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.