5 Great Tips for Submitting a Query Letter

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If you are thinking of publishing with a traditional publishing house, you should know that it is not as easy as you would think. Most traditional publishing houses are very particular when choosing potential authors to publish.

And aside from having a really great manuscript, you will need a great query letter as well. This is because your query letter is what will get you through the door.

Your query letter is what will help you get your manuscript noticed. So before you send it, you should know what you are doing.

Here are 5 great tips for submitting a query letter:

Make sure your formatting is spot on

If you are going to send potential publishers your query letter, you should make sure your formatting is spot on. Remember that the publishing house editors have a myriad of query letters to check.

So if your email is hard to open, this would undoubtedly annoy the editor. Thus lowering your chances before he or she even read your book.

If you send them a query letter, you should make sure that your query letter is as easy to read as possible. Format your letter to industry standards.

This means that you should print the query letter in white paper and black ink. The font should be size 12 and Times New Roman.

Make sure that your spelling is as perfect as possible. Nothing gives off a bad impression, more than spelling errors.

Write a quick and concise overview

When you write your overview, you should make sure that your overview is quick but concise. The overview is meant to give the editor the gist of your book.

Overall the trick to writing a good overview is balance. It should have enough details for the reader to get a general idea of the book, but not too much that it would spoil the whole reading experience.

Provide a hook

The overview is meant to give a quick and concise run-over of your manuscript. But if you want to make your manuscript as intriguing and attractive to your editor as possible, you should really provide a hook.

The hook is the twist. It is the idea that will set your work apart from other books. In many ways, the hook consists of most of your query letter.

It should contain the elements that give life to your story. It should contain the characters, setting, conflicts, and everything that adds spice to your work.

The hook is your greatest asset when it comes to writing a book proposal.

Talk about yourself…but not too much

Aside from writing about your book, yet another aspect of the query letter you should take seriously is your author bio. Think of your author bio as you introduce yourself to potential publishing houses.

So you should put your best foot forward and talk about yourself a bit. Just make sure your author bio is relevant to your main goal of getting a publishing deal. Write about your accomplishments, your work, your inspiration to write, and your overall motivation why you wrote the book. But don’t make your author bio too long of course. Like your overview, make it short and concise.

Give a good ending statement

The final part of your query letter is the closing part. And although you should make it as quick and concise as possible, you should also make it heartfelt as well. Remember that you are asking for a publishing deal. So thank the editor for the time and the opportunity. You should also ensure the editor that you are willing to provide additional materials should the need arrive.

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5 Great Tips for Submitting a Query Letter

Here are 5 great tips for submitting a query letter:

Become a Self-Published Author in 3 Simple Steps

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