Customer Reviews

How to Write Irresistible Query Letters

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

.... with instruction and a different slant for so many different mediums. The beginning of the book serves up a valuable lesson on how to develop an idea that may sell, how to slant for different markets, hooking the editor and selling yourself. Then there is a short section on research and interviews. This dynamite little book not only tells you how to write and slant your query to different markets, but give concrete examples by using sample letters. This is a nice little introductory book with a concrete process that'll help you write a great query letter.

When I began my writing career fourteen years ago, I needed to know the basics. Thanks to this book, I learned how to write a focused, relevant query letter. Lisa Collier Cool's writing and examples do more than show you an effective way of writing the query letter--they show you how to develop a confident way of presenting your ideas.

For those who found no value in the book, I'm shocked. Thanks to Ms. Cool's no-nonsense approach, I became a successful published author hundreds of times over. If you're just starting out, get this book. While it could be updated to include Internet-based querying, it's a terrific primer just the way it is.

It's a good, basic text on magazine and non-fiction book queries and covers the ground well. The writing is straightforward, clean and informative. I was looking for a book on fiction queries and this one isn't it. I wish there had been a subtitle that said what the book actually covered.

I can state with authority that this one produces RESULTS - due mainly to the encouragement and easy to follow tips inside, I was able to become a successful freelance writer, publishing both locally and nationally and going on to win awards for my writing. This book is one I've recommended time and time again to my writing students whenever I've taught nonfiction writing courses. At the time I bought this book, many years ago, Lisa Collier Cool's name appeared on many of the magazine and other articles I read - proving that she knows her business. This one focuses on everything from finding ideas that sell to hooking the editor with an effective query letter to selling yourself as the writer. This is the ONE book every freelance writer should have!

So it's old. So it's a little smarmy. So there are sample pitch letters about how "by 1990, it's believed that many Americans will have computers." So a lot of people have moved on to selling stories with sloppy little e-mail notes. So what.

Lisa Collier Cool teaches you to cross all the 'T's to give your pitch letter unstoppable propulsion. You might read her method and say, 'that's overkill.' But unless you've got a better idea (such as phoning up your old Ivy League buddies for an assignment) this is what you want for breaking in to a magazine on the strength of raw ideas, not schmoozy contacts.

If it wasn't for this book I'd probably be in law school right now.

This literary agent's guide for wannabe' writers is meant to help mostly novice authors persuade people just like her. The book's success is due largely to the plentiful examples of successful letters written by her and other authors. Templates abound, a happy state for any craftsman, not least beginning or intermediate writers.

Its second contribution is to humanize the mythic person of `the editor'. He or she is a busy professional--like many others, one might add--who needs to find good work. Few are large-fanged, drooly, no-monsters. But you do need to put your best foot forward. Collier Cool's little paperback will help you do that.

This book will find a place at your elbow as well-thumbed reference more than as a stirring read.

Can't believe this book is still selling. When new, 10 years ago, its worth was marginal. But now, its advice is stale, boring, downright harmful. Any writer who approaches an editor in the manner this author suggests will wait a l-o-n-g---l-o-n-g time for an assignments. Give this book a funeral. Better yet, just bury it. Far better choices? The current and complete How to Writer Attention Grabbing Queries and Cover Letters by John Wood and the creative and conversational Feminine Wiles by Donna Elizabeth Boetig.

This is the very first free-lance writing book I read--and one of the few I have read cover to cover. It's an easy read with great examples and essential information. I referred to it when writing my first query; incidentally, I sold my first article with that first query and have been writing for the same magazine for several years now. A must-read for all free-lance magazine writer wannabes.

This was the book that opened my eyes up to the possibilities in freelance writing, and it's one that I will continue to use due to its overflowing resources of example queries, ideas, etc. Anyone who wants to publish an article or a book MUST READ THIS!!

This step-by-step guide is an easy read, a wonderful resource for writers. Mainly focused on magazine queries, the text explains much more than how to make a quality first impression with editors. It also teaches how to find and clarify ideas; how to slant them into something fresh and "irrisistible", then how to format them into something a publisher will want to read. Other chapters focus on selling yourself as the author, securing a solid hook and polishing your pieces to perfection. Several sample queries are given throughout the book.

The copy I have shows a copyright of 1987. Amazon lists a more recent date of 2002. Whether or not revisions have been made, I cannot say. If not, then the new printing is more outdated than the old. I rolled my eyes a few times and skipped entire sections because of the obviously dated material. One portion devotes far too many words to encouraging writers to use the proper equipment on their typewriters. Perhaps some authors still use typewriters. They may need to be reminded which type and color of tape to use or which "white-outs" are or are not appropriate. For the rest of us, swimming beautifully in the computer age, a revised and updated version of this book would be appreciated.

Overall Rating: GOOD -- Even better if updated.