Because agents and publishers get literally hundreds of these e-queries a day, they must be short and awesome. Think about that word…awesome. When you read your query, does it sound comprehensive, good, to the point? Well then rewrite it! When it sounds like a TV commercial for the next James Patterson book, then it’s ready.
But overall, yes, e-queries are the preferred method. The reader can quickly go through them, which means you need to have a “hook” that grabs them fast!
The page starts with your name and contact info top left.
Next you need a short introduction line that has your title, word count (not page count), genre, and time and location (if relevant). Some people try to summarize their entire book into a “hook” on this line; I advise against it. An agent will read this first line and decide if these basic facts make it a book they would be interested in. Most of the time, the answer will be no. If you are lucky enough to have written about a subject that is of interest to them, and they like your title, then they will read your next paragraph…
A compelling teaser paragraph about your book. This is where your “hook” comes into play. Now, this can’t be a monster paragraph. Have you ever gotten to a long paragraph in a book and just said, “Ahhh, forget it. I’m just gonna watch a rerun of Seinfeld.” Well an agent will cringe at a monster paragraph too. So keep it short, and…awesome.
The next paragraph will be about you as an author, and most importantly why YOU are qualified to tell this story. Include other literary accomplishments such as being previously published, awards you have won, etc.
The next paragraph will explain how YOU will advertise your book. Yup, I said you. Believe it or not, this is a super important paragraph. Many of the publishers that will be interested in a novice author will expect you to do most, if not all, of the grunt level advertising. That means they will get you on Amazon and in front of reviewers, but you will need to be out there beating your feet or e-feet to sell copies of your book. I know, if you had to write the book, edit the book, and now sell your book, what the heck do you need a publisher for?! Well, now you probably understand the second sentence in my first answer a little better.
Traditional publishers are the way to go over self-publishing, for most people. They will put your book “out there,” then it’s up to you to tell people it’s out there. Between getting you in front of top level reviewers, creating audio and digital versions of your book, and maybe–dare I say it–get you on a shelf in a book store (this will only happen if there is a buzz about your book), they can definitely provide you with the opportunity to be successful. But it is up to you to get those copies sold, creating that initial buzz that will allow the book to take off on its own. So explaining in your query how you are going to advertise and sell copies of your book is critical to most agents and publishers.
Now you are ready to list any awards you have received, followed by about 3 short review excerpts. Don’t have any reviews? Get some. Nothing screams “junk someone wrote over the weekend” like a book that has never been reviewed. For all the agent knows it hasn’t even been edited. Heck, it may not even be finished. There are many sites like ours that give free, professional reviews, so find ‘em and use ‘em.
Finally, a sentence about sending them any samples they may want and a hearty “thank you” and you are done! Not so bad, huh?
However, if you review this information and look at a few online samples of query letters, you should be able to make a compelling e-query that you can use on any of the e-query submission sites.
Let’s talk about the testimonials you will read on their sites, and on ours. They are meaningless. They do nothing more than show that other people have used the service. Because books and query letters are so varied in both content and efficacy, another author’s success is in no way a prediction of yours.
So how about the lists they send to, how good are they? You won’t know really, even after you get the list when your query is sent. I estimate the quality of their list by the quality of their site. Not an exact science, but I find the more effort they put into their site, the more serious they are about a long term business, so the more diligent they will be about maintaining a quality list.
It is important to note that you do not need to use a query service. I did my own e-query and so can you. It just takes a significant amount of research into proper e-query design (samples) and finding the agents and publishers to query. If you have the money, use a service. If you don’t, block off a few weekends, throw on a few movies in the background and get cracking.
So how do you write one of these puppies? Again, the rules vary. Single spaced or double spaced, 1 page, 3 pages, 9 pages, present tense or past tense, font, even margins are up for debate. So here is my advice; make it 3-5 pages. Use the same font you used in your manuscript. As for spacing, let the length of your synopsis determine that. If you could barely write one page single spaced, make it double spaced. If you wrote ten pages double spaced, knock it back down to single space. Write it in whatever tense your book is written in, generally past tense, and use your word processor’s standard margins.
There is no easy way to create this synopsis. I tell our clients to go through your manuscript and copy the most compelling and important paragraphs into a new word document, one after another. This will reduce your book to a manageable size. Then rewrite that a few times until you are down to the appropriate synopsis size.
Do NOT create an advertisement or teaser. What I mean is this synopsis needs to have all the important information in your book, all the exciting information, twists and turns, and especially the end. It’s like Cliff Notes, if you are familiar with those.
Thanks, James. This was very informative and helpful. Good luck on your book!
People can find out more about the e-query service at Readers Favorite here:
http://readersfavorite.com/e-query.htm
