The Proposal, The Query Letter, and The Cover Letter

You’re a Long Ridge student, or an aspiring pro. You’ve finished stories, some great articles, you have that novel draft that you’ve worked so hard on. Time to sit down with the market list. You start reading the guidelines. Okay. Query letter. This magazine wants one. But that one wants the whole manuscript. So do I send a query with it? A letter at all? What do I do here? And what do I send to the agents I’m asking to handle my novel? Oh, brother, this is so confusing!

Well, it is and it isn’t. Terms get bandied about loosely in the writing trade, but let me explain to you just what you need to send to whom, and never mind what anyone wants to label it!

Query letters are usually required for nonfiction article submissions. If you have a great idea of an article on growing orchids at home and you want to send it to Gardens Today Magazine, the editor doesn’t want to see that article yet! The editor wants to know what cool idea you have to offer and if your slant suits her magazine. She will want to see clips (copies of published articles you have written) or a writing sample (send her part of your article – the first page is fine, no more than that). The clips or the sample tell her that you are capable of writing well, but it’s the idea that interests her. If she likes your idea, if it fits the magazine’s readers, she’ll ask you to send it and tell you how long it can be. (Although you can propose the length to her).

The most important part of your query letter is your hook! I can’t stress that enough. If you can’t keep that editor reading past sentence one, you’ll get a quick no thanks or no reply at all! Dear Ms. Editor, Walk through Emily Harris’s front door and you’re instantly transported to the Amazon jungle! Pale butterfly wings of orchid blossoms drop from the walls, the window sills, and every available surface… Ms Editor is hooked! What a great image of a house full of blooming orchids! Is this person crazy or just a great gardener? She reads on.

Now that you’ve hooked her, you go on to tell her that your article tells novice orchid growers how to care for a variety of common orchids in the standard home environment. You mention that you have enclosed your clips or writing sample, you thank her for her time and attention and end the letter. You have hooked her, given her the slant and basic content of the article, and you haven’t wasted one second of her time!

You’re sending your story off to Ellery Queen Magazine. What exactly goes with that? Well, not much, actually. Generally, for fiction and personal narrative, the editors want to see the whole manuscript. It is the story that matters here, and even if the idea and slant sound fine, the story may not work. So when you send a complete manuscript, you’re not trying to sell the editor on your idea, your plot, your characters, or anything else. Your manuscript will do that…or won’t! So don’t try to tell the editor what is in your story or narrative! Let it speak for itself!

A two sentence blurb is fine. If you can’t do the story justice in two sentences, just tell the editor, enclosed, please find my story Owl Hunter. I enjoy Ellery Queen, and I think this fits the magazine! Thank you for your time and attention…

Don’t take up any more of the editor’s time than that! They really don’t want to hear what YOU think your story does. They simply want to read the story.

Well, many people confuse a proposal and a query. If you are writing to an agent or editor, asking that agent or editor if he would be interested in representing you or publishing you, you are writing a query, with a strong hook and then a very brief blurb about your book:

When Jen opened the old trunk in Grandma’s attic and found the jade ring, she put it on, of course. In an instant it transported her to another world, where her Grandma Jane still ruled, and everything she thought was real…wasn’t! Then you go on to briefly summarize the plot, including the end, in brief blurb. Then you ask the agent or editor if he/she would be interested in seeing the manuscript. Again…the hook is all! And always include the end. Never withhold it. The hook will whet the appetite, but the editor/agent needs to know that the book has a satisfying ending.

I get to write a proposal and you don’t, for the most part. A proposal is just that…I plan to write a book about organic gardening year round. Are you interested in buying it? This is what you send an editor or agent when you haven’t written the book yet. Now I can get away with this, because I have published seven novels and an editor knows that I can turn in a book on deadline. They don’t know this about a brand new unpublished writer! So if you’re new, you’ll be writing a query, asking an editor or agent if he/she wants to read your great book. They won’t offer you a contract for an unwritten book, since – no matter how great your idea – you may simply not be able to finish a book! So write the book first, and then query!

The Association of Authors Representatives is the professional agents organization. Read it! They offer warnings about ‘fake’ agents, questions to ask when you’re considering an agent, and a list of agent contact info, as well as how to go about contacting agents and what those agents will want to see. It’s all you need if you need to find an agent. Go there!

And good luck with your project!

Mary Freeman Rosenblum, Long Ridge Web Editor