Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Favorite Query Letter Ever

I've been reading lots of query letters over the past couple of years (no, not just my own!) and this one is my favorite. Right up to and including the author's bio.

There have been lots of letters that made me want to read the book, and there have been a couple where I bought the book based on the query letter. ("Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings" just today, for example.)

But the query letter for A Comedy of Terrors was wonderful. I still remember it three months later. When I'm trying to write a query letter, it's this one I think of. This one I judge my query letter on. No, I don't want to do the same thing, but I want to figure out why I love it (probably voice) and do that in my query letter. So when I'm saying "Not right yet", it's because of the query letter for A Comedy of Terrors. (And boy I hope this book gets published, because I really, really want to read it!)

5 comments:

  1. Hi Suzi, nice to meet you! I trotted over from Cynthia's Random Thoughts blog, since she has awarded you a Versatile Blogger Award. Congratz!

    Interesting that you buy books just from query letters you've read. I agree, some do sound intriguing. :)

    Artzicarol Ramblings

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  2. That book does sound quite interesting. I've been working on my query letter (actually, I should be right now) and it's good to read a well-written one for encouragement :)

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  3. A Comedy of Terrors. I like the sound to that.
    I agree figuring out why we love it and copying the stratagy is hard. Still working on that myself.

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  4. I even love the title. :)

    I think voice and succinctness are what make a query sing.

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  5. I know exactly what you're talking about. No need to check the link! I follow Elana Johnson's query letter help. Love her.

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Thank you for posting a comment! I know that sounds a little needy, and maybe it is. I mean, I don't need comment validation to know that I exist, right? But I like to know that someone else (maybe you?) has read what I wrote and felt moved enough to reply. So, thank you.