Top 10 Donts for Sending Query Letters by Rowdy Rhodes

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Sending Query Letters - Top 10 Donts! By Rowdy Rhodes

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Having been both a publisher and an editor of more than one magazine over the years there has been myriad of reasons for rejecting queries from writers who may or may not have excellent content. However, when a publisher or editor is receiving a hundred or more queries a day they have some hard and fast rules that quickly separate the wheat from the chaff in order to clear their desk at day's end. The fastest way to receive a rejection from a publisher or editor is to have mistakes or waste their time in the query letter you send. The 10 most common query errors that will get your idea tossed immediately into the recycle bin are:

Writing correctly and being succinct is the most important ways to querying.

Make sure that your type or print is actually readable by someone with tired eyes.

It's extremely important that you limit your query letter to a single page that explains your story.

Simplify it for the editor or publisher to be able to make contact with you at all times.

10. Sending a query that has typographical errors in the first sentence, or any other sentence for that matter. Using a spell checker is not enough of a solution. They help, but â&#x20AC;Ś "Were" when you meant "Where" will pass by a spell checker but not by an editor or publisher. So read your letter out loud and have someone else read it as well before you send it in for submission. 9. Sending a query containing personal wisdom quotes such as "Staying positive has helped me, and will help other writers, accomplish the goal of perfecting my manuscript." An editor or publisher doesn't care what your thoughts are or how they influenced your writing. They do care about what you have written. Tell them about that not about your writing wisdom. 8. Sending a query that has very small type or, if printed, the letters are lightly printed, almost grayish in colour. Editors and publishers, if scanning a hundred queries or more per day accumulate eyestrain making it difficult for your query to be read. This eyestrain especially occurs at the end of a long day of reading. They won't put your query aside and say to themselves "I'll read it tomorrow." They toss it. If you don't care enough to make it readable then why should they care? So make your letter easily enjoyable to read by using dark, larger print, but not garishly large.

7. Query letters are meant to be one page long. If, as a "professional writer" you cannot get your idea condensed to a single page then you either do not have full command of the English language, hence whatever you wrote is going to be long and boring, or you haven't taken time to solidify your idea in your query. If you haven't condensed your idea then by default it's assumed that the editor or publisher will have to correspond many times with you questioning your story. They don't have time for that so hit the editor or publisher hard, quick and fast with your full idea on a single page.

6. If you send a query letter that is convoluted with details or hard to understand instructions that will get your inquiry tossed. As an example of a real letter to a publisher from a writer: "The email address I am sending this query letter from is not mine. My address is xxxx@abc.com and should you need to reach me the best time is for you to send your email first thing in the morning because I don't read email here after 1 p.m." Trust me when I say that a query like this is getting tossed. You're making life difficult for the publisher or editor to contact you. Why? Don't do it. Make it as simple as possible for them to correspond with you in case they're interested in what you are proposing. Do you really care if they called you at 3 a.m. and said, "We're publishing your book." ?

Personalize every single query letter you send out with a professional greeting.

Don't waste time and space in your letter. Stay concentrated on pitching your story idea.

Making claims about how well your book will sell and the money that it will make is a big no-no.

Don't write in your letter how hard you worked to finish your manuscript. It matters not.

5. Query letters that have been photocopied and sent enmasse with no greeting, salutation or personalization is just plain rude and whether in print or by email, is considered junk mail. And we all know where junk mail ends up. So send each letter specifically addressed to the appropriate person using the proper salutation and greeting. It's not only courteous it's professional.

4. Don't tell an editor or publisher that you know how busy they are and that you are going to keep your query short. You've 1. Already wasted their time because they just had to read that sentence and 2. Unless you've been an editor or publisher you have no idea how busy they are on the day they read your query. And if you have been an editor or publisher in the past you'd know right away not to include time wasting sentences like that, which does nothing in getting to the point of your idea.

3. Sending a query that makes specific claims about who the audience will be, how the story will attract them and the numbers the book will generate for the company should they choose to publish your novel. Immediately you are in trouble telling a publisher that! You are not a market researcher providing statistics to the publisher or editor. You're a writer. You cannot make claims on whether or not the book will sell. All you're doing is guessing, hoping, trying to persuade through greed that the book will make the publisher millions. You have no idea what you're talking about so why are you writing about it in your query? A publisher knows what will and will not sell. They study the markets, compile the figures, they know their customers and have the experience to make that judgement. You don't. And again it does nothing but waste time and will get your letter tossed.

2. This is a favourite among writers for some reason: Telling the editor or publisher how hard you have worked on the manuscript. Explaining how much time and effort you have invested in making it the perfect novel. It's not relevant to the query you're making. Every writer works hard on his/her work hoping that it will be published. You're saying nothing that an editor or publisher doesn't already know and again wasting their time by not getting to the point. Which is? Your idea boiled down into a single page letter that explains very quickly what your story is all about. Tell your friends and family how hard you worked on it, maybe they'll care because the people reading your query don't give a flying hoot.

Do you know the difference between a book of fiction and a novel?

1. Last, but certainly not least is when a writer includes in a query letter the fact that he/she has written a fiction novel. Do you know why this would be the number one thing not to say? It's because if you have written a manuscript that is a fictional tale then by definition it is a novel. Novels are works of fiction. Remember that and don't include it in your query letter. It makes you look stupid and unprofessional. As an aside: You'll never hear a non-fiction book being termed or labeled as a novel. It's a non-fiction book, sometimes called other names based on content like an autobiography or a textbook.

In Closing

Make the editors and publishers happy and some day they may make you happy.

That's it folks. Print this out. Stick it with your manuscript and when you're ready to start sending query letters use the above as a guideline to help get your query on their desk and not in the recycle bin. You'll stand a much better chance of being published if you'll follow these simple sets of rules and you will make editors and publishers happier everywhere. Remember ... Relax! Write! Have Fun!