So Query Letters are a topic I feel I know a fair amount about.
Back when I was pushing my first novel (It wasn’t good and I don’t blame the agents for the rejections) I thought it was just a matter of getting the query right. Basically I had this crazy idea that if your query was good enough that meant the book would get sold.
It’s not that easy…
You do need a good query. You need it to have the magic-
- Strong hook
- Engaging characters & plot
- Fascinating setting
- Well researched pitch
BUT– you also need to have pages that reflect this AMAZING query you just wrote.
What I mean is if you tell an agent it’s ready for them, and their is a basic typo on page 2… or a name misspelled… or the formatting sucks. What you’re really communicating is that you rushed it, and it don’t care enough to polish it up.
Here is why that matters. The agent needs to love your book as much as you do. They need to be willing to invest their time and energy into selling, promoting, and pushing your book out into the world. They will want a partnership with you to care for this literary love child you’re having together. They will want you to care as much/more than they do about it. THAT CARE IS SHOWN IN THE QUALITY OF THE WORK.
So as you can guess by now I’m polishing, and this post is the latest attempt to procrastinate away from my literary love child.
Back to editing!
-kurt
