When trying to get a book considered for publication, your query letter is everything. Before any literary agency even flips through the first page of your manuscript, they will likely scrutinize your proposal—which will either make a good impression or cause them to lose interest altogether. Unfortunately, many authors fail to hook literary agents in with their cover letter not because they are bad writers, but because they use questionable tactics. Writing a query letter for new literary agents is a whole different ball game than writing a book. In fact, selling your work through a query letter may seem more challenging than finishing your novel in many ways. Here are some common mistakes you should avoid when approaching a literary agency:
- A cheesy rhetorical lead - If you don’t want literary agents to dismiss your letter right after reading the first line, ditch the rhetorical question and instead lead with facts about your story. After all, if your story is exciting enough, you shouldn’t feel the need to resort to clichés. Try to look at your proposal from the mind of a literary agent. If you can’t be interesting and original in a single-page letter, what more in a 350-page novel?
- Muddled blurbs - Don’t ramble on when writing your summary. As much as possible, bring the focus to your main character. Don’t spend too much time and energy trying to explain each and every personality. You can subtly hint at your secondaries, but it is more important to make the literary agency fall in love with your protagonist and the conflict he or she needs to resolve. Remember to never spoil a good ending and that plot always trumps theme when writing a synopsis.
- Too much information - Letting new literary agents know who you are is important, but not everyone may want to hear that you spend your weekends' cliff diving (unless a significant part of your book is about that).
- Too much modesty - For some reason, new writers seem to think that lack of experience is a selling point. Well, it isn’t. literary agents like confidence—give them that.
- Bogus publishing credits - Be careful not to list fake publishing credits. This can hurt you big time in the long run. And whatever you do, refrain from mentioning the pile of unpublished manuscripts you have, gathering dust in your attic. Not only will this make the literary agency wonder why they were never picked up—it might also make them worry that you’ll dump all those old, perhaps stale manuscripts on them once they sign you.
