How Long Should a Query be?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Question from a client/writer:
I have been toying around with my query. I feel like it sums things up pretty well, gets the essence of the main character’s challenge but if all a perspective agent is going to see is one paragraph is that really going to be enough to make them want to see more?
Answer:
How to write a query letter is always a tough call. But if you can’t make a snappy enough presentation in a short paragraph (the size of what is called the blurb on the back cover of a book), then agents/publishers figure that author can’t create a “fast-paced” book either. So a short paragraph that grabs the reader is a great idea.
I suggest picking up several paperbacks you have lying around and reading the back covers of the books. There is normally one to three very short paragraphs that sum up the entirety of the book. Count the words on a few of them. See how few words they use? How much tension/action/drama/promises of danger and excitement needs to be packed in those words? That is why I would personally go for the “shorter is better” angle when you write the paragraph in the query that sums up the book.
HOW TO WRITE A SNAPPY QUERY STORY SUMMARY:
Practice by mimicking a couple of what you think are the snappiest, most interesting of those book back blurbs. For instance, I’m looking at the back of James Patterson’s “Beach Road.” It starts, “Welcome to Beach Road–expensive, exclusive … and explosive. Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in the wealthy resort town of …” Etc.
Okay, now write in that format for your fantasy book, weaving in the facts of YOUR story into that concept. “Welcome to Planet Sim-B–where engineered perfection masks a dark underbelly of corruption. Angela Jones has a one-woman personal transport service for the weathly and priveleged in the city of …”
Keep going until you have used the concept of that whole blurb. Then try a couple more other blurbs, again editing in your own story into the basic format. In the end, you’ll have the feel for how to create that snappy query paragraph you need. And by then you can create your OWN format (probably using a few sentences from each of the blurbs you write) that will feel perfect for your own story. Short, snappy, interesting.
Remember, the query paragraph is not an abbreviated outline of the whole book. Just (hopefully!?!) intriguing enough to make them want more.