Here you will find advice and insights on a wide variety of topics from our members.
Crafting a Great Agent Query
by Susan Leon
Congratulations! You’ve completed your novel or non-fiction project and are ready to search for representation. The good news is that there many fine agents out there and they are always looking for new talent; it’s tough to hear, however, that they are inundated with submissions. Breaking through requires the strongest possible query letter (done as email) to capture their initial interest and prompt an invitation to send more. I say initial because even the best query won’t get you an agent unless your manuscript (for fiction) or book proposal (for non-fiction) has the goods. But let’s stay positive!
In my many years of working with new writers on their fiction or non-fiction manuscripts, I’ve been heartened when I know their projects are ready to market. They’ve worked hard, revised, and revised again. But I also know that many agent-seekers send out their queries prematurely, before the work is as close to perfect as it can be, or that their letters don’t do them any favors. The project descriptions are tedious; irrelevant personal information is shared; extravagant claims about readership are made. So, their disappointment is understandably keen when the agents are unresponsive (meaning, not even receiving the courtesy of a “no thank you”).
When I work with writers, I always assist them with this critical final piece, helping them to plan, then craft their letters (which I then edit without charge). That’s how important insuring a great letter is to me. I don’t want to see all their hard work, effort, and dreams, crushed because of a poorly executed pitch. Over time, I have developed some strong opinions about what makes a strong letter. And my IEG colleagues and I speak to agents regularly as well, and we like to ask what they look for in a letter, what appeals to them, and what turns them away. Also, a smart letter gives the agent who takes you on a head start at creating the template for the letter they will one day soon (knock wood) send across to the Promised Land – the desks of the editors and publishers who do the acquiring.
Fiction and non-fiction pitches share a similar, though not exact, bloodstream, so for our purposes consider the following strategies as generally applicable to each. We’ll move quickly past some basics, then to what elevates a merely satisfactory letter into an irresistible pitch.
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The components – All letters address five areas roughly rolling out as follows: Why this agent; What’s the topic (paragraph 1); Tell me more about it (paragraph 2, 3) ; Who are My Readers (paragraph 3 or 4) and Who am I (closing). We’ll look more closely at each but also know it’s okay to play with your roll out if moving the pieces around gives you an easier, fresher or more sensible presentation. Just be sure to tap into each piece.
Format – Use single space, block style paragraphs; 12 pt type. Be sure to proofread! Sloppy mistakes can be disqualifying (misspelling the agent’s name, sending to several agents in the same organization in a group ask), and never address an agent by their first name (believe me, I’ve seen this).
Don’t over-write – Aim for a one-page letter. If you need to tip onto a second page, just be sure you aren’t pushing beyond an additional paragraph or two. Avoid excessive personal or narrative details. Focus on the reader experience: what the project is about, how you tell it, why it will matter to readers – but avoid immoderate advocacy about why your book will knock the world off its axis. Use your one-page of real estate thoughtfully and wisely.
Finishing your Pitch – At the conclusion of your letter be sure to thank the agent for their time, provide your contact information and explain what is available for them to read should they request it. For fiction, this means having a finished, polished manuscript and a solid book proposal and strong sample chapter for non-fiction. Be sure to provide a word count, actual or planned.
Elevating Your Query
Do your homework – Agents want to know you’re querying them because it’s a good fit. You share a sensibility, have compatible subject area interests; they represent a writer who inhabits a similar literary terrain. They work with emerging writers like yourself or have a particular affinity for unusual love stories, or for fiction set in Ireland, or for business books about strategy and leadership or video gaming. (In their website bios, agents will often drill into what they enjoy as readers or what engages them for just this reason.) Perhaps you met them at a writer’s conference or at a bookstore appearance, introduced yourself and spoke briefly. Maybe someone known to the agent suggested you reach out. Each query you send needs to be customized, just like a resume. If an agent thinks you’ve written them randomly, you will probably not hear back from them.
TIP: To curate your agents list, visit a good local bookstore and pull titles off the shelves that resonate. Look at the Acknowledgments. Authors often thank their agents. A second suggestion: purchase a one-month membership to Publisher’s Marketplace, the industry’s pre-eminent source for news. A paid membership allows you to access a voluminous agent database where you can gather names and interest areas of every agent in the business along with learning about their recent sales. (A paid, ongoing subscription to the newsletter is also a great investment in the ways and direction of our changing industry.) Lastly, be a reader. Keep up with what’s been recently published or critically or commercially recognized in your interest area.
Tell a story – This is perhaps the single most important guidance I can offer. Begin your letter with something arresting that will engage them. Agents tell me that when they read such a query, it’s catnip. It can be a detail about your plot or main character; a previously unknown fact or piece of data, or an anecdote that creates interest in reading on. A letter for a history of the final days of the Civil War began by describing the little known last act of the Confederate Congress: the emancipation of the slaves. Agents were hooked and immediately understood this wasn’t going to be just “another” Civil War narrative. You may want to start with something that forges an empathetic connection, or that explains the genesis of your project and your passion for it.
