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query letter resources.
- Cate
- Sep 28
- 2 min read
Since I'm in the midst of querying, I thought it might be helpful to share a list of resources for writers who are starting to think about writing the query letter or struggling to. My advice is to write the query letter before writing the book, but that topic is for another post.
Let's dive in.
Created by the late literary agent Janet Reid, this is one of the best resources for learning how to write an effective query letter. I recommend reading every post. It will take a while, but you will learn.
If you're a writer, you should be following Jane. Her website and newsletters are full of up-to-date publishing resources.
Julie is a book coach and former Pitch Wars mentor. She's seen a LOT of query letters and pitch materials, and has an eye for what works. There are lots of free pitching resources available on her website.
Nathan was previously a literary agent and has a wealth of information on query letters, plus several examples. Scroll down to the header How to Write a Query Letter.
It can be super helpful to see a bunch of successful queries and analyze them for patterns. Author and literary agent Eric Smith (https://www.ericsmithrocks.com/perfect-pitch) also has a list of successful query letters from writers he's signed on.
There are tons of other resources out there, but this list here will give you a good start.
My personal tip is to study back cover or jacket description of books you've read to get a grasp on how this kind of pitch copy hooks readers. One note of caution: pitching readers and pitching the industry are different. An example might be sharing a spoiler in your letter to editors or agents that you wouldn't share in the book description to readers. Don't reveal how the book ends in the query; that's for the synopsis. Nathan Bransford has more about spoilers in query letters here: https://nathanbransford.com/blog/2023/03/do-not-worry-about-spoilers-in-a-query-letter
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