Query letters. The subject can make a writer’s blood run cold. Different agents say they want different things. When is a query letter ready to go out? Most first novelists know the standard info: Research a bunch of agents, then write a killer (read: perfect) query letter. Trouble is, “perfect” varies from agent to agent. Writers pour blood, sweat and many tears into perfecting this baby they call a query. Draft after draft hones the copy until it sparkles, shines, sings or tap dances. Is it ready to go?
Not so fast.
Agent A says ALWAYS mention complementary books or styles, to show you know where on the shelf you novel goes. Agent B says NEVER mention a complementary book or style. A says she wants to be swept off her feet by the first paragraph. B would rather you open with a reference to how you chose her or at which conference you met. Who’s right?
Writing Tip for Today: Caveat: My advice on querying agents presupposes that you have written a tight, focused novel that’s polished, original and completed. If so, are you letting months fly by while you perfect your query letter? Have you rewritten that thing so many times you dream it at night? Afraid to mail it, knowing you’ll find out the next day how wrong wrong wrong your approach was?
My experience with query letters (for snagging representation for a novel) is mostly with rejections. A lot of them. And I do understand that the adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is true. But if you hang onto the query letter for years while you perfect it, or rewrite it according to every supposedly “killer” query you find, you may never make contact with any of the fine literary agents you researched so thoroughly.
My advice: Do your best. Consult some experts–Literary agents themselves often will give a detailed tutorial on queries on their websites or in market books. Pay most attention to the agent who’s actively representing other writers in your same genre. Write, rewrite, rinse and repeat. Tighten it until it’s squeaky. Then send it off, email or snail mail. You may gather a lot of rejections, but you may also hit pay dirt. Whatever you do, don’t allow years to go by while you worry if your query letter is good enough. Time’s running out.