SAMPLE QUERY LETTER - NON-FICTION

SAMPLE QUERY LETTER - NON-FICTION


(((Go back to look at my previous posting about how to write a query letter, than use this post as a sample of what to say. Good luck!))))


Dear Ms. ___________

Al Capone may have ruled Chicago. Lucky Luciano may have run most of New York City. But from the 1930s to the late 1960s, when it came to Harlem, the undisputed king of the underworld was Bumpy Johnson.

He was called an old-fashioned gentleman. He was called a pimp. A philanthropist and a thief. A scholar and a thug. A man who admonished children to stay in school, and a man who some say introduced heroin into Harlem.

Bumpy was a man whose contradictions are still the root of many an argument in Harlem. But there is one thing on which both his supporters and detractors agree in his lifetime, Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson was the man in Harlem. People best remember him as the hot youngblood who fought to keep the notorious and murderous Dutch Schultz from taking over the Harlem numbers racket. In reality he was so much more.

Getting A Literary Agent

Getting A Literary Agent

First of all, what is a literary agent?

He or she is a person who presents a writer's work to a publishing house, negotiates the writer's contract, and acts as an advocate for the writer and a go-between for the writer and the publishing house.

An agent normally gets a 15 percent commission of the writer's contract. If an agent is asking for more than 15 percent they should give you a damn good reason why!

And please remember, no reputable agent will EVER ask you for money out of your pocket. The agent should not get paid unless they get you a contract, and then they get their money off the top. The publisher does not send you royalty checks, they send the checks to the agent. The agent then cashes the check, and cuts you a check for the amount of the royalty minus their commission. No reputable agent will ever require a reading fee, a retainer fee, or any other kind of fee. They get their commission, and that's it!

Sample Query Letter - Fiction

SAMPLE QUERY LETTER - FICTION



(SAMPLE QUERY LETTER -- Remember the best query letters are NEVER more than two pages long. Try to stick to one page. Letter should be single-spaced, and you should try to hook the agent from the very beginning. Remember to focus on your manuscript, what it's about, why it's unique, and what makes it worth publishing. You should also compare to other books on the market so the agent can quickly get a feel for what kind of book you've written so as to decide if they want to read it. Also, let them know how long the manuscript is -- not how many pages but how many words. That's how manuscripts are measured. And finally, tell them something about you, and why you're qualified to write this book. If you've never written anything before, don't bother mentioning that . . . just say that you love to write and completing your novel has been an enjoyable endeavor or something. Oh! And one more important thing . . . most agents now accept query letters via email. THE RULE IS, THOUGH; SEND THE QUERY IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL, AND NOT AS AN ATTACHMENT!!!!!!!!!)


Dear Ms. ________,
It wasn't that Regina Harris wanted to be a Harlem street woman, she simply had no choice. Orphaned at 13, and with an infant niece to support, she becomes a shoplifter and a "professional girlfriend" to make ends meet. But when she's shot, and almost killed, while hanging out with a cocaine dealer, Regina turns her life around. She goes back to school, graduates from college, and begins a successful journalism career.

How To Write A Query Letter

How To Write A Query Letter
First of all . . . What is a query letter?

It's a letter sent to agents letting them know about your manuscript, and asking them for representation. Nowadays almost no publisher will take a manuscript directly from a writer -- they want the writer to have an agent. It's sort of a filtering out process for the publisher.

The problem is agents are inundated with query letters . . . so make sure yours stands out from the pack. Below are some tips for writing query letters:

Publishing Tips - What is a Query Letter?


A query letter is a short letter (preferably one-page!) a writer sends to a literary agent or a book/magazine publisher. The purpose is to inform the agent/publisher about their manuscript in order to obtain representation (in the case of an agent) or publication of their writing (in case of a publisher.)

The most important thing to remember when sending out a query letter IS THAT IT is THE FIRST SAMPLE OF WRITING THE RECIVER WILL SEE!!! Therefore, it must be perfect. If you send out a one page letter with errors, the receiver will rightfully assume that your manuscript will be riddled with errors. Please believe me, no matter how tantalizing your book might be, no one wants to be bothered reading it knowing you don’t know how to write.

And, yes, if you send out a query letter with errors the assumption will be that you don’t know how to write. Or, that you don’t care enough about your writing to proofread it before sending it out – and that’s just as bad.

You want to immediately hook the reader of your query letter, so make sure you open with a zinger. Many people open with the “My name is ____ and I am writing to request representation for my manuscript . . .” but I suggest you make that sentence the opening of your second or third paragraph, and instead open up by telling what your book is about. AND MAKE IT INTERESTING.

Don’t go off, saying you’ve written the next New York Times Best Seller. Of course you have. And so has every other aspiring author who’s written the agent that day. Just get down to the nitty-gritty of what the book is about. One or two paragraphs should be enough.

Use the next paragraph to introduce yourself. Don’t only give your name, but also let the agent know a little about you. And while witty if fine, cutesy is not. Act like the professional you want yourself perceived to be.

In the next paragraph let the agent know why you decided to write this particular book, and give the manuscript length – use a word count, not the number of pages. Also, compare your manuscript to already published books so the agent can get a feel for how best the book might be marketed.

And in the very last paragraph, give your contact information – including telephone number and email address – and let the agent know you’d like to send them the full manuscript of the first few chapters, if they’d prefer. If you’re sending the query letter out via snail mail, be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope so the agent can get back to you quickly.

Responses to query letter can take anywhere from two weeks to two months, so I would suggest that you send out more than one query letter at a time rather than wait months for one only to find you’ve been rejected.

I will be including a sample query letter in a follow-up post so you can get a clearer idea of what one should look like.

Good luck you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!