The Query Letter
A query letter is a sales pitch, not a summary. Its job is to make the agent want to read your manuscript, not to tell them what happens in it. The hook paragraph establishes the book's title, genre, word count, and central tension. The story paragraph presents the protagonist, the stakes, and the conflict in enough detail to convey the book's emotional core. The closing paragraph covers your relevant credentials and any comparative titles. Every word should be earning its place. Agents read hundreds of queries a week; they make initial decisions in under a minute. The query's job is to survive that minute.
The Submission Package
Most agents request a query letter, a synopsis, and sample pages, typically the first five to fifty pages depending on the agent. Each element serves a different purpose. The query sells the book. The synopsis proves the structure works from beginning to end, including the ending. The sample pages demonstrate the prose quality and voice. A strong query with weak sample pages gets passed. A weak query with exceptional sample pages rarely gets read. The query is the door; the pages are the room. Polish the query first, because if it does not get the agent past the door, the pages will never be read.
Researching Agents
Research before you query. An agent who does not represent your genre will not make an exception for your book. An agent who represents your genre but whose recent sales are all in a subgenre you are not writing is a poor match. Use QueryTracker, Publishers Marketplace, and agent website submission guidelines to identify agents who actively represent your genre, have made recent sales, and are currently open to submissions. Read interviews and deal announcements to understand what each agent is excited about. A personalized query that demonstrates genuine knowledge of the agent's taste outperforms a generic one. Research is not optional; it is the job.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submission, querying multiple agents at the same time, is the industry standard. Querying one agent at a time while waiting months for responses is not a realistic path to representation. Most agents expect you to be querying widely and are not offended by it. The professional obligation is to notify all outstanding agents promptly when you receive an offer. Give them one to two weeks to read before you accept. When you withdraw from consideration, do it politely and briefly. Burning agents by not notifying them of an offer, or by disappearing from outstanding submissions without explanation, has consequences in a community where agents talk to each other.
The Rejection Letter
Most rejections in the query process are form rejections, which tell you nothing about the quality of your work and everything about the volume of submissions agents receive. A form rejection is not evidence that your book is bad; it is evidence that the agent passed, which they do with the vast majority of everything they receive. Personalized rejections, which include specific feedback, are relatively rare and more valuable: treat them as data. If multiple agents give similar feedback, that feedback is worth acting on. If the feedback is contradictory, it is less useful. Rejection is part of the process, not a verdict on the book.
When to Query and When to Keep Writing
The most common querying mistake is submitting before the manuscript is ready. A manuscript is not ready because you finished it; it is ready when it has been revised, read by qualified outside readers, revised again in response to their feedback, and proofread for line-level errors. Agents who pass on a manuscript rarely revisit it if the author revises and resubmits. You get one shot per agent per project. The second most common mistake is querying one book while writing the next. The next book is often better than the one you are querying, and an agent who passes on book one may be enthusiastic about book two. Keep writing. The query is one part of the work, not the whole of it.
