Query Education

Since you're thinking it, let me ease your mind: I'm not talking about part of the XML computer language.

Okay, okay, that probably wasn't the first thing that came to your mind. If you were thinking of query letters, as in the letters aspiring writers send in to try and snag an agent or get published, then you'd be right on the money.

I'm less than 20,000 words away from finishing my first edit of my complete manuscript. While I'm waiting for my volunteer readers to finish, I decided it was time to start learning the best way to write a query letter. There are books on the subject, of course, but most of those focus on good ol' fashioned snail mail queries and most agents rely on email queries these days. But never fear, after a minimal amount of searching I found THE website for query advice (actually it's a blog): Query Shark.

Query Shark is run by an actual literary agent who critiques various drafts of query letters. Now, the beauty of this site is that the Query Shark is brutally honest, which can be amusing at times, but always helpful. After you read some of the posts, you begin to see patterns and detect glaring mistakes. (DO NOT put your address at the top of an email query. The Query Shark gets upset when this happens.) Once I finish reading the archives, I'm faced with the task of writing my own query letter. I cringe at the idea because I don't like "selling myself." I picked up some modesty whilst living in Japan all those years and it doesn't look to be going away anytime soon.

Read a few posts from Query Shark and then read an "example" query here that highlights everything you could possibly do wrong. I laugh every time I read it, so enjoy!

And to be honest, I'm actually looking forward to sending out queries and hearing back. I think my first rejection letter will be the equivalent of a solider's first battle scar; it may hurt like hell at first, but you learn from it and move on, thankful to be alive to take on the world.