The Importance Of Writing a Good Query Letter
When you are ready to submit your writing to publishers, you want their first impression of you to be positive and exciting. Publishers receive thousands of query letters, and yours has to stand out to catch their attention. In order to even have a chance at publication, you must have a good query letter.
The most important part of a query letter is the first sentence. Despite how genius the rest of the letter may be, if you do not instantly grab the attention of the reader, he or she will not finish the letter. This is a hard task, as you do not want to be cliché. A good hook appeals to the curiosity of the reader; it makes the reader want more information. To accomplish this, appeal to the most unique aspect of your work.
After you construct a great opening, the rest of the letter must be held to the same standard. The tone of the letter's body should be confident and factual, conveying that you have a great piece of work and that they should be interested in hearing more about it. Under no circumstance should the letter plead to be read. If you do not seem to believe in your work, publishers won't want to invest in it.
A query letter is not the place to publish your autobiography. It is acceptable to mention a few details about your professional history, especially if you have been published before, but try and keep the details to a minimum. If your work is nonfiction or if you specialize in the field about which you have written, take this opportunity to sell yourself as the authority on the subject. Autobiographical details, if kept to a minimum, can help establish that you are the perfect person to be writing this book. This will help you establish credibility, especially if the work is technical.
Keep your query letter to one page by including just enough information to make the publisher want more. By keeping the length down, you will be able to better hold the attention of the reader.
So remember, keep it short, keep it interesting, keep it factual, and keep it confident. Grab the reader's attention and sell your work. A good query letter is one of the most important tools in a writer's arsenal, without which the road to publication will be long and difficult.
The most important part of a query letter is the first sentence. Despite how genius the rest of the letter may be, if you do not instantly grab the attention of the reader, he or she will not finish the letter. This is a hard task, as you do not want to be cliché. A good hook appeals to the curiosity of the reader; it makes the reader want more information. To accomplish this, appeal to the most unique aspect of your work.
After you construct a great opening, the rest of the letter must be held to the same standard. The tone of the letter's body should be confident and factual, conveying that you have a great piece of work and that they should be interested in hearing more about it. Under no circumstance should the letter plead to be read. If you do not seem to believe in your work, publishers won't want to invest in it.
A query letter is not the place to publish your autobiography. It is acceptable to mention a few details about your professional history, especially if you have been published before, but try and keep the details to a minimum. If your work is nonfiction or if you specialize in the field about which you have written, take this opportunity to sell yourself as the authority on the subject. Autobiographical details, if kept to a minimum, can help establish that you are the perfect person to be writing this book. This will help you establish credibility, especially if the work is technical.
Keep your query letter to one page by including just enough information to make the publisher want more. By keeping the length down, you will be able to better hold the attention of the reader.
So remember, keep it short, keep it interesting, keep it factual, and keep it confident. Grab the reader's attention and sell your work. A good query letter is one of the most important tools in a writer's arsenal, without which the road to publication will be long and difficult.
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