As you move into the next paragraph of your query to describe the project, remember that even practical non-fiction books tell a story (which we see in its structure, in how the manuscript is built out) and, like fiction, leads us somewhere. As you describe your narrative, be concise but also descriptive. The task is to stay on point but to write expressively, even luminously, and to give both voice and selective compression to what you share. Let them see you are a clear thinker and thoughtful writer. Finish up by explaining where the reader will arrive: what you hope the reader will experience, feel or more greatly understand.
TIP: To help clients, I often send them to their bookshelves to look at jacket or back cover copy where a story or an information-driven book is distilled in a compelling way. This kind of modeling (necessarily shortened by you in your own letter) can lift a rote description in a more persuasive, distinctive way.
Highlight your strengths – Are there professional associates or writers you know who could provide an advance quote or write an Introduction? Do you have an MFA? A blog or newsletter (with five-figure followers)? A meaningful social media presence? What about your day job? I once had a client who charmed agents by virtue of having quit Madison Avenue to move to New England and open a small inn. Another client led an overseas division of a super-hot company that everyone was talking about – but buried that detail in the final paragraph of his pitch. We flipped the paragraphs, so that detail appeared immediately. But he did this in a gentle, humble way so not to come off as intimidating or impressed with himself. “In my position as Asia VP of Hot Company I spend a lot of time away from my family, on airplanes. The long hours pass most easily for me while on my laptop, at 38,000 feet, working on the novel I’ve now completed and hope you’ll want to represent…” In fact, every agent who read his letter asked to see the full manuscript. Not all of them – far from it – asked to represent him. But all you need is one.
Consider your tone – Be respectful and quietly confident. Do not try to be cute or funny, let the work do that (one piece of self-deprecating humor is ok, maybe). Comedians in real life, are never “on” either. Remember, an agent is also assessing in this letter whether your collaboration is going to be successful. Meaning, are you going to be pleasant to work with, or trouble. You want to come off as intelligent, talented and nice. That first impression matters. (One agent and her assistant, upon hearing that a major best-selling client was dismissing them and signing elsewhere, cracked open a champagne bottle. True story: nothing was worth the abuse and aggravation this client gave. But I digress.)
Don’t overreach – When drawing on other titles to make a case for shared readerships, keep the comps current, between 2-3 years ideally -- and stay away from obvious best-sellers. While there are always defensible exceptions, particularly with non-fiction where you have new sources and a fresh viewpoint, don’t compare your book to a title long of print, or to an iconic or overworked bestseller. There was a time in the wake of The DaVinci Code where every writer who summoned that same readership found their query letters tossed into the circular file. One agent who represents a lot of successful commercial women’s fiction told me she stops reading any letter mentioning Colleen Hoover.
Ask yourself, are the titles and authors you name going to prompt a “hmm, that sounds interesting!” or an eye roll? Try to home in on good, quality writers and titles who are reflective of the literary, commercial and intellectual quality of your work, that validate the fact you’re a discerning reader, and that you’ve given the question of who your readers will be serious thought. Agents are more likely to conclude you’re a serious writer, too.
Pay attention to each agent’s particular requirements – Agents will tell you on their websites if they want a reading sample embedded in your email -- one chapter, three, a synopsis, a proposal, or – more likely – just your query letter, thank you. Read these carefully – even agents within the same organization have different requirements. Send them ONLY what they specify. Do not try to sneak in something they haven’t asked for. If your letter doesn’t do the job of making an agent want to read more, attaching your book proposal for them to thumb through won’t either. Agents have so much to read and process. You don’t want to annoy them and risk their deleting your inquiry.
Yes, you can submit to several agents at a time, but no, you should not pitch to more than one agent at a time in the same company. (The agency’s general instructions section about submissions will give you specific guidance on when you might try another colleague. Pay attention, do your homework and don’t waste your opportunity.)
TIP: If an agent turns you down but provides constructive feedback and you make revisions, you can return to the agent and ask to re-submit. Explain that you took what they said to heart and on that basis, rewrote the manuscript (or whatever might have been appropriate). You have thus flattered and persuaded the agent you paid attention to their criticism and respected the time they gave you. Almost always, in my experience, they will agree to read the revised manuscript.
Revise – Finally, as with your manuscript, plan to keep reworking your query until you know it’s right. These letters are first and foremost business instruments. Agents need to be hooked but they also must agree that a robust book market for your project exists. They need to believe they’ll have a strong shot at placing your project. (Anything an agent does until they sell a project is unpaid.) Craft a letter that will make your strongest case for why this will be so. So many elements go into the elixir of matching agent and client. Once that happens, you and your agent will become a team, and a published book and readers will follow. But first you have to engage that all-important first reader.