How to Write a Killer Query Letter in 2026
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The first thing to understand is what a query does: Sell your book! Agents receive hundreds of queries per week. 1,000 per month is not unusual. As you can imagine, agents are skimming a lot. Something needs to grab them right away. It does you no good to have a fantastic story but a dull, pedestrian cover letter that fails to convey anything compelling.
Some logistics to get out of the way:
Your query should be no longer than one page.
It must be addressed to a specific person, and the query itself should be personalized (i.e., you need to give a reason why you are querying that specific agent: you met them at a conference, they represent other books you love, their wishlist includes ideas like those featured in your story, etc.)
Use 12-point font, single-spaced. Don’t get fancy.
Be sure to spell the person’s name right. And their pronouns, and how they prefer to be addressed (by first name, title such as “Ms.”, etc.). You will find all this out in your agent research.
The Components of a Query Letter:
First of all, polish your Pitch. You will want to do this whether you are pitching in person at a conference, or sending a query via email. If you need a refresher on how to write an effective Pitch, please see my post How to Create Compelling Pitches and Loglines. This introduces your main characters, main conflict(s), and stakes/consequences if the conflicts aren’t resolved.
For the query letter itself, start with your Hook: This is usually the same as, or based on, your Pitch. You can find many, many examples at the AgentQuery link below. It must be a catchy introduction that grabs attention immediately.
Mini-synopsis: This expands upon your Hook. The difference is that you need to be specific as to time, place, and important details. However, and this is a big one: It needs to capture the essence of your story, not just your plot. You aren’t going to be able to tell us in one paragraph everything that happens in the story. You need to capture what it means to the protagonist. In other words, conveying the protagonist’s Arc of Change is important.
Homeschooled her whole life by her very conservative family, sixteen-year-old Cecily Davis is excited when she’s awarded a special scholarship to a private high school – and her parents actually allow her to go. But when she arrives, she finds the other kids even stranger than she imagined. They all seem to be super-fast, super-strong, and super-intelligent. Some of them swig what seems to be blood from their water bottles. The lunchroom talk is not just of parties but battles, from which some students never return.
Cecily soon learns that all the demonology stuff her parents made her memorize is real, and she is part of an experimental group of young humans who will be paired with vampires to fight demons who make their way into our world. But when all hells breaks loose – literally – and a full-scale demonic invasion ensues, Cecily has to figure out not only how to stop them, but also how to get Joshua, the cutest vampire in school and her reluctant partner, to ask her to prom. All before the dreaded Final Exam, which will mean Cecily will either graduate with flying colors, or die.
You get the idea. These first paragraphs should also be in the same tone as your story, whether that’s humorous, quirky, horror, or drama. This of this as “back copy” for your book, or what a potential reader who picks up your book is a store would read on the back or inner flap.
Handle: This is your book’s genre and length, as well as any comparative titles you can think of. For example, “DEMON HIGH is a YA romantic-comedy-horror story, in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Shadowspell Academy. It is complete at 80,000 words.” And yes, your novel must be complete before you query. Only certain types of nonfiction books are sold on the basis of a book proposal and a few sample chapters.
Word count should follow the usual guidelines for your genre (and age group if writing for children). Too low or too high, and you risk being rejected.
Comparative titles, or comps: These days most agents want them to be popular books published within the last 3-5 years. See How to Find Compelling Comps for Your Book on Jane Friedman’s blog.
Your reason for contacting that agent in particular: Were you referred by someone else? Is your book similar to other books represented by that agent? Does your story seem like a particular fit for that agent’s wishlist? Note that if it’s a personal referral, or a request from an agent you met at a conference, this paragraph should come first!
Your bio: This should include your previous publishing credits (if any), plus any other relevant information such as having your MFA, or special expertise on the subject. Not a full autobiography!
Finally: Thanks, and that you are looking forward to hearing from them soon.
That’s it! But whatever you do, take your time with it. Don’t be in a rush to get it out the door. Have someone else look at it, preferably a fellow writer, and even better if they don’t already know your story. Get their overall impression, and also any questions they have. Do they understand what it’s about? (Get them to tell you in their own words.) Are they confused? Do they want to read the book?
Understand that agents will have very specific submission guidelines, and you must pay attention to every detail, and give them exactly what they want. You will only have one shot to get their attention. You can’t resubmit to that agent unless it’s a major revision, and even then, it’s dicey. You definitely can’t submit and then resubmit a week later because you just thought of a better opening paragraph. Too late! Save it for the next agent.
Dealing with Query Manager
Many agents now use Query Manager for submissions. This is a form that asks for specific information, most of which should already be part of your query letter. It may ask you to paste in your actual query letter as well. This may seem silly, but agents ask this because a) many people still don’t know how to write a good query letter, or understand what it should include; and b) they can quickly scan for certain components to see if it’s a good fit.
The other component you may find in Query Manager are random questions like, “If your book had a playlist, what would it be?” or “What was your main character’s favorite book as a child?” Or any number of other things. This may help the agent to get a better feel of the overall tone of your book, or to get to know you; or it may simply be another hoop to jump through to discourage non-serious queries. You may find these questions fun, or you may find them annoying. You have to answer them anyway!
Some Final Advice
The best thing is to create a general query template, and then personalize it according to each agent. Keep track of everything in your Submission Spreadsheet. If you haven’t prepared one yet, now is definitely the time. For more on preparing your spreadsheet, see How to Find the Best Agent for Your Book (and Survive the Process). Send your query to no more than 4-5 agents at a time, as you’ll continue to tweak it as you go.
There is a ton of advice out there on querying – blog posts, books, mini ebooks, etc. But you don’t need to tie yourself in knots reading every possible piece on the topic. A few of the best are:
How to Write a Great Query Letter – written by agent Noah Lukeman; available as a free download from amazon.com.
The Query Shark is a fantastic blog written by an agent, where she edits query letters submitted to her, and explains why she’s making the changes. Even though it’s no longer active, everything here is gold.
AgentQuery.com - page listing many great examples of hooks and how to construct a query letter (this site is also a fantastic source for agent research).
Of course, this is general information meant to guide you in preparing your query or pitch to an agent. The agent may have specific information they want, or they may say they want it in a specific order. The key is to do as much research as you can, and do the best you can.
Above all, don’t be discouraged if the process takes a while. I know writers who have queried 100 or even 200 agents before getting the one that was the best fit for their book. Remember, you are also vetting them: pay attention to the deals they’ve done, their experience in the industry, how they present themselves on social media, and so on. It isn’t just about “please pick me” but about finding the agent that will fall in love with your book enough to champion it through the grueling process of selling it to an editor. Think of every query and every pitch to an agent as a learning opportunity, and you’ll have the right attitude to persevere.
(Note: this post is a slightly edited and updated version of my post from 2/21/24).
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