The One Thing Between You and a Publisher

When you think you're finally ready to submit your writing to publishers or agents, you'll need one very important thing: a good query letter. You might wonder how to write a query letter. It's not worth fretting over, but you should make sure your query letter grabs attention. That's the whole point, after all! Your query letter is what will sell your fabulous manuscript , article, or idea to a publisher, achieving your goal of being a published writer!

While humor is one way to grab attention, you should be careful in using it. Everyone's sense of humor is different and accidentally offending your potential buyer is the last thing you want to do. It may be a different story if you're a well known comedian that a publisher knows will sell books. On the other hand, if carefully used, humor may be just the spice needed to show the publisher how your style of writing stands out.

Any book with sample query letters will give you pretty much the same tips on what is or is not acceptable and what makes a good query letter. Things you should do when writing your query letter are as follows:

Make sure you are addressing the correct person.

Pick up the phone and call a publishing company to verify the name of the person you should submit the query letter to. It's not unlikely that any directory you're looking at may be outdated. When you start your letter, start with Dear Mr. Or Mrs. (Publishers last name). Always use their last name. It's polite and professional. If they send you a response and sign it with their full name, it is acceptable to use their first name after that in email correspondence.

Also, ask if they have a web site with submission guidelines. Submission guidelines should let you know what format to submit in, who to submit to, how long to wait for a response, and if you can submit via email versus traditional mail.

Mention your writing credits.

You will want to let the publisher know of any of your past writing credits. You are trying to sell yourself with your query letter, and if you've been published by another, it adds clout. If you've published books before that have special awards or titles, you should let the publisher know. It will definitely catch a publisher's eye if something of yours has won known awards or been on best seller lists.

Make your book stand out.

You should let the publisher know you've done your research and that there's a reason they should publish your book or article. If there are other books on the market on the same topic, let the publisher know how yours stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Be ready to become a publicist.

Many authors to be fail to realize that even books printed by publishing houses need promotion done by the author. Book signings, interviews, advertising are all ways an author can help their books to succeed and stay on the shelves longer. Be sure to let the publisher know that you're ready and willing to do these things and if you have any experience being interviewed or promoting. This can make your query letter stand out as it means you're willing to go the distance to make more money for yourself and the publisher.

It may be possible that is more important to remember the things one shouldn't do when approaching a publisher with a query letter. Remember not to do the following:

Beg.

Begging or whining about your book is definitely not going to warm a publisher up to you. A publisher does not want to know how many times your book has been turned down, and will quickly toss whining letters to the side. Think about it. If you got a letter from someone begging you to make them something, would they come across as strong and confident to you? If they don't, their writing probably won't either.

Share your friend's or family's opinions.

Let's be honest. Friends and families lie. They are likely to want to make you happy, spare your feelings or be polite. Beyond that, unless they are published writers or publishers, they don't know what it takes to be a selling manuscript. It comes across as unprofessional when a query letter includes something like "My mom thinks it's great...".If you want to include a recommendation, make sure it's from someone notable and that has something to do with your topic, such as a childcare director or an award winning scientist.

Include your manuscript.

Unless a publisher's submission guidelines state to send the manuscript, do not include your manuscript with your query letter. Many publishers state exactly how to approach them. Follow their instructions carefully to keep your correspondence from ending up in the trash. If a publisher responds, asking to see a proposal or manuscript, then you can submit your work.

Include things irrelevant to your topic.

Stick to your topic, your book, your clout, and why it would be a great product for the publisher to produce. If you have 52 cats, refrain from telling the publisher unless you're writing a book about cats.

Mention how many times you've submitted your manuscript to other publishers.

Unless a publisher asks, there is no reason to tell them how many times you've been rejected in your query letter. This just isn't a very bright idea. If you were a baseball player, would you mention how many times you struck out to a talent scout? If you were interviewing for a job, would you mention how many times you've been fired in the past?

Hopefully, this will get you started on your query letter and your journey to being published. Take some time to look at good query letter examples in books or on the Internet. The query letter is the one thing between you and a publisher.