A query letter seems like it should be simple to write: You just need to introduce yourself to an agent and tell them what your book is about. In practice this format induces a lot of stress. You’ve spent years working on a manuscript, and now you’re tasked with trying to distill an entire book into a few pithy paragraphs, and this letter should stand out from the slew of queries an agent receives every year.
Maybe you’re familiar with the elements of what goes into a query letter: You’re going to introduce yourself, describe your book, and mention comp titles that suggest where it fits in the market. Those are the basics. But what are some of the intangibles that make a query letter stand out? What are agents looking for? As someone who reads thousands of query letters a year, I’ve learned to search for a few key elements in each letter and assess them quickly. Here’s what you should try to get across.
You have a distinctive and trustworthy narrative voice. Even though your query presents a description of your book and not an excerpt, I should have some sense of the style and tone you’re using. If you’re writing a lighthearted rom-com, the tone of the description should feel fun and a little frothy and very different from, say, a dark true-crime story. How you write the query tells me a lot about how you’ll write the book itself. If your description feels abstract and it’s hard for me to parse what’s happening in your story, it’s likely the book will sound that way as well. What kind of journey am I in for? Your description should be written like the jacket copy would be, with an eye toward making a reader want to invest in the story (first with money, then with time). You do not need to include a full synopsis and give away the entire plot—I’d rather be left wanting to know more about what happens.
Something interesting happens in your book. I’m trying to get a sense of whether you know what your book is about and whether you’re able to describe it succinctly, i.e., in two or three paragraphs. The most common mistake I see in query letters is that they go on too long, which is usually a sign that you can’t quite see the forest for the trees in your story yet, or you are trying to give me a scene-by-scene description that isn’t going to hook a reader. Keep it simple, even at the risk of oversimplifying, because I want to get an immediate sense of the basics: Who is your character, where are they, and what are the stakes in their story?
The book’s plot description will also often clue me in to potential pitfalls, especially around narrative momentum and propulsion. If you describe events largely in passive voice or in an abstract way—for example, “As Drew is caught in a maelstrom of confusion, they must think about their desires and decide what they want”—that tells me the pacing is likely to really slacken or the story will at least feel very interior. Keep things in the active voice when you can, and tell me what your protagonist is doing. You can and should get into the broader themes of your book, but center what actually happens in it first.
You read other authors’ recently published books. I like to have a sense of what kinds of titles your book is in conversation with. All authors should be actively reading and thinking about recently published books in their genre. This is where the comparative titles come in. No book is ever written entirely in isolation without any precedent, so it’s important for me to understand the references yours is using, or what tradition it’s coming out of. It also tells me whether you read books that are recently published and out there in the market. (The Bible meets Jurassic Park is a no-go, I’m sorry to say.) If you know what’s in the market, you’re more likely to know how your own book fits into it, which makes for a more compelling pitch; you’re also more likely to have a community that can support you if and when the book publishes.
You’re a trustworthy editorial and business partner. Yes, the tone of the book description in your query should fit the tone of your book, but the overall letter should also feel polished and professional. The query is your first piece of correspondence with your potential business partner and should be treated as such. Most gimmicks (I receive a lot of “I know you won’t read this but…”) tend to work against you, because I need to know that you as a writer can be trusted to have decent communication with me as an agent, and with the editors, publicists, and others to whom I introduce you.
You are a real person. Remember to include a brief author bio, including who you are and your writing platform. If you’re a fiction writer, this could be anything: where you live and whether you have a writing group is good to note—it tells me other people have read the manuscript and shows your commitment. Mention a writing program if you’ve been through one, or any previous publications. If you’re a nonfiction writer, your credentials and why you’re qualified to write this book are important, because editors are usually looking for expertise.
You queried me for a specific reason beyond “I need an agent.” Agents love to know why you queried them in particular. What other books of theirs did you like? What in the descriptions of what they’re looking for matches with your book? Much like personalizing a cover letter for a job, it’s helpful to personalize a query to the specific agent you’re submitting to.
Having just spelled out what you do want to include, the good news is that there are also some elements that you do not need to worry about; they don’t matter as much as you might think. For example:
Listing the numbers of social media followers you have (unless the numbers are extremely high, by which I mean if you are basically a professional influencer or are making a significant income from your newsletter).
Including a full synopsis of your book, unless the agency specifically asks for one.
The specific minutiae of the genre you’re working in (upmarket vs. book club? Memoir vs. personal narrative nonfiction? Speculative vs. magical realism?). As long as you’re in the general ballpark, it doesn’t really matter.
Writing a query can be daunting, but it can also be your chance to show an agent how exciting and smart and fresh your book is and to tell them why they should be excited about it too. If you pay attention to getting across these important elements, you’ll have a standout query letter that makes a strong case for an agent to partner with you.
Jade Wong-Baxter is a literary agent at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, working across upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction. Her clients have been nominated for Lambda Literary Awards and have appeared on the USA Today best-seller list.
