Query Critiques

An excellent manuscript will outshine a not-so-great query letter, but your query is still your first chance to make a good impression so it should be as polished and compelling as it can be.

I’ve offered a lot of advice on querying on this blog, and will continue to do so. Demonstration is a helpful means of education too, so I had thought about writing up a sample query letter that does all of the things I recommend and none of the things I warn against. Instead, I’m going to direct you to two other sites with examples that I think are very clear and helpful.

Editor Cheryl Klein annotates a query letter that worked for her, highlighting all the bits that made her happy.

Now, to see the process that gets a query to that sweet spot, head over to Ulysses, who won a contest to have his query critiqued by The Rejectionist. This is also a great peek into how the person reading your query letter thinks. Highly recommended.

Tagged as: query letter, submissions