Rather than giving all of my thoughts on writing a query letter in one post, I thought I would break it up into steps. Today, we’re going to focus on what you need to do first. And honestly, the first step to writing a query letter has absolutely nothing to do with actually composing the letter itself.

And, just in case the heading of this post isn’t clear enough, I’m only talking about query letters for fiction. I have zero experience with the submitting process for non-fiction. I’m going to assume that you’re initially going to be focused on acquiring representation, so I’m going to be using the term “agent” throughout this series of posts. But if, for whatever reason, you’ve been unsuccessful in finding representation and want to try your luck with submitting your novel to publishers directly, then the same basic steps will work.

First, naturally, you need to have a finished manuscript. Not only a finished manuscript, but a vetted and edited manuscript. Do not send off a query for a project you’ve barely started under the assumption that you’ll be able to finish it before hearing back from an agent. When I was still searching for representation, I’d had responses in less than fifteen minutes. And yeah, I had some take months. But regardless, you want that manuscript to be as polished and clean and perfect as YOU know how to make it before sending out even one query letter.

Got it? This is really important. The last thing you want to do is grab an agent’s interest and not be ready to send the goods in. Or to send in something you know isn’t your best work.

But, what you CAN do before the manuscript is finished is research. You can also wait until you’re ready to submit, if you prefer. However, research is what I want to talk about here.

You might be thinking, “What is there to research? I’ve written a book. I want to publish it. I need an agent. I’ll just submit to all of them and hope one bites.” Nooooo. Don’t do this! For one, you don’t want to submit to a bunch of agents all at once with an untested query letter. You might get feedback that will help you tweak your letter for another round of submissions, but if you’ve already submitted to every agent you can find, then you’re sort of out luck. So give youself some wiggle room.

Secondly, and more importantly, you really want to focus on the agents who you think:

• your work will resonate with,
• you’ll work well with,
• will be able to help you achieve your career goals,
• have personalities and work-ethics compatible to yours,
• and, naturally, who are legitimate and well-versed in the industry

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Luckily, you have the internet on your side. Nearly all agents have some sort of a web presence, and many of them write a blog. In fact, if you skim the links to the left, you’ll find several agent blogs are linked right here. There are more out there. Cast your net wide and be willing to take your time to learn as much as you can about the agents you might want to submit to. Read their sites, their blogs, look them up on Absolute Write Water Cooler and Agent Query, and if you have $20 a month to spend, you can even join Publishers Marketplace for publishing news as well as having the ability to see what’s selling, who’s buying what, and what agents are representing those sales (though, this information isn’t complete, as only those sales that are reported are included).

Just don’t phone an agent with basic submission questions. In fact, don’t cold-call agents ever.

You’ll likely have a list of possibilities fairly quickly. But that doesn’t mean you should stop researching. You might want to spend some money (or make a visit to the library), and read a few books that the agents on your list represent. This is even better if the books are the same genre as your manuscript. Get a feel for the types of stories the agents you’re interested in represent, and make a note of those you especially like, as well as those that you think are similar in some way to your manuscript. This could be voice, writing style, overall tone, plot, etc.

Now, go through your list again, and see which names really jump out at you. Which agents make your heart go pitter-patter with excitement? Which agents do you have a good feeling about, but maybe aren’t quite as excited about as you are others? And, which agents are you not so sure about? You might even have a few that you decide at this stage would not be a good match.

Rank them from your dream agent(s) on down, and cross off those you know you’re not going to query. Make note of how the agents like to be queried: email or snail mail? with page/chapter samples or no? with a synopsis or no?

There. Now you’re ready to write the query letter. As long as the manuscript is finished, of course. If it isn’t, because you decided to start researching early, then keep your list current as you continue to research, so it will be ready to go when you are.

Up Next: Part two of writing a query letter

Tags: Query Letter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 2:55 pm and is filed under The Business of Writing, Writing, Writing Process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.