I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU

YOU CAN READ as many articles about the process of searching for and securing an agent as you can find, absorb all the helpful advice of agents as well as authors who have blazed the trail ahead of you, then turn back to your own search for representation and still feel anxious, unprepared. This is understandable, of course, considering this critical step in the writer’s journey requires drafting a unique e-mail that introduces you and your work to a professional who can help you realize your dreams of becoming a published author—and you get only one shot at making a good first impression. No pressure, right?

The typical query letter includes five essential elements: an opening that establishes your connection to the agent and why you’ve chosen that particular person to query, including the name of anyone who has referred you; a project description that gives the agent a compelling reason to read the book; some context for your book, commonly known as comps, or comparables, that help an agent place an unknown book (yours) within the context of well-known books or authors; a bio; and a coda, which includes details such as word count and, of course, a hearty thank-you.

But no two query letters are exactly the same. Just as you wouldn’t want to read a book that is unoriginal, an agent won’t be compelled to read a query—and almost certainly not an entire manuscript—if it doesn’t stand out. The project description alone should be at least as compelling as the book you’re trying to publish, and very often the language a writer uses in the query letter shows up in some form or another in the pitch letter your agent will send to editors with your submission. So it would be a mistake to take a cookie-cutter approach to this personal document. To illustrate this point, I spoke with two authors about their initial communications with their respective agents, then asked each agent to comment on what it was about those e-mails that got their hooks into them. What