Tips for Aspiring Writers: the Art of the Query Letter

A query letter is a summary of the work a writer intends to submit to an editor for review, and it is often the author's only opportunity to sell their piece. The purpose of the query letter is to relieve editors of the burden of reading through entire manuscripts while giving them the chance to review the main ideas of submitted pieces. Your opportunity lies within in the very first lines of your query letter, in which you will find it necessary to not only introduce your idea, but also to sell the idea to a skeptical reader. Take the following tips to heart and ensure the future of your work by learning the absolutely essential skill of writing an excellent query letter.

First, address the editor directly at the top of your letter. Not only does addressing a letter to a department rather than an individual give off the impression of laziness, but by doing so you will also risk having your query letter find itself in the wrong hands (or in the garbage). Do the necessary research and not only place the address and suite number, if any, of your editor at the top of the page, but also address him/her directly in your greeting.

Next you will be faced with writing the most important line of your entire letter. The first line of any query letter, no matter how well written it may be in its entirety, is what will either convince an editor to continue reading or force him/her to move on to the next submission. An excellent exercise to practice is concentrating on how to describe and sell your article in one sentence, and then make that sentence your first. Many authors feel that it is necessary to include a greeting of some sort or an explanation of why they are writing in the first line, however this is not necessary in most cases. You can rest assured that after reading your first line, any editor will become aware of your intentions. Your concern is to interest them in reading past that first line.