Sunday, May 07, 2006

Q & A 7 Long Queries


How do editors feel about query letters longer than a page?

If it would take a paragraph to describe the plot of The Bridges of Madison County, even Evil Editor concedes that it might take two or three to describe War and Peace. My personal feeling is that if an editor is hooked enough to turn the page of your query letter, he was hooked enough already to request the manuscript.

If you can't get everything that absolutely must be said onto one page, even after switching from Courier 12 to Times 11, create a separate page for a brief synopsis. Sure, it's the same information, and the same number of pages, but to an editor with a short attention span, it's something new and potentially exciting. Since most editors don't make it to the second page of your novel, you can hardly expect them to relish diving into a letter that has no signature at the bottom.

3 comments:

Stephen said...

Safari in only available to Mac users. The blog has always looked absolutely fine on Firefox, which is available to all Windows users.

So, when's the Evil Editor going to set a contest for his malevloent minions? Seems like it was a life changing experience for Miss Snark when she did it.

Patrice Michelle said...

Ooh, a writing contest for the minions! *said in Gollum's voice while rubbing hands together*

More opportunity for EE to make fun of...er...wield his BLUE pen!

Tawny Taylor said...

A contest sounds like fun! I hope EE considers the suggestion.