Writing A Good Query Letter:

What exactly is a query letter?
A query letter is what the name implies. It is a business letter inquiring whether or not a particular editor would be interested in seeing a particular piece of work.

It is any writer's strongest selling tool, and is important for several reasons. To me, the most important reason is to save time. To a serious writer, time is very important. Why waste some of that precious time, much less valuable postage, sending your work to the wrong markets? Why waste an editor's precious time having to repackage your manuscript and send it back to you because it is not at all what he or she is looking for, or because her inventory is full at the moment and it will be months before she can consider purchasing another book?

Query if you are not quite sure a particular publisher would be willing to consider your work or whether your topic is actually suitable for that publisher.

To find out if a particular house is buying at the moment, it is wise to query first, even to the beginning writer--especially if the idea being proposed is a little different. Also, be aware that some editors flatly refuse to consider anything BUT queries.

What makes a good query letter?
Remember a query is a letter in which you politely and professionally ask an editor if he or she would be interested seeing your work. You will in fact be selling yourself and you work by letter, so you will need to be certain to do both.

A good query letter has three basic parts:

The first paragraphs focuses on selling the work itself. In it, you should tell the editor the type of story it is, where and when it is set, how long the book should be (or the exactly word length if the work is complete), and give a general idea of the plot. This first part must be thorough and convincing, but brief and that is not always easy to do.

In the second part of the query letter you HAVE to sell yourself, but don't make the mistake of over sell. List your writing credits and any information pertinent to the writing of that particular piece, but don't bother telling the editor that you have a lovely house in the country, two charming kids, and a small dog that won a blue ribbon just last month for its unusual tongue tricks. The editor is only interested in details that pertain directly to your writing. And don't relate writing details not worth mentioning. Don't mention that you've had a recipe in a recently published community cookbook or that the local newspaper once printed your letter to the editor. That's not necessary and reeks of being a beginner.

If you have no publishing credits, tell what expertise you have with the subject matter you have chosen, or how well acquainted you are with the setting. If nothing else, mention that you are a member of RWA, or other prestigious writer's groups. That at least shows that you are serious about writing.

What not to do?
An editor once told me, NEVER ever resort to emotional black mail. Never include any suicidal tendencies you may have. Never mention that your children will starve and die in the streets with crooked teeth and ragged underwear if you don't make a sale soon. It doesn't work.

Nor does bribery.

Another editor once told me she'd received a two-foot chocolate bar in the same box with a manuscript. She admitted that she ate the candy bar and thoroughly enjoyed it because the chocolate was very good, but the manuscript wasn't, and she quickly rejected it.

Editors want only books that will sell.

What else do you include?
By the third section of your letter, it's time to get down to business. You mention whether or not the novel is in progress or completed, when you can have it on his or her desk, and to contact you. Suggest either by the SASE enclosed or by telephone, whichever is most convenient for the editor. And always make certain that somewhere on that page is your correct telephone number.

Before mailing, proofread for mistakes. Make your final copy as picture perfect as possible. You want your first impression to be a good one, a professional one. Also, before you mail the letter, be sure you've kept a copy for your files (never trust an only copy to the U.S. Postal System). Also make sure you have indeed enclosed your SASE.

It is a courtesy most editors insist upon.

How quick do editors respond?
Depends on the editor. A writer can usually expect a response on a query within weeks--a lot sooner than on a proposal with sample chapters or a completed manuscript. Sometimes on a full, book-length manuscript the wait can be six to eight months. I know one woman who mailed her full manuscript to a popular New York publisher without querying first and it was nearly two years before she finally received a response. Two years passed during which she could have been sending it elsewhere, and possibly have made a sale.

THAT, my friends, is why being able to write a good query letter is so important.