queried a Science Fiction/Fantasy agent under the LGBTQ category thinking that the worst thing they could say was no.

The ensuing rejection included a paragraph as to why the agent thought the main character in my Contemporary Romance book was a bitch (their words, not mine), and that they needed to see the possibility of redemption in characters to want to read further materials (this judgment based on the first 10 pages where the main character is a tough CEO and is just a little self-obsessed). So…obviously completely irredeemable. Straight to the pits of hell and eternal damnation. Totally.

Don’t be like me. Stick to agents that specifically represent your genre. I never received a rejection like this from Contemporary Romance agents. 

DON’TS

DO NOT RAMBLE

If you’re an overwriter or an oversharer like I am, this is gonna be tough. Sometimes it’s hard for us to know when to put the keyboard down and get the fuck out of there. But, agents aren’t going to read a two-page query letter. Anything above 550 words just isn’t going to work, and even that is really pushing it. I’ve seen agents mention on Twitter that their QueryManager forms auto-reject authors whose query letters and synopses exceed a certain word count, and I would hate for any of you to lose out on a potential partnership just because you’re eager for an agent to know every single detail about you and your book. 

Trust me, I understand the feeling, but there’s plenty of time to overshare once you’ve secured representation! I send my agent the art I commission for my books, and I ramble in every single email. Your opportunity to be the most annoying will come soon, I promise. For now, though, limit it to 350 words.

DO NOT TRY TO BE HUMBLE

Starting out your query letter with phrases like, “I know this book isn’t very good…” or, “You’re probably not interested in this book, but…” is probably the easiest way to a rejection I can think of. Remember that querying is pitching; you are like a Girl Scout begging people to buy a box of thin mints, except instead of thin mints, you are selling yourself and your work. Being confident is key. Imagine if a Girl Scout asked you to buy her thin mints, but prefaced the question with, “I know these cookies taste like dogshit, but…”

You would not buy those thin mints. 

Instead, mention why you think this agent would be a good fit for you. Say that you’re excited to share your manuscript with them! Your tone can be easily conveyed through your query letter, and joy/confidence is contagious! How is an agent meant to be excited about reading your book if you are clearly not excited about sharing it?

DO NOT BE OVERCONFIDENT

I know, confusing. I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but don’t call yourself the next Stephen King or Brandon Sanderson. Do not herald your manuscript as the next Game of Thrones or Lord Of The Rings. While you want to come across as assured in your work, this can seem egotistical, or vain. Even naming works from either of these authors and other authors of the same stature and experience as comp titles might be a bad idea. I took a risk in using The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as a comp title since it’s such a popular book, but it paid off for me. Use your own judgment to decide which notable books you might be hoping to comp to, and if there’s an alternative title that might work better. If not, then I say go for it. If you want to comp Dune, then who am I to stop you?

Likewise, there’s no need to mention that your friends or family or beta readers found your manuscript good or compelling. When you send a query to an agent, it’s automatically understood that you’ve had beta readers or critique partners help you in the revision stages of writing your manuscript. Just like you’re supposed to show rather than tell when writing, you need to show agents that your book is good instead of telling them that it is. So, don’t waste your word count on this! 

Also, don’t tell an agent that they’ll regret not taking a chance on your manuscript. I can promise you that not a single agent will appreciate that assumption, and it’s just embarrassing. Like, I cringed a little even writing that out for this blog post. 

DO NOT BE AN ASSHAT?????

Listen, I’ve seen a lot of shit in my time on this planet, but authors being dickheads to agents in their query is some of the most insane behavior I’ve ever witnessed. This is a sure fire way to a rejection, and probably being blacklisted and spoken about in agent whisper networks. 

Recently, I noticed many agents tweet about a specific query where the author shat on agents as a whole and insulted their character, but he…still sent the query anyways? It was basically along the lines of, “Agents are scammers and wouldn’t know a good book if it punched them in the face, but I’m throwing my manuscript into the querying abyss anyways. Read it, or don’t. I don’t care.” 

Buddy, I think you do care! Quite a lot, it seems!

Querying is frustrating and soul-crushing and just all around the worst, but that doesn’t give you the right to disrespect every agent you query by insulting them in your query letter. For the most part, agents adhere to professional communication, and they expect you to do the same in return. You’re killing any chance you have at entering into a business relationship with an agent by sabotaging yourself before you even start. 

MAYBE’S

PERSONALIZATION

Personalization is when you tailor your query letter for every agent you query by mentioning why you think that your manuscript would be a good match. For instance, if an agent mentions on their agency website or in their manuscript wishlist that they’re looking for Young Adult Fantasy with found family and morally gray characters, and your manuscript fits that description, then you can add a sentence or two to your metadata paragraph detailing that that is why you decided to query them specifically. 

This is completely optional, and just depends on your preference. I personalized every query letter I sent for A LESSON IN FALLING, and I didn’t personalize any for SUGAR & SPICE (unless I was letting the agent know that they liked my pitch Tweet on Twitter). The only difference that I noted was that they sometimes mentioned the personalization in their requests or rejections. Something along the lines of, “I love chaotic sapphic love stories with powerful female leads, and found your pages intriguing,” or, “While I love chaotic sapphic love stories with powerful female leads, I don’t think I’m a good fit for this manuscript.”

I will say, personalizing every single query is very time consuming. It often took me an extra hour or two to query a new batch of agents, just because I was personalizing every query and making sure each one was just right. Take that into consideration when deciding whether or not you’d like to do this. 

HONORIFICS

Honorifics (Mr/Ms/Mrs/Mx/Dr/Sir/Madam/etc.) used to be a necessary part of your salutation. The inclusion of it was viewed as respectful and professional (and still is by some agents), but recently it’s being used less and less. And some agents ask you specifically not to address them using an honorific. Of course, if an agent asks not to be addressed in a certain way, you need to respect their boundaries. Otherwise, whether or not you use honorifics is completely up to you.

But, if you decide you do want to use honorifics, you need to make sure you know an agent’s pronouns and which honorifics they find acceptable. You can figure this out by visiting an agent’s QueryTracker page; at the top, where their name is, their preferred honorifics should be there. If they don’t use honorifics, then there won’t be any on their QueryTracker page!

The salutation I used in the query letter to my agent:
Dear Ms. Samantha Fabien,

METADATA LOCATION

Where you place your metadata in your query letter is debated on, but from what I’ve seen from agent advice is that most prefer your metadata to be at the beginning of your query letter right after your salutation. 

Some authors like to add their metadata to the very end of their query letter, just before their sign-off. The only time I’d recommend you to do this is if you have an extremely catchy hook at the beginning of your manuscript’s summary. But, even then, most agents want to know exactly what they’re getting into right when they open your query letter. Having your metadata at the beginning lets them immediately decide if they are a fit for your manuscript. 

That being said, it’s up to you! It’s definitely not a deal breaker!

MY QUERY LETTERS

I wrote two query letters during my 11-month querying journey. Here I will provide you the most recent versions of my query letters, as I did revise both of them multiple times after beginning querying. I got two offers of representation; one for my first manuscript, A LESSON IN FALLING, and one for my second, SUGAR & SPICE. While my agent only read the query letter for A LESSON IN FALLING, a second agent offered specifically on SUGAR & SPICE. 

Both of these query letters had 3 or more beta readers to help revise. Keep in mind that these query letters were written almost a year apart, so they’re quite different from each other in terms of formatting based on what I learned between querying my first manuscript and my second.

Happy Pride Month!

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