Query Us
Traditionally, writers agonize over query letters almost as much as they do over their books. But it is simpler to write an effective query letter than you think.
If you don't understand the concept of "urgency," or "hook," or "attention-grabbing," read Alexandria Constantinova (formerly writing as "Sherri") Szeman's article from The Writer (reprinted in The Writer's Handbook 1997 and in The Novel Writer's Handbook) about how to get urgency into your work: "Urgency: Good Writing Needs It". And, by the way, urgency applies as much to non-fiction and poetry as it does to fiction.Go to your local bookstore. Read the back covers, or the inside flaps, of as many books that are similar to yours as possible. Though it is the editors of these books who have written this copy, the purpose of the copy is to interest the reader, to get the reader's attention and get him to purchase the book. If you have an e-reader, read the Description or Overview of books like yours.
Pretend you are writing the back cover information, the e-reader Description or Overview for your own book.
Intrigue the reader. Grab the reader's attention. Have urgency. Don't let that reader leave the physical or online bookstore without a copy of your book in hand or being downloaded to his reader. Remember not to tell the reader how your book ends or he won't buy it.
- Condense that "cover copy" into a one-sentence pitch that doesn't reveal the book's ending and that makes us desperate to "open" the book and read the first sentence.
- Give us your attention-grabbing first sentence.
- Give us the title, which, ideally, should also have urgency. (Don't worry if it doesn't: titles are part of marketing, which is the editors'/publisher's job, so your title might get changed.)
If we like your query, we'll ask you to email us a portion of your manuscript, 10-25 pages. If we like what we read there, if it maintains our interest & we believe we could successfully market it, we'll ask for more - perhaps even for the entire manuscript.
If your query doesn't work for us, we won't send you a form letter: we'll tell you why it doesn't work for our house. If we know of any other houses for which your book might be more suitable, we'll let you know that, too.
That's all there is to it.
If you want to tell us that you have an agent, fine, but we'll wonder why your agent isn't pitching us the book. If you want to tell us you've been published before, that's fine, too. It won't influence our decision to look at your manuscript.
If you want to send us delicious foreign chocolate, dark and bittersweet, in an attempt to bribe us, we'll appreciate the gesture, but, since we don't know you, we won't be able to eat it, and, besides, it won't affect our opinion of your ability to get us interested in your book.
You can tell us about your children, grandchildren, hobbies, career, education, etc. We'll probably find it interesting, but it'll have no impact on our decision to request, accept, or reject your manuscript since we never read about an author's career or background (or look at attached photos) until after we've read the query or entire manuscript (and made a decision on it).
Whether you consider our query guidelines ludicrously restrictive or creatively challenging is up to you. But, yes, this is a test of your ability to follow instructions, of your writing skill, of your ability and willingness to work with our editors, and of your ability to "pitch" your book to potential readers (which you will constantly be required to do if your book gets published because people will come up to you and ask, "What's your book about?" and they won't stand around for half an hour listening to you blather on).
It also gives us an idea of how professional you'll be, and whether we'll want to work with you as one of our authors.
So, there you have it. RockWay's ingredients for a fantastic query:-
brilliant, engaging, riveting, intriguing back cover copy that would make a reader buy your book BUT reduced to the one-sentence pitch that does NOT reveal the ending and makes us desperate to "open" the book and read the staggeringly interesting
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first sentence that's so unique one of our editors will want to pick up the phone and tell you to send more before s/he even reads
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your title, which has so much urgency we wouldn't even have to worry about thinking about a better title in order to sell your book, your title is that good.
Web-Site © 2004-2012 by RockWay Press, LLC and Alexandria Constantinova Szeman
RockWay Press, LLC Logo © 2004 by Alexandria Constantinova Szeman.
Wetplate Collodian Photograph of Cathedral Rock © 2004 by Robert J. Szabo. Used with artist's gracious permission.
Web-site Updated: Monday 20 February 2012
