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editors, who are more likely to read your letter than are executive editors or editors-in-chief. • Your letter is one page long—two at the most. “A query letter is like a fishing expedition; don’t put too much bait on your hook or you’ll lose your quarry. Be brief and be tantalizing!” (Jane von Mehren) • Convey your enthusiasm for the material. • A clever, memorable, or intriguing title (as long as it’s appropriate to the material) is helpful to your cause. It doesn’t have to be your final title; select a working title or choose one solely for querying. • Proofread your letter as many times as it takes to be certain there are no spelling, punctuation, grammar, or usage errors; they can be fatal. • Multiple submissions involve sending the same manuscript to several editors at the same time. There is little agreement among authors and editors about the advisability of submitting multiply. In general, you can query several editors at the same time about the same project. A decision about submitting multiply is then made only if several editors reply to your query letter by asking to see the manuscript. • For assistance on writing great query letters, see John Wood, How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover Letters, and Lisa Collier Cool, How to Write Irresistible Query Letters, both published by Writer’s Digest Books. There are also sections on query letters in books such as Judith Appelbaum, How to Get Happily Published, 4th ed., HarperPerennial, and Poets & Writers, Inc., Into Print, Quality Paperback Book Club.
Special Situations • The query letter has traditionally been used for works of nonfiction, but it is also being requested today for works of fiction. In those cases, the query letter is actually a cover letter, and an outline or synopsis and sample chapters are attached. To query about a fiction project, follow the guidelines in this chapter except that plot, characters, conflict, and resolution are described in the paragraph outlining your story or novel. • Unpublished writers commonly fear that someone at the publishing house will steal their idea after reading their query letter. This is an exceedingly rare and undocumented occurrence. In any case, there are no new ideas. What is always new—and saleable—is the way the idea is clothed and presented. Even two people working on the same idea (there are supposedly only thirty-six dramatic situations) will produce significantly different works. Then, too, how will you get published if you don’t send a query letter? This is the way it’s done. • When selling a reader on a business venture or idea, attach copies of charts or reports showing past successes, your resume, your credit