I’ve had a couple of writers email me lately, looking for help with crafting a query letter.
I’m always hesitant about offering help, myself, in that area. My agent queries never did get off the ground, although my query for Pretty is as Pretty Dies netted me at least one publisher. :)
To me, it’s just sort of a chore—eliminate unnecessary words, fit in the word count and genre, give an interesting summation of your plot, and tell a little about yourself. The idea is really just to tempt the agent or editor into asking for more.
I have, though, come across some really useful information lately that I think would help writers who are looking for some querying help.
There have been blog posts recently, stating that the best time of year to query an agent is January. So what better time to brush up your querying skills?
At the top of my list is a series Writer’s Digest editor Jane Friedman is running— “The Ultimate Guide to Novel Queries”": http://tinyurl.com/3ye2u3m
An agent with querying tips: http://dld.bz/8vQN
9 tips for querying: http://dld.bz/8vPW
An agent on what *not* to do during the query process: http://dld.bz/7xUm
Your Query Submission Checklist: http://dld.bz/7xTU
An Agent on Addressing Your Query: http://dld.bz/6tzv
Smart Querying for Unagented Writers: http://dld.bz/6mah
An agent on seeing the words "utterly original" in a query: http://dld.bz/3BK8
This Query Sucks (or how to fail and still succeed): http://dld.bz/zzaj
Elements of a query letter: http://dld.bz/yDEu
Good luck with your querying!
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