by David R. Chase

Created on: April 08, 2010

Imagine this: you sit down, you write a fiction book that's destined to be a best-seller, and it flies off bookstore shelves faster than the night stock guys can replace it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

You have to sell it to a publisher first.

If you've chosen not to work with an agent to sell your book, you've got some research to do.  Figure out exactly what the publishing company you're considering submitting to is looking for this year - they may have all the Harry Potter-esque titles they can handle and only be looking for grownup Sci-Fi, or maybe they only publish non-fiction.

Don't waste time querying publishers who aren't looking for the type of book you've written.

When you do find a publisher who accepts unagented manuscripts and they're looking for what you've got, you can sit yourself in front of the computer and write a query.

There are good queries, there are bad queries, there are horrible queries and there are amazing queries - and you're going for amazing.  Amazing is the only kind that sells - well, sometimes an ok query letter sells a book, but the book has to be phenomenal.  And if you can write a phenomenal book, you can write a phenomenal query letter!

That said, here are eight sure-fire winners and losers for fiction book query letters:

1. Write your query in a polite but approachable tone

2. Be enthusiastic about your book, but don't get all crazy about it

3. Give a quick, easy-to-read summary of your book (just like you'd read on the back cover of a best-seller)

4. Indicate to the editor that you're familiar with the types of books they publish and point out how your book can complement their existing collection If you have a sturdy platform (already been published, thousands of followers on your blog, et c.) mention it briefly

5. Don't ask for money

6. Don't write, "Dear editor" - address him or her by name respectfully: "Mr. April; Ms. May"

7. Don't spell anything wrong - at all

8. Don't ask if you can write the book for them - you should already have it written, and they'll completely ignore your query (and feed it to the shredder laughingly) if you haven't finished it yet

There's a proper format to a query letter, too.  The editor's contact info goes at the top; yours goes at the bottom. 

If you're pitching a book about a couple who met as soldiers in Iraq, fought two wars together and lived to tell about it, your query would look like this:

Angie Papple Johnston, editor
HireAWriterOnline

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>