INSIDER INSIGHT!
An Editor Talks About Query Letters
First impressions count! For writers, the first chance they get to make an impression on agents and editors is through a query letter. If your query letter presents you as a writer who's worth considering, you'll get taken seriously.
Lorena Jones, Publisher, Ten Speed Press, concurs:
The one thing that I pay most attention to when I'm in acquisitions mode is the quality of the cover note. Now that we have so many projects to consider, it is true that I go through the in-coming pile and, in 60 seconds or less, separate the proposals into look-at-seriously and dispatch-right-away piles.
And the thing that most often compels me to put projects in the look-at-seriously pile is a stellar, or at least well-done, cover note. (In fact, I find that I recommend agents primarily on the quality of the cover notes they write me.) My feeling is that the cover note is the first and most important sample of a potential author's work.
When I coach folks who are writing their pitch letters, I tell them they should rewrite it at least three times and preferably five. After all, writing, editing, and creating a book is teeth-grinding work. And if an author doesn't demonstrate she understands this by crafting a knock-out cover letter, I can't be confident she'll be able to work with me on that level when we're actually making the book.
I don't care how much someone knows about a subject or the name recognition they have. If they don't show me they have the grit, skill, and good judgment to do the job well, I have to weigh whether they're worth investing the time and labor to work with.
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