Customer Reviews

How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover Letters

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

 

 

First the author promises you the moon amidst reminders that your chances of succeeding as a freelance writer are virtually nil. He follows with 10 unbreakable commandments for a query letter, which are repeatedly and obviously broken in the subsequent examples of letters he recieved as an editor. No rules are unbendable, but his examples are so far from his recommendations in some cases that I wonder what he was thinking. For example, the author admonishes us to use provocative, snappy leads that grab the reader, then presents several queries that begin with wordy, boring personal introductions or whose leads are buried for several paragarphs. He warns us to concise, then shows a three-page query that he calls one of the best he ever received as an editor and which doesn't specify the topic clearly until the very end. Contradictions like this abound throughout the book. Make up your mind Mr. Wood.

Overall, mostly a waste of my time.

My three star rating is the average of two stars if you're a novelist, and perhaps four if you're not.

As a novelist beginning to accumulate those unimaginative rejection form letters, Mr. Wood convinced me that, regardless of the guidelines, send at least a synopsis along with the query letter. The two pages he devotes to writing the novel synopsis are worthless, however, and according to Writer's Digest, perhaps dangerously outdated. As indicated by WD, for today's agents and editors, the novel synopsis should never exceed five double-spaced pages. (See "format Your Novel Proposal" by the editors of Writer's Digest in the August 2002 issue to get the scoop on cover letters, synopses and chapter-by-chapter outlines.)

The WD article is not helpful for novel query letters though. Mr. Wood devotes 11 pages (out of 185) to the novel query, including his model sample and one successful query. You might get as much by surfing the web. Still, I don't regret buying this book.

The majority of "Attention Grabbing..." discusses query letters and correspondence relating to non- fiction. Although non-fiction isn't by cup of tea, Mr. Wood's plentiful advice appears to be useful.

If you've ever written anything, you know that getting your query letter together to send to a publisher is the scariest thing you have to do. Everything you've written hinges on the acceptance of an editor, and his acceptance hinges on your query letter. If it doesn't look good, then no matter how good your book is it won't see the light of day. This book will take you step-by-step through every aspect. Don't neglect the most important part of your book - the query that gets you noticed

I'm a novelist, and this book did not live up to my expectations. Most of the book was written for non-fiction writers.

I've read other query letter guides, which advise authors to

- avoid using opinion to describe your own work (such as 'fast-paced')
- avoid using adjectives and adverbs to describe the story

And Mr. Wood agrees. In the short section on novel queries, he includes three examples of query letters that got the attention of their new agents or publishers. Two of them broke these rules.

Mr. Wood proposes that we write a query such that editors and agents sit up and take notice, yet he does not explain how to do this without breaking the 'commandments.' So, if he agrees with the rules, but includes examples of query letters that break them, what's an author supposed to think? My conclusion is that Mr. Wood has no better idea than I do what constitutes a good query letter.

I'll continue my search for a good book on writing query letters. This is not it.

Now we can know why writers receive rejection letters. John Wood has been there--on both sides. As an editor he reviewed over 25,000 query letters, seeing all the mistakes repeated over and over--and the occasional gem, which always followed a few simple rules. As a writer he has lived through the frustrating write/rejection cycle firsthand. He is as qualified as anyone to write this tutorial. The quality of his writing proves it. His book is dead-on, with easily understood descriptions.

After homilizing on the general decay of "The Art of Correspondence," Wood presents an interesting chapter on how the editor/writer relationship--and each respective role--is viewed from both the writer's and the editor's perspectives, including the myths and misconceptions. This lays the groundwork for the meat of the manual: the list of ten query "commandments" and ten query "sins." These are made particularly instructive by the inclusion of actual samples letters, both good and bad, and his own created "ideal" letter.

While the book focuses mainly on magazine article queries, there are chapters for fiction and non-fiction book writers too. Most of the rules seem to apply to all types of submissions, although he does a good job of delineating the subtle differences. The book goes on to cover various other types of correspondence a writer might send to editors and publishers.

The one flaw (relating only to my personal needs) was his short treatment of the fiction novel synopsis, which he convinces is fundamentally important, but then devotes only two pages to, and fails to include any samples. Overall, the book is excellent. You may have written the greatest article or book in history, but without Wood's help, it may never see the florescent light of the bookstore. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

In spite of the fluent promises to provide details and examples of 'killer' query letters, I found detail wanting in this book. This was especially true in the non-fiction section where there was only one one example of a query letter. This was especially disappointing since writing non-fiction queries was the reason I purchased the book. The author pointed out that the one non-fiction example was a bit unusual and rambling but it was a winner. Not exactly what I was hoping for in a reference guide. The remainder of that section was dedicated to a proposal. I have read other texts with much more specific guidance.

There was a more detailed section on writing queries for magazines which was the author's background as he had worked as a editor for Modern maturity.

I wish I'd read the other reviews here before I'd bought this book. I wouldn't have bought it.

The biggest problem, not mentioned in another review: The book was originally published in 1996 and doesn't reflect the changes the internet has caused in the industry.

This guy presents a query format I've never seen, and it certainly is evey-catching. He proposes that you start out your query letter with a 3 line blurb, kind of like what you might see on the back of an already-published novel, which is a technique no one else has ever suggested in the dozens of other "how to write query letters" books I've read. He covers how to write queries for just about every type of writing you an imagine, even magazine articles. Very thorough and helpful.

When I was about ready to start the query process for my novel (fiction), I found this book on my shelf. I'm not even sure where it came from, but as it was the only guide I had, I used it.

First, I agree that this book is mostly for non-fiction writers. And I also agree that it's outdated, and you can probably find a better guide.

I modeled my letter after the ones in the section for novel queries. I entered the letter in a contest, and received mostly bad comments about it. Some said there was not enough information about the plot, and too much information about why the agent should represent the novel. Others were confused by my starting the letter with the title of the novel and a tag line. These were both suggestions from the book.

*However* (and this is a BIG however), out of a mere eight queries sent, my stats are as follows:

4 rejected
2 pending
*1 partial request!
*1 full request!

I have only been looking for an agent for a little over a month, and I'm told these stats are pretty good. So, I have mixed feeling about the book. If you have it on hand, use it. But you might be better served buying a newer book if you have to purchase it.

Beyond fundamentals of letters, this valuable resource has great guidance on what to say and not say, to whom, and when, in pursuit of publication. This being my current (and not previously accomplished) aim, I am deeply grateful for the assistance in not shooting my chances in the foot.