This is part 7/11 in our series about How to Land a Literary Agent:
- Your Fishing Guide: What I Know About These Waters
- The Prey: What Exactly Is An Agent?
- The Why: Who Actually Needs an Agent?
- Dawn or Dusk: When to Start Fishing
- The Fish Finder: Locating Agents
- The Bait: Writing a Pitch
- Casting Your Line: Query Letters
- The Nibble: When an Agent Expresses Interest
- The Bite: Getting an Offer
- The Play: Interviewing Agents
- The Keeper: Final Decisions and Next Steps
Putting together a great query letter is almost as hard as writing the whole damn book. And it’s a lot less fun. The good news is that you’ve already done the hardest part: you’ve written the pitch.
At this point, you’ve identified a number of agents whose interests are arguably aligned with yours, and all you have to do is craft a letter that stands out among the other hundred submissions they received this week. How hard could that be!
The answer: very hard. The “query letter” is a weird genre, and one most writers have no experience with.
Every single letter you send should be slightly customized to match the desires and the profile of the agent you’re querying. You’ll want to address them by name (no “Dear Agent” or “To Whom it May Concern”), and you might say something about what drew you to them (“Because of your interest in thrillers/crime/romantasy/biography…”). On whatever site you located their listing, the agent will have indicated how you should contact them—by email or QueryTracker or messenger pigeon; including a sample of 5 or 20 or 50 pages; with that sample sent as an attachment or copied into the body of the email or communicated by smoke signals. Make sure to follow their rules.
Your standard query letter should be short, which makes it even harder. (I’m reminded of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, who apologized to a friend for being wordy: “I’m writing you a long letter because I don’t have the time to write a short one.”) The format for a fiction query is pretty standard, and it goes something like this:
The Greeting. This can be very short—perhaps a mere salutation. You might choose to identify yourself briefly or mention what drew you to her (a referral or something in her profile), but you can also feather that information in later if you prefer.
The Hook. A one-line lead-in that frames the “dramatic problem” around which your book revolves.
The Pitch. A painfully short description of the premise and conflict of your story followed by a brief thematic statement. (But good news: you’ve already done this!)
The Comparables. A mention of other similar (and recent) books that have done well—perhaps even agented by the person you are querying.
The Bio. A statement of your background and credentials as a writer—neither too humble nor too boastful.
The Close. A conclusion where you indicate what sample you’ve provided, your invitation for her to reach out if she’d like to see more of your work, your friendly salutation, and your full contact info.
Got it? Now let’s put it all together as we compose a letter to be sent by an imaginary author as he queries a non-existent agent about his made-up book. It might look something like this:
[SAMPLE QUERY LETTER]
Dear Rachel,
What happens when the consequences of our actions catch up with us? That’s the question at the heart of my novel, DAY BY DAY. It goes like this:
Racked with sorrow after the death of his wife, SAM CURTIS pours his energy into raising his young daughter, each of them helping the other to stay afloat. But when his wife’s diary suddenly turns up, SAM is forced to confront his own role in her death, challenging his view of himself—and endangering his relationship with the only person he still cares about.
Set in contemporary Chicago, DAY BY DAY is a tale where truth and illusion collide, where the past refuses to stay buried, and where responsibility has a way of reclaiming its rights.
I’m reaching out to you because DAY BY DAY intersects with your stated interest in family dramas and suspenseful plots. Readers who enjoyed Julia Nash’s THIS ONE FOR YOU(2025) or Freddie Post’s LOOKING AT YA (2024) will find much to like in my novel.
DAY BY DAY is my first novel, but I’m not entirely a newcomer. After completing my MFA at University-of-Your-Choice, I’ve published several short stories in South Dakota Review, Catapult, Shenandoah, and Marching Orders. My recent story, “Every Day an Adventure” was runner-up for the Editor’s Prize at Shenandoah.
I’ve included the first two chapters of the novel, as you request, after my signature. I hope you enjoy it—and that you’ll be interested in representing me and my work. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours,
Pete Sommers
919-854-3876
There’s nothing magical about any of the phrasing here, and you can move the pieces around if you want. Of course, you’ll need to adapt the tone so it suits your voice and your work. But all the necessary components are there. And note that the entire letter (not including the sample) runs a touch over 250 words. Try to keep it under 300.
Whew! We just covered a lot. But now that you have a query letter, draft a few copies (customized for each agent) and send them out to some names on your list (by email or via QueryTracker, as they request). Just to be clear: yes, you can send queries to multiple agents at once. In this past, this kind of simultaneous submission was frowned upon, but nowadays it’s standard practice. But don’t send out too many: you want a chance to improve your letter if it doesn’t work the first time. After all, you can only query a given agent once with your manuscript.
And then: Wait. For the most part, agents are not a twitchy bunch. They don’t respond the same day. Or the same week. Or even the same month. (In my experience, agents who are interested in your query respond within three weeks; after that, a response is possible, but much less likely. That’s even true for agents who say they may take as much as three months to respond.)
In fact, most agents will never reply. If a month or so goes by, you can generally assume that’s a “no.”
If you get no replies at all (or just form rejections), take another crack at the letter, making it stronger. Then send out a few more. Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually, with luck, you’ll feel a tug on the line.
And when that happens, you’ve got yourself a nibble. Congratulations! Getting a nibble is already huge. If you’ve gotten one—or think you might—read on.