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Writing a Query Letter
Literary Agents
Prefer a One-Page Cover
WRITING TIPS
The Cover Letter
A RECOMMENDATION
BY AUTHOR
TODD
J. PIERCE
S
o
you aren't sure what to put in your cover letter?
Here's the good news. |
THREE
PARAGRAPHS |
Paragraph
One: Introduction and Summary of Work |
| PROFESSIONAL
LETTERHEAD :: Editor's Note: Don't use a seafoam
color, we're just out of parchment this week. Ima Storyteller, Sr. 
Writers Lane
Saga City, NY |
| Dear
(Name of Specific Agent or Editor):
I would like to submit my manuscript, (Title of Novel), to your agency. (Title of Novel) is a story about (two or three sentences of summary, no more). In ways, it is similar to other books recently published, such as (Book Titles). |
Paragraph
Two: All About You |
Presently I am the Assistant to the Director of Creative Writing at Florida State University, where, next year, I will graduate with a Ph.D. I also hold an MFA (UC Irvine) and an MA (Oregon State). My stories have been published in about 15 journals, the most recent being American Short Fiction, The Literary Review, and The Greensboro Review. This year, I will have stories in The South Dakota Review, The South Carolina Review, Speak, and again in The Literary Review (a novella this time). Earlier this year I won the Charles Angoff Award for Literary Excellence, and in previous years I received an IAP award and a Humanities Grant. I've had non-fiction anthologized in a number of books, including Southern Studies, Australia Literature, the textbook Rethinking How We Teach Creative Writing, and Salon's Guide to Contemporary Authors (Viking/Penguin, 1999). |
Paragraph Three: Contact Number and Closing |
| Thank
you again for reading my work. Please, feel free to call me at home:
(123) 456-7890. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely, Ima Storyteller, Sr |
11 Tips BY TODD J. PIERCE |
| Tip #1 :: Wait until your work is absolutely finished before submitting. You rarely get a second chance with a good editor or agent. |
| Tip #2 :: Find the right agent or editor. Find novels which are like your manuscript, then find out their agent and editor. How? Simple, call the publishers. Most are very willing to offer this information. |
| Tip #3 :: Worried about Paragraph Two, the personal history? Have nothing to say? Be imaginative. Why are you the best person to have written this novel? How has your personal experience prepared you for it? |
| Tip #4 :: Still worried? Never published anything? A cover letter is a persuasive document designed to do one thing: entice an editor or agent to read your manuscript. |
| Tip #5 :: Don't take tip four too far. It's best not to say you've been published in, say, The New Yorker, if you haven't. Editors and Agents ask about that. |
| Tip #6 :: Never, never, never list the word count. Not even on short stories. It's says, HACK, in bold letters. It is a lie perpetuated by Writer's Digest Books. No one cares about the exact word count. Editors and agents can see that a 300 page manuscript is, well, a 300 page manuscript. |
| Tip #7 :: If you talk about your own life, make sure it is related to your manuscript. No one will care if you're a Tennis Pro and Mother of Three, unless your novel is also about these things. |
| Tip #8 :: Call. That's right, Call. Introduce yourself. Be confident. Let them know your work is coming. It's the surest way to get out of that slush pile and on to a desk. Too afraid to call? Write out what you want to say, call AFTER HOURS, leave a voice message. It's not as good talking to a real person, but hey, it's better than nothing. |
| Tip #9 :: Do not--I repeat--Do not include postage for the return of your whole manuscript. A large, SASE with five bucks of stamps on it says, Shove it back in here right now. Instead, enclose a letter sized stamped envelope suitable for a letter only. This encourages the editor or agent to at least write to you. (But, as always, really good news comes with phone calls! Letters, for the most part, mean bad news.) |
| Tip #10 :: Mention only one or two manuscripts, at most, to any editor or agent. If you say, I've got seven more novels just like this, it tells the editor or agent, Hey, no one's wanted the other seven. |
Tip #11 :: Send a whole lot of letters out. Cast a big net. Expect rejection. Don't worry when you get it. Keep sending out more letters. If you have a friend who has an agent, ask that person to recommend you to their agent. That's the shortest way to the front of the line. If you don't have such a friend--or let's say that agent nixed you, too--consider attending a Writers Conference which agents and editors will attend. That's another short way to the front of the line. Be persistent. Be prepared to shell out a lot of bucks at the post office. I can think of no one--and, to be honest, I know a LOT of writers--who has found a book contract after only a few months of submitting. |
This article appears with permission from Mr. Pierce. This article is edited to conform to our site styles and formats, including our editorial philosophy. The opinions of Mr. Pierce are his own and have created some controversy about his business approach. We like vigorous discussion and we continue to read comments on blogs, sites, and student papers that add to the foam. It makes us think we are alive. And, it is fun to see how Mr. Pierce's comments raise the foam higher. Gawd Nose, we all need humor in our lives.
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