Okay, so you’ve found the treasure trove of agent names and ways to contact. Now to query.
First piece of advice: Buy a book. I said not to buy a book with agent listings, but there are a ton of books on how to write a query letter and they’re all pretty good. Traditionally, the query is one page long. The basic information you are trying to convey is:
I am…
I wrote…
I want…
So I thought of you…
Looking forward to your response.
Simple, right? And the books will help you craft it well. But here’s what you won’t learn in the books:
I purchased not one but two such books. They will instruct you on how to write a very professional business letter to a prospective agent…
Which will be immediately rejected.
Trick number one is to look at your query letter and ask yourself, “Does this look like it was written by the same person who wrote my book?” With my first query letter, the answer was a resounding “no.” My book had a voice; every book has a voice. If the book is well-written, that unique voice is a major reason why. If that is missing from your dry business-like query letter, how can you expect a total stranger to connect the dots?
Secondly, think about contests. Look on the Internet or investigate books or magazines. There are lots of legitimate writing contests out there for first novels. I entered the James Jones First Novel Fellowship contest. Out of nearly 1,000 entries, THE FOURTH HOUSE was one of around 10 finalists. Ten out of 1,000 is pretty darn good.
Will your book be as lucky? The only way to know is to enter. You gotta be in it to win it. But having your manuscript be the winner of some sort of honor or award is a heck of a lead sentence for your query letter.
So my second (and successful) query letter led off with an announcement of my James Jones acknowledgment, followed by body copy that sounded exactly like the narrator of the book I was looking to have represented. The combination of the two got me the attention I was looking for.
One last thing on query letters: It doesn’t matter how many books you have written. You are only asking an agent to look at ONE of them. ONLY ONE. Once they’ve shown an interest in that one, you can discuss the others, but keep your query letter concise as to what it is you are selling. You are selling you and one product, period.
More tomorrow.
Peace,
Kerry