Elements of a Query Let

Elements of the QUERY LETTER

Target your reader. Get the contact name and title of the literary agent or publisher correct and spell both right. Know a few other similar works the person/firm has been involved with and mention the works if possible. The more personal you can make the salutation, pitch and intro the better.

Start with the CRESCENDO and a hook:

“Gatsby’s dead. You know the story…Our hapless private eye probably didn’t do it.”

And then the world as we know it EXPLODES along a different path:

“Any attempt to commercialize the pristine ambiance of Telluride’s  undeveloped open space is likely to get you killed or worse.  Gatsby’s Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery is new age detective fiction full of cows, sex, mysterious red heads, dead writers, and a spoiled Rocky Mountain community full of edgy characters we love to hate.”

Invite the inevitable customer STAMPEDE from similar books:

“Fitzgerald's 1920's mob of style, privilege, loose morals and money currently lives on in Telluride.  The world-class resort of exclusive trophy homes, priceless views, and eight-figure real estate deals breeds a new Lost Generation.” 

Tell the TRUTH behind the fiction of the story in three sentences:

“Thorpe is a mixed breed Native American father, husband of the local district attorney, making ends meet by running a peeping-tom service for aspiring divorcees looking to profit from their richer spouse’s infidelity.  He is trying desperately to turn his obsession with noir detective fiction into a marketable manuscript in order to close the door on his present occupation.  In his developing short story about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s search for a muse he creates on the page a mysterious red head; inevitably he meets her in the flesh along the road to a series of hate-crime murders.”

Offer yourself in FULL PRIDEFUL GLORY:

“My professional writing resume spans four decades and includes over a hundred and fifty articles in periodicals raging from Sunset Magazine, Men's Health, Vogue, to Cruising World, Yachting, Travel and Leisure, Wooden Boat Magazine, and Sail. My poetry, short stories and essays have won numerous awards.”

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