Category: Thoughts and Tips on Querying

After months of brooding over my query letter, writing and re-writing it, submitting it to public scrutiny on WriteOnCom and QueryTracker (more about this tool in a moment), and getting it to a point...

Some writers like to start their queries with the title/word count/genre paragraph (what I call the “housekeeping” paragraph). I believe I mentioned before, when discussing the opening address, that I prefer to leave this...

I don’t know if that’s what this part of the query letter is officially called, but let’s call it that for now. It’s the part between the “Dear [Agent]” and the word count, genre,...

So, you’re ready to write your query.  Where to begin?  Do you put your address information?  Do you put the agent’s address information?  How do you write the salutation?  Here’s what I have learned,...

All this talk about querying and agents (okay, two posts so far) may have left you wondering, why bother with an agent anyway?  Can’t I just take my precious manuscript directly to a publisher,...

Let’s start by saying what a query is not.  It is not a proposal.  A proposal is typically for a non-fiction work.  Say, for example, you have a great idea for a book, “Speaking...

I have completed a couple of novels, but I have yet to submit a query (this won’t be true for long, Lord willing).  Why, then, do I think I have anything useful to say...