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How to Format a Query Letter

When you’re ready to start sending your work to agents, you’ll need to write a query letter. It’s the way writers introduce themselves and pitch their books to busy agents who want to cut right to the chase.

Every writer will go through query letter drafting and revising throughout their experience, so following this guide won’t be the last time you have to work on structure. However, these are the most essential parts of a query letter that can help you form your next draft.

**Heads up—every literary agent will have specific things they’re looking for in query letters/submission packets. You’ll find that within their bio on the website of their employer or in their profile on Query Tracker.**

**If you find a publisher’s website and want to submit through there, you’ll also need to edit queries according to their guidelines, typically specified under the “Submissions” part of their website.**

Most Important Takeaways

• Query letters should only be one page long, unless a different length is okay with the agent according to their specifications.
• Your query letter is a pitch, not a place for cliff hangers or flowery language. They want specific details!
• It can take weeks or months for an agent to get back to you after you submit your query letter. Don’t take it personally! They’re very busy with current clients in addition to their open submission inboxes.

Step 1: Check Your Agent’s Requirements

You can draft a general query letter, but you’ll always have to edit it for each submission. Agents require different things, which is outlined in their profile on their employer’s website or on Query Tracker.

Write down everything your dream agent wants in a submission packet or copy/paste to a new document. Missing information will likely result in them passing on your work, unless they’re super head over heels for it.

Step 2: Write Your Greeting

Don’t stress over this too much! It’s smart to stick with something professional and always address them by last name, like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

If you’re submitting to a general submission email, it’s still good to address the agent you intend to query. Whoever is sorting through the inbox will pass it along to the right person.

Remember—your greeting should be the first line of your letter. Don’t follow it immediately with your intro.

Correct: Dear Mr. Finch,

Incorrect: Dear Mr. Finch, I hope this finds you well. I wanted to…

Step 3: Write Your First Paragraph

Scary stuff! You might think this paragraph would include a bit about you, why you wanted to write your story, etc. However, that’s not why your agent opened their submission inbox.

They are opening your query letter to find out about your project. To draft this paragraph, it helps to make a bullet point list of the necessary information, like:

• Your manuscript’s title
• Your one-sentence summary
• Its genre
• Its word count
• Its comparable titles (more on that below)
• Your intended audience’s age group (more on that below)

I’m going to make up some information to help you visualize this a bit better. My imaginary manuscript will be:

Title: The Phoenix Flies Blind

One-Sentence Pitch: When 17-year-old Samra Ularen runs away from home, her journey across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe introduces her to a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Word Count: 75,000 words

Comparable titles: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Intended Audience: 16-21 year olds, plus adult women who enjoy YA fantasy

Let’s put this into an introductory paragraph. After the greeting, the letter would start on a new line and look something like:

Dear Ms. Greenburg,

I’m seeking representation for my [debut, sophomore, etc.] [finished/unfinished] manuscript, The Dove Flies Blind (75,000 words). It’s a Young Adult Fantasy story about Samra Ularen, who runs away from home and adventures across the faerie kingdom of Cerathe. She quickly becomes friends with a gang of bandits hungry for her hidden powers and a weapon against the king—who happens to be her uncle. People ages 16-21 will enjoy this story if they also love Shade and Bone or The Cruel Prince, which both share themes of adventure, betrayal, and self-empowerment in coming-of-age narratives.

Yes, it’s a long paragraph, but agents want everything up front. Keeping it to 2-4 shorter sentences or 2-3 longer ones will tell them what they need to know about your book.

You may not be able to narrow down your paragraph. If that happens, don’t panic! Separating the plot summary and your intended audience/comparable books could be two mini paragraphs and everything’s going to be fine. As long as your letter stays one page long, it’s all good!

Some notes for picking comparable titles:

• Pick at least two-three books published in the last 2-3 years. Maybe in the last five years if you really feel that something that “old” is comparable to your theme/plot.
• More recent books are best because it shows that your book will sell! If readers are buying the latest releases in your genre with similar plots/characters/themes, an agent will be able to sell your work much more easily.
• If you need more help and don’t have time to read additional books in your genre, check out these resources: What You Need to Know About Comp Titles; How to Find Compelling Comps for Your Book;Comp Titles: The Key to Pitching Your Book

Step 4: Write the Body of Your Query (~2 Paragraphs)

Let’s break down the body of your query letter into two paragraphs. Each will have a specific purpose—there are no wasted words in queries!

Paragraph 1: Set the Stage

Your first paragraph will summarize what your character is like/where they are/what their life and world are like just before the inciting incident.

Example:

Samra Ularen lives in a manor just inside the capital city of Salmyre. She’s spent her life attending classes with her closest friends and following the rules set by her single mother, Alora. There was nothing she wanted more in the world than a life on the sunny beaches lining their city, but when her mother says they’re moving across the continent in less than 12 hours, Samra realizes how much her world means to her.

Paragraph 2: Introduce Your Protagonist’s Challenges

The inciting incident is the lead into your next paragraph, which will explain how your protagonist’s life gets more complicated throughout the plot.

Example:

After unsuccessfully trying to change her mother’s mind, Samra runs from their manor in the middle of the night. She steals a horse from behind a tavern and takes off across the city lines, into rolling meadows and the Shadowed Forest beyond. She doesn’t anticipate befriending bandits who live high in the trees and is even more shocked when they sense powers dormant beneath her skin. The bandits teach her how to wield flames from her fingertips while raiding travelers and villages. It isn’t until after Samra befriends their leader and lives with them for a few months that they force her to help them kill the king and install their leader on the throne—but they don’t realize she’s actually his niece. In following along and planning to run at the last moment, Samra learns that her mother needed to move because they were in hiding. The king wanted Samra dead before she was born.

This is another long paragraph and could be edited down/likely split into two parapgrahs, but you can see how this sets up the stakes. Samra runs away from home, experiences independence for the first time, and has to choose between family members over a history she’s never learned before. All while figuring out who she really is outside of her normal routine.

Agents need to know a manuscript’s stakes. If they don’t think there’s enough risk involved for or by a character to make the plot interesting/get the reader personally invested, they’ll pass without finishing your query letter.

If you’re really worried about dense paragraphs, you could potentially separate these two paragraphs into a third by formatting them like: setting the scene; raising the stakes; summary of what your protagonist will learn/how it relates to your themes.

Step 5: Write About Your Background (1 Paragraph)

Your last paragraph is all about you! Talk about what makes you awesome and why you’re the person to tell this story.

Here are a few examples:

I was compelled to write this story because I’m passionate about coming-of-age narratives and fantasy settings. Last year, I won first place in the National Fantasy Short Story Competition and published another flash fiction fantasy work in GenericFantasyMagazine. Currently, I work full time for Google and write creatively as a hobby.

I graduated in 2013 from State College with a BFA in Creative Writing and a minor in English. Since then, I’ve placed as a semi-finalist in Fiction Stories Competition. I write creatively for fun and work full-time as a marketing assistant.

I’ve read fantasy since I could pick up a book and always wrote short stories in that genre. This is my first novel-length manuscript and it means so much to me because I think this genre needs more coming-of-age [other types of representation here] representation. This is a stand-alone novel, but I have ideas that could extend it into a trilogy.

You don’t need a writing degree or first-place competition awards to finish your query letter. All the agents want to know is why you wrote this manuscript, plus whatever other career-related information may be relevant if you have anything.

Step Six: End With a Professional Goodbye

I like to end my query letters with a thank you, since many agents do lit work as a secondary job and have a full-time gig in another field. Even if they’re full-time, they’re likely dealing with hundreds of submissions at a time when they open to queries while working with their current clients.

You could end your letter with something like:

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I’m grateful for your time.

Thank you for your consideration.

And end it with:

Sincerely,

[Your First/Last Name]

Always Revise for Each Agent

If you’re copying/pasting your query letter into submission boxes or emails and hitting send, you’re not going to have good results.

You’ll likely send a letter addressed to a previous agent or leave out formatting/required info specified in an agent’s bio.

Always read through your current query draft and revise as needed before sending it to a new agent.

Best of Luck!

I hope this helps you draft your first query letter with a bit more confidence! Use these guidelines to get a rough draft ready and come back to it when you’re in a calm, confident headspace to edit.

When in doubt, always refer to an agent’s requirements in their bio or what’s required in Query Tracker. That site will have a box for you to copy/paste your letter, but it will also ask you to type out specifics, like the bullet points in Step 3.

If you’re going to submit more than one letter, I’d recommend keeping a spreadsheet! Record things like:

• The name of the agent
• Their publisher
• A link to their bio
• How you submitted your query (email, Query Tracker, general publisher submission page)
• The date you submitted
• If the agent specifies when they get back to writers (many will give 2-3 month turnaround estimates)
• If they’ve responded (you could write things like “passed on my query,” “requested a bigger sample,” “requested the full manuscript,” etc.)

It’s much easier to reflect on who you might want to follow up with or who you’ve already queried as time goes on. It’s rarely a good idea to query the same agent twice after they reject you, unless they specify what you could work on within your manuscript to make them more interested.

Get that first draft down and you’ll feel much better about taking your second step into the journey of getting published.

Other resources you might find helpful:

The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Query Letter

The Complete Guide to Query Letters

How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter

Read A Sample Literary Agent Query Letter, With Hints & Tips

How to Write a Query Letter: All the Do’s and Don’ts