You want to know what a query letter should look like? Well, here’s an sample one below.
Just before we look at it, I should say that I am a real author describing a real book – and I already have an agent. So the letter which follows simply pretends that this book is a first novel and I have no track record in the industry.
The second thing to say is that I’ve assumed the agent has allowed to me to send a synopsis and opening chapters along with the query letter. (That’s standard practice in the UK, though things can be different in the US.) But obviously you need to check what the agent’s requirements are and follow them.
Third, this letter does NOT say anywhere, ‘I love Mr Angus Author, whom you represent, so I felt that your tastes and mine might have something in common.’ If you want to put that in you can. I’ve got mixed feelings about whether it’s helpful. (Most literary agents represent 2-3 well known clients and a huge chunk of their query letters will reference those 2-3 authors. It’s therefore questionable whether you do anything positive by doing likewise. Agents tend to vary in what they think about these kind of personalisations. I tend to recommend the lower effort option, but it’s no big deal. You can do as you please.)
OK. That’s enough preamble. If I were a total newbie, I’d probably write something like the following:
Dear Amy Agent
I’m writing to seek representation for my first novel, TALKING TO THE DEAD, a police procedural of 115,000 words.
The book opens with news of a murder: a young woman and her daughter have been found dead in a rough area of Cardiff. The house where they’re found is in very poor condition – a squat, with no power or working toilet – yet in the corner of the room is a platinum bank card belonging to a local millionaire. A millionaire who died in a plane crash some nine months previously.
Puzzling as this crime looks, it’s not the heart of the book’s mystery. It becomes rapidly clear that Fiona Griffiths herself is a very peculiar woman, who is withholding crucial secrets from the reader. Who exactly is her father? What was her childhood illness? And what is it with her and corpses?
I’m a [thirty-five year old lion tamer] and this is my first novel.
I enclose the first three chapters and a synopsis. I very much hope you like what you see and look forward to hearing from you.
Yours,
Wrichard Writer
There! Simple, no?All the letter actually has to do is:
- give a very brief 1-sentence summary of the book
- a somewhat longer, 1-2 para, introduction to the book. (Not a plot summary – that’s for the synopsis)
- a brief introduction to you
- not be badly written
If you achieve those things, then the literary agent will turn with curiosity to your manuscript. That’s all you can hope for at this stage – the rest is down to your novel.
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Still trying to find an agent. Are you sure they read all the submitted ms. ?
(Incidentally, I spotted the deliberate typo in para. 3 of your Sample Literary Agent Query Letter above)
They’ll look at every MS that comes their way – “look at”, please note, not necessarily read. If an MS is obviously not making the grade from a cursory inspection, no on will be bothered to read on.
And agents are correct to be that brusque. Publishers are only going to take the best of the best, so a couple of awkward sounding sentences will strongly suggest that the author concerned hasn’t yet achieved the standard needed for success. The harsh truth is that authors do need to be perfectionist if they want to succeed – and that at least 95% of books that are rejected, are rejected because they just aren’t yet good enough.
The only thing I would add: of course some agents won’t look at stuff because they’re just overwhelmed with submissions or their other business. So never just send your stuff out to 1-2 agents and think you’ll get a reliable guide from that. You do need to hit 8-12 agents, give it a few weeks (6-8), and then take stock. But if you approach a dozen agents and get nowhere, your MS is not yet strong enough. Which is where we come in!
Oh – and thanks for alerting us to that typo.
Thanks, this was really helpful.
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but here goes. If your novel has been rejected by an agent say two years ago, but is now completely improved and re-written, is it okay to send it to the same agent again or will it just be automatically rejected?
Fine to resend. But if so, just add a note giving the history. Any sane agent will look at the MS. If that’s good, no worries … and, as ever, don’t go nuts. If you get 10-15 rejection letters (with the current draft) you almost certainly need to start paying attention to the MS, rather than figuring out a new list of agents to send to. That’s what our Critiques service is for!