A query letter is not a synopsis. It is a sales document. Its job is to make a literary agent think: this sounds marketable, controