YOU KNOW YOUR QUERY LETTER SUCKS WHEN ... You Haven't Grabbed Them Emotionally

When reading this series of articles from my good friend Jeff Rivera, please substitute "agent" for "publisher" and follow his advice to send us a query letter we'll be excited to read. ~Cheryl Tardif, publisher

YOU KNOW YOUR QUERY LETTER SUCKS WHEN ... You Haven't Grabbed Them Emotionally

by Jeff Rivera, founder of http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com

I love going to the movies. Chomping on the popcorn, being so engaged with the film that for two hours (and sometimes dreadfully much longer) you forget about your worries and strife and if you're lucky, you're swept away on an emotional journey that takes your breath away.

People want to feel the same way when they read your memoir or your novel and believe it or not, agents would love to feel the same way when they read your query letter.

Your query letter is supposed to be an example of your storytelling skills. But let's be honest, what if your story is just another Da Vinci Code knock off? What can you do to really grab the agent in that very first sentence?

I've ghost written over 100 query letters for clients and all of them, 100%, have gotten at least 10 top agents to request to read their manuscripts.

When I run across a client who's weak on spaghetti sauce but heavy on spaghetti, then I know that I need to dig a little deeper. Sometimes the selling point is the author themselves. Their backstory is much more interesting than the actual story they're telling.

I once had a client who had written a book of poetry, which anyone will tell you is the hardest thing to sell for an agent right next to a collection of short stories, yet his backstory of success from the tough streets of South Chicago to being an incredibly successful broadcast executive was so powerful, I just had to include that in the query letter.

The result? Over 30 clients requested to read his manuscript. In fact, you can read his query letter here: http://tinyurl.com/25t2mkj

Use this technique and you'll be one step closer to landing an agent.
______________________________________

If you would like to see an example of query letters that worked, visit: http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com

Jeff Rivera is the founder of http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com. He and his works have been featured or mentioned in Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat, Mediabistro, Los Angeles Times, New York Observer, NPR and many other media outlets.

Querying publisher tips...aka how NOT to query a publisher

Dear Cheryl Tardiff,
It is with great pleasure that I am submitting my manuscript sample. Hoping to hear from you in due course.
Sincerely,
Author

The above is an actual query letter received by an author, and the subsequent replies. Though I always give credit to authors who follow their dream, there is following it boldly and there is not doing your homework and being a bit annoying. The last thing you want to do is annoy a publisher.

In the above email, the writer clearly shows me he hasn't got a clue what we publish or what we're looking for. I appreciate those who take two minutes to read the guidelines and review WHAT we publish...and spell my name correctly. To be honest, I could have overlooked the spelling error if it weren't for the fact that this writer then proceeded to pitch us something entirely different from what we publish. NON-FICTION.

Our logline is: Quality fiction beyond your wildest dreams. One look at our book list tells you we publish...FICTION.

My reply:

Dear Author,
Thank you for your submission to Imajin Books. Unfortunately, we only publish fiction at this time and do not publish memoirs, so we’re not the right publisher for you.
We wish you the best success in your search for a publisher that can properly market your work. Keep trying!
All the best,
Cheryl Tardif, Imajin Books

My reply to the author was polite and friendly, explaining the issue, rejecting his manuscript kindly (the way I'd want to be rejected), with a positive message at the end. That should have been the end of this conversation. But it wasn't.

Dear Cheryl,
Although my manuscript is memoirs, it can also be classified as narrative non-fiction. Your submission details (which is enclosed as an attachment) does not say that you do not publish memoirs. I would urge you to read the chapters that I have sent you and then decide.
Regards,
Author

The author basically redefines his work and still describes it as NON-FICTION. Um, sorry but what part of "we only publish fiction" don't you understand? And by attaching OUR guidelines, he's insinuating I haven't read them. Um, I wrote them. And our guidelines say: "A novel..." Heads up, people! A novel is FICTION. Then he urges me to consider reading his memoirs...yeah, no, that's NOT going to happen.

His emails tell me a lot about him: he's new at querying publishers; he's probably never been published before; and he doesn't understand the business or some very simple etiquette that every writer should learn BEFORE they query an agent or publisher.

I'm not posting this to embarrass this writer--he probably won't be checking our blog any time soon. I'm posting this to help educate other writers who may be under the misconception that any of this would be a good way to approach a publisher. It isn't. We're busy people with deadlines and we have a lot of juggling and coordinating. We don't have times to argue with people about what we publish and what we don't publish. Read our guidelines and for goodness sake, check out our books. Buy a couple; see what exactly we're publishing, what we get excited about. If you give us something similar yet unique, we may just get excited about your FICTION work. :-)

And please...pitch us FICTION. We don't do NON-FICTION--and that includes memoirs.

YOU KNOW YOUR QUERY LETTER SUCKS WHEN ... "You Don't Grab Them in the First Sentence"

When reading this series of articles from my good friend Jeff Rivera, please substitute "agent" for "publisher" and follow his advice to send us a query letter we'll be excited to read. ~Cheryl Tardif, publisher

YOU KNOW YOUR QUERY LETTER SUCKS WHEN ... "You Don't Grab Them in the First Sentence"

by Jeff Rivera, founder of http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com

Agents are so busy nowadays they won't even give a query letter an entire paragraph to grab them.

If you've passed the first test, what I like to call the scan test (meaning it looks professional at first glance), then you'll be lucky to go on to the next test: the first sentence.

They might be patient enough to even give you the first few sentences but Honey, if you don't have it together by then, you can kiss your chances of landing that agent goodbye. There are so many different ways to grab an agent.

These are 5 of the techniques I use for my clients. I've ghost written over 100 query letters for clients successfully. 100% of them have received at least 10 top agents that have requested to read their manuscript or book proposal. In other words, use these techniques -- they work. There are over 60 different examples here: http://tinyurl.com/25t2mkj

You don't need to use all of them, just choose one.

TOP WAYS TO GRAB AN AGENT WITH YOUR QUERY LETTER IN THE VERY FIRST SENTENCE

1) Start with a question that makes them ponder?
2) Talk about a dramatic moment in your personal life that connects with the book you've written
3) Tell them immediately about your platform
4) Compliment them on a specific recent sale
5) Tell them who referred you

Use one of the 5 suggestions above and you'll be one step closer to landing an agent.
_________________________________________

If you would like to see an example of query letters that worked, visit: http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com

Jeff Rivera is the founder of http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com. He and his works have been featured or mentioned in Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat, Mediabistro, Los Angeles Times, New York Observer, NPR and many other media outlets.

Special series: You Know Your Query Letter Sucks When...

Over the next few weeks, we'll be featuring a series of articles by author Jeff Rivera, founder of HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com, that gives valuable information to authors considering sending queries to agents or publishers. If you're a new writer or aspiring author, you should read these posts and follow Jeff's advice. If you're a seasoned author, it may not hurt to brush up on your query skills.

Tip: When Jeff says "agent", substitute "publisher". Then query us the right way.

YOU KNOW YOUR QUERY LETTER SUCKS WHEN ... "You Say Dear Agent"

First impressions are so important to a literary agent, especially when they receive hundreds of query letters a day. They're on auto-pilot and can click delete faster than you can blink an eye.

You've got to grab them and you've got to be cautious not to give them any reason to click delete.

I still can't believe I have to even mention this because to most, it seems so obvious but you'd be surprised how many query letters I see that have this fatal mistake:

"Dear Agent" or worse yet, "To whom it may concern ..."

Um, hello! Would you be interested in reading a letter that didn't address you by your name? It's bad enough to get those spam emails using our full legal name, but how much worse when they say, "Dear Friend" or something even more impersonal.

Literary agents (and publishers) are people first, and agents (or publishers) second. Treat them like a human being and they'll treat you like a human being.

Yes, they know you're querying other agents. They're not stupid, but they don't want to hear about it. It's kind of like when you're first dating someone. You know you're not exclusive yet but you don't want to hear them talk about the passionate hot steamy sex they had with someone else the night before. No, and the same goes for an agent. They want to be treated as special.

If you can make your query letter as personalized as possible, starting with using their name (not "Dear Agent") you'll be that much closer to landing an agent.
_________________________________________

If you would like to see an example of query letters that worked, visit: http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com

Jeff Rivera is the founder of http://www.HowtoWriteaQueryLetter.com. He and his works have been featured or mentioned in Publishers Weekly, GalleyCat, Mediabistro, Los Angeles Times, New York Observer, NPR and many other media outlets.