Query Letter Essentials

Yesterday, I wrote about an author, Mark, in my workshop last weekend who asked whether he should mention credentials in a query letter that might “put off” an agent. That same writer had an easy way to remember what essentials should go in a query letter. Don’t know whether he made this up, or got it from somewhere else.

Hook, Book, Cook.

Now that’s easy to remember! Start with the Hook, such as your logline or the first major turning point of the book. Give a short synopsis or copy ad for your Book, then move onto you, the Cook of the book.

Hook, Book, Cook.

Those are the essential paragraphs in a query letter. Except – and there are always exceptions to anything – if you have a connection to the agent you’re querying. If so, then that comes first. If you met the agent at a conference or workshop, if the agent asked for the material you’re sending, if someone the agent knows or would recognize recommended you to the agent, if you’ve taken a class from the agent, or if you have some other connection to the agent, then that goes in the opening paragraph. This is important to remember. This does NOT go in the last paragraph. It goes up front so it’s the first thing the agent (or assistant) sees.

If we kept with the rhyme, you could say this is the Look. This is what you want the agent to look at first. If you have a connection to him or there’s someone who will recommend you (someone he/she would know or recognize), then that comes first.

Look, Hook, Book, Cook.

Those are the Query Letter Essentials.