After reading a number of different resources, blog posts, and sample letters, I finally finished a novel query letter that I'm happy with. Mostly, I'm happy that I was able to keep it within the word count lol. A resource that really helped me was Jane Friedman's Blog Post about Query Letters.
On Writing : Finished the Query Letter by Terrence Sellers
Other topics in Authoring & Playwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
3 people like this
Thats great, Terrence Sellers! Thank you for sharing this resource with everyone! We'll also be having an Ask Me Anything in February with a best-selling author, here in the Authoring Lounge, focused on Query Letters and Book Proposals. Stay tuned! =)
2 people like this
Congratulations on finishing your query letter, Terrence Sellers!
Great share! I knew 0% about writing a query letter for a novel before reading this article.
Jane said in the article, "Novelists and most memoirists should have a finished and polished manuscript before they begin querying. However, some may be tempted to begin early because it can take so long to receive responses from agents and publishers. The thinking goes: Well, the agent probably won’t respond any earlier than a month anyway, and I’ll be done by then, so why not get a jump on it?" Sending out a query letter before finishing a novel, script, etc. is dangerous. I've done it with scripts. It felt terrible, and I missed opportunities.
2 people like this
Maurice Vaughan I've never even considered sending out a query letter for an unfinished project. In fact, I've had people advise me to, and I flat out ignored them. The entire idea of leaving myself in such a vulnerable position sounds entirely too stressful to risk.