How to Query an Agent
© by Holly Lisle
All Rights Reserved
I received a letter recently asking if it would be better to send
a humorous letter to an agent when asking for representation than
a more serious one. I've included my response below, along with
a sample query letter and suggestions that you might find helpful
if you've reached this stage.
There is no secret to getting an agent but persistence, sadly.
I wouldn't recommend a gimmick or a "funny" letter. Every
agent and editor and publisher I know is inundated by people trying
to be different, when what all of them desperately want is someone
who is professional. I would recommend including a one-page
single-spaced synopsis of the work you're hoping to have the agent
submit that tells the complete story, including the ending. I would
keep the letter as businesslike and short as possible.
About persistence --- when I finished Fire in the Mist,
I queried Russ. He turned me down by form letter, but I was determined
that he was going to be my agent (he's one of the best in the field).
I didn't bother querying anyone else, because I didn't want anyone
else. So I sold my first novel on my own, and when I did, wrote
him a note that said, basically, "You suggested that I query you
again once I sold something. I sold my first book the first time
out to the first place I sent it, within a month of sending it out.
Would you be interested in representing me now?"
He contacted me by phone the day he got the letter.
That's the hard way to get an agent, kind of like drawing a spades
royal flush in a game of five card draw with nothing wild. But there
isn't an easy way. There will only be your way, and the way of the
other few who persist until they succeed.
Here's a sample of what you say in a query letter to an agent:
Joe Writer
Address
Address
Phone Number
Date
Agent Name-spelled-right
Brilliant Literary Agency
Address
Address
Dear Agent Name-spelled-right,
I have completed a 90,000 word stand-alone dark urban
fantasy manuscript titled _Knights and Daze_, and would like to have you
represent me in selling this and the many books I plan for the future.
I'd like to send you the manuscript, and am interested in your evaluation
of its commercial potential and any recommendations that you might have
on how to make it a better book. Both your clients Mark Twain and C.S.
Lewis recommended you highly, and from what they've said and what I've
seen, I believe you are exactly the agent I want to have representing
my work.
To help you decide if you might be interested in representing
me, I've included a one page synopsis of _Knights and Daze_ with this
letter, and will mail the completed manuscript or a portion at your request.
I've enclosed a self-addressed stamped envelope for your reply.
Thank you for your time and assistance. I eagerly
await your response.
All my best wishes,
Joe Writer
Pointers:
- Be specific. Know exactly what you've written, and describe
it by its genre. Time-travel romance, mainstream thriller, high
fantasy trilogy (NOTE -- If you've written a book that will require
more than one volume to tell the story, and have no track record
with an agent or publisher, you need to have the complete story
finished before you send it off, no matter how many volumes it
takes. Single-volume works are easier for a beginner to sell.
There are exceptions. If you're Robert Jordan or J.V. Jones, you
might be one of them. But if you aren't, my advice stands.)
- Be polite. You are asking for someone to invest his time
in reading your work. You are asking a favor of a stranger.
PLEASE keep this in mind. You are not yet in the position to grant
favors, and comments implying that you are -- for example, "You
are one of the lucky few to whom I'm offering the chance to represent
me." -- will only get your letter dumped in the trash.
- Be modest. Don't say your manuscript is the best book
ever written, or that it will make a million dollars, or that
you are the next William Shakespeare. Let your work speak for
yourself. If you're any good, the agent will figure that out by
reading what you've written. If you try to tell him how great
you are, you'll just come off looking like a boor and an idiot.
- Be reasonable. Don't demand that he represent you, or
threaten to kill yourself if he doesn't. Don't offer bribes. Don't
write on pink stationery with purple ink. Don't send your entire
manuscript unasked. Put yourself in the agent's place. Imagine
that you got dozens of letters a day from complete strangers who
all wanted you to do things for them. Imagine that most of the
requests had no merit, that most of the people were rude, and
that most of the work they sent you was anywhere from mediocre
to downright awful. Imagine getting one polite, intelligent, businesslike
letter in the midst of all that chaos. Now -- be the writer of
that letter.
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