#MarketingMondays: Do You Know How to Query?

Query

Have you ever asked yourself if you wanted to query an agent or publisher? Do you know what that entails? It isn’t as hard as some might say. There are a few things that need to be done to do it correctly. There are several ways this can be done, but you have to make sure that you do it right or you will end up on the slush pile. Nobody wants to end up there. Many people query, but they don’t do it correctly and get rejected because they didn’t follow the rules that were set for them or what the company asked for.

There are many do’s and don’ts that follow querying. You should not make things awkward for you or the person you are querying. One of the biggest do’s is that you should always follow the requirements set out by the agent or the company that they work for. If you do this, you will find that you may get a better response than if you don’t do what they ask. I have read that there are many agents that get angry about this because people don’t follow the rules and it makes their job hard.

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When querying, you want to make sure that your first paragraph hooks the reader/agent, and makes them want to read more of your work. You want them to be excited about reading your work. You want them to ask you for the manuscript. Don’t send the manuscript unless they ask for it because that is a big no-no. Make sure that you have someone read your work and your query letter to make sure that it is proofread and doesn’t have any errors. This will help when the agent reads your work because they like to see authors that don’t have any grammatical errors.

Make sure that your query is only one page and not anymore. This will show the agent that you can follow instructions. Mention why are you are approaching that particular agent and try your best to compare your work to something else that they have represented. State the page count and the title of your work. Make sure that you address the query letter specifically to the agent by their name. Don’t refer to you work as a fiction novel because that is a redundant phrase, just call it a novel.

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Just remember that you are the one that is in charge of what you are writing. Make sure that you don’t try to convince them in a rough tone and keep it light. If you are going to try to get the agent to read your work you have to follow the rules. Writing only one page and using a hook will get them to want to read your work. Good luck when querying and here’s to hoping it leads to publication.