How to Write a Query Letter in Five Easy Steps

So, I mentioned earlier that you need to have an agent if you want to publish your book. No big publishing houses will even think about looking at your stuff unless it's submitted by a real, live literary agent. And getting an agent is--no lie--sort of hard. But not impossible. The first thing you need to do is to write a good book. Then you need to compose a good query letter. And by good, I mean ass kicking.

A few years ago, I wrote my first novel. After that, I wrote my first query letter. The novel, alas, did not sell, mostly because it wasn't very good. The query, however, was ass kicking, and more than one agent told me so. I've never actually calculated it, but I'd venture to guess that nearly 70% of the agents whom I sent it to requested a partial.

So in the following posts, I'll put up a copy of the letter (modified, duh), and then we'll break it down graf by graf.

The Letter
Part 1 - Greeting and Introduction
Part 2 - The Summary
Part 3 - The Hype
Part 4 - Close the Sale
Part 5 - Conclusion