This version of the Quamut Wiki was edited on 8/12/2008 by MolliAnneNickell
You've written, edited, and proofed your fiction manuscript until it glows in the dark. Now what? Your best option to become a published author is to attract an agent to help sell your manuscript to a publisher. You communicate with agents via a query letter—a one-page, three-paragraph letter that can open the door to the publishing world. . . or keep it closed.
Writing a query letter is not rocket science. But first, you need to make a mind shift from “telling” to “selling.” If you don’t know how to sell, no problem—you can learn. Look at what you’ve already learned to do: write an entire book!There’s one aspect to selling that makes the difference between success and failure.
Ask any salesperson to describe what helps them close the sale—they’ll tell you, “Define the benefits.” For example, the umbrella salesperson will show how the umbrella works by effortlessly opening and closing it while telling about its strength, coverage, and speedy drying time. These demonstrated and spoken benefits address the prospective buyer’s bottom-line question of, “what’s in it for me?”
The query letter gives you the opportunity to “show and tell” about your manuscript. It’s written on white paper, Times-Roman 12-or-13- point type face, with one-inch margins and one space between paragraphs.
Keep in mind that all agents have the same bottom line: sales. They need to find manuscripts that will become books that sell and generate profits. Therefore, demonstrate your writing skills by leaping right into the story.
Your opening paragraph tells the plot which includes the goal, obstacle, and resolution of the protagonist (main character). The second paragraph expands the story, and introduces the antagonist (character who is preventing the protagonist from getting what they want). The last sentence of this paragraph teases at the resolution. The third paragraph is about you.
For example, the following query might have been written by Joseph Jacobs, who first published the story of JACK AND THE BEANSTALK.
FIRST PARAGRAPH: about the plot—goal, obstacle, and resolution.
A naïve boy, desperate to save himself and his mother from starvation, trades the family cow for seeds which produce a sky-high vegetable stalk leading into a dimension populated by a human-eating giant. He sneaks inside the giant’s castle and helps himself to gold coins, a goose that lays golden eggs, and a singing harp. Better at stealing than hiding, he’s discovered by the giant who pursues him with murder (and lunch) in mind.
SECOND PARAGRAPH: expands the story, introduces the antagonist and teases at the resolution.
Jack and his widowed mother eke out a living on a small farm until the crops fail and the cow goes dry. Jack is instructed to sell Bossy and buy food. Unskilled in business or bartering, Jack trades Bossy for a handful of magic seeds. His mother berates him for making such a worthless trade and throws the beans out the window. In the morning, Jack discovers an enormous bean stalk that soars skyward into the clouds. He climbs it and enters another dimension, populated by a giant who grinds human bones to bake into bread. Sneaking around to avoid detection, Jack steals a bag of gold coins, thereby taking care of his immediate needs for food and shelter. On his second trip up the stalk, Jack discovers a way to insure residual income by stealing a goose that lays solid gold eggs. Jack climbs the stalk a third time and nabs a singing harp that rats him out. Even though the giant pursues him, Jack is determined to keep the stolen goods, a decision that throws him into a life-or-death struggle against a formidable foe.
THIRD PARAGRAPH: about you.
A lifelong fan of folklore, I’ve edited several published books, including Celtic Fairy Tales and European Folk and Fairy Tales. The story of Jack is one of several fables in ENGLISH FAIRY TALES, a 56,000 word book I’m compiling using fables thought to have come from European storytellers.
NOTE: If you haven’t been published, that’s okay. Your skill in writing the first two paragraphs will speak for itself. Be sure to mention any writers’ courses, conferences, residency programs or writing groups you’ve worked with to expand your skills. It’s a good idea, as in the example, to tell of your interest or passion in the topic. When you give the TITLE OF YOUR STORY, use caps. Include the word count.
Close with a simple, Thank you for your time and consideration.
Obviously, this information is only the bare bones of what you need to understand in order to write a query that gets you what you want—an agent, a publishing contract, and shelf space at Barnes and Noble. To further expand your knowledge about other aspects of the query letter, study evaluated queries, examples of perfect queries, and order a complimentary copy of a Query Workbook, go to www.getpublishednow.biz.
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