Great summary post on the Guide to Literary Agents blog:
7 THINGS AGENTS WANT TO SEE IN A QUERY
- An entertaining but polite and professional tone
- Multiple forms of contact information
- Proof that you have researched and hand-picked an agent. (If you’ve got a connection, were referred by a client or met the agent at a conference, make sure to point that out early in your letter.)
- Especially for nonfiction: An author bio that demonstrates your platform and why you’re the right author for this project
- A quick, catchy hook or “elevator pitch”
- Making a case for the book’s built-in audience
- Especially for nonfiction: Showing why your expertise and media contacts make you the best author for your project
9 THINGS AGENTS DON'T WANT TO SEE IN A QUERY
- Asking what the agent can do for you, rather than demonstrating what you can do for him/her
- Asking for a phone call or in person meeting before the agent has requested one
- Querying for multiple projects at the same time
- Listing personal information unrelated to your book
- Giving references from people outside the publishing industry (such as saying your writers group, your congregants, or your mother’s next door neighbor’s cockerspaniel loved your book)
- Comparing your book to a commonly-quoted bestseller
- Making broad claims that you can’t back up
- A pitch for an incomplete novels. (It’s OK to query with an unfinished nonfiction project, as long as you’ve written a proposal, but novels should be finished before you start contacting agents.)
- Overly familiar, aggressive, or incorrect salutations
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