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Re: [GWL]: Query Openings

Nan -
A few more thoughts on query letters:

Avoid beginning paragraphs (and most sentences, if you can) with "I."  These
are, above all, sales letters which should focus on "you" (as in you, the
editor or you, the potential readers).  e.g "Your readers would benefit from
my expertise in skunk cabbage culture" as opposed to "I have years of
experience in studying skunk cabbages."

There are many ways to write query letters but I have found the following
outline which I learned in a workshop given by a senior editor from
Doubleday to be quite effective.

1. First paragraph = lead of proposed story (doesn't have to be the version
you actually use) or main idea summarized (in the case of a book)
2. The "so what" factor - why that market's readership would be interested
in your idea
3. Your specific angle (especially important if the general topic area is
well worn)
4. A list of the main topics you plan to cover
5. Experts you will quote
6. Your expertise/credits
7. Your contact info ie. phone number/e-mail - even if it's in your
letterhead - don't make them look for it!

The overall concept is to make your query as interesting and well written as
your story will be - that's the reasoning behind forgetting the pleasantries
and getting right to the essence.  Don't write anything the editor will have
read 30 times that day already!

I used this format in a query to Doubleday a year or so after the workshop
and, while they did reject my book idea, they commented on how well written
the proposal was!!

Hope all this is of some help.

Mary Lynn
oshea@pathcom.com

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