What do you need to have before you send out a query?
THE BARE BONES
Fiction – A finished, polished manuscript that is the best you can make it right now. A query letter. A full synopsis.
Non-Fiction – A proposal and sample chapters of your work, a query letter, and a synopsis that details what you will include in your book.
Picture Books – A finished book and art work if you are doing your own art and a short query letter or letter of introduction.
If you don’t have those, you aren’t ready to think about querying yet. It’s very, very tempting to start looking up agents during the editing process or to try a #PitchWars pitch when you’re almost done with that first draft… DON’T.
Despite the sometimes glacial pace of publishing agents can request pages very quickly. Often within days if not hours of reading your pitch or query. I had one agent request 15 minutes after I sent a query (I just happened to send it while the agent was in their in-box). You don’t get a second chance at a first impression and you don’t want to tell an agent who is eager to read your book today that you need to write another 50 pages.
While you are querying one book you should be working on new projects, including at least one book that is not related to the book you are querying. If an agent likes your style but not the book on query, they’ll ask what else you have. If an agent wants to sign you but can’t sell a book for whatever reason, you’ll need the unrelated book to shop around.
SUBMISSION PACKET FOR FICTION:
- A researched list of names to query written down in a document with relevant contact and query information. Verify the agent/publisher is open to queries before sending anything.
- A finished and polished manuscript or non-fiction proposal. Not almost done. Not unedited. Not “still tweaking”. Make sure the manuscript is complete and edited before you send any of of the following. Why? Because there is always a chance that, five minutes after sending the query, the agent will ask for a full and you do not want to say, “Oh, I need to write the ending real quick…”
- A polished query
- A folder on your computer where you keep all of the following data so that sending a submission out is a matter of a copy/paste/attach and you can respond quickly to all requests.
Proper Formatting… Note – This is the industry standard, but doesn’t make or break anything. Check the submission guidelines before sending. Also, this doesn’t mean you have to write like this. Use any font you want while typing, just format the final document before querying. Personally, I hate double-spaced anything while I’m drafting so I save all that for later.
Manuscripts: 12pt TNR font, double-space, page numbers and TITLE/author name at top
Synopsis: 12pt TNR font, double space between paragraphs only, ALL CAPS the first time a new name is mentioned, TITLE/synopsis/author name and page number at top
Query: 12pt TNR, double space between paragraphs
In the folder saved as separate files for ease of attachment to an email…
Query
Short Synopsis
Long Synopsis
Author Bio
First 5 Pages
First 10 Pages
First 50 Pages
First 3 Chapters
Partial Manuscript
Full Manuscript
Sample Art (if you are an author/illustrator)
It takes about 30-45 minutes to set up your query folder (depending on how many times you get on the internet looking for a distraction) but it means that you can send a query in under three minutes. Once the folder is set all you need to do is copy-and-paste into the email or form. If an agent wanted five pages and requests a partial, it’s a thirty second Reply/Attach situation.
The goal here is to be able to respond promptly to page requests and to take up as little of your time as possible because you should be working on another book right now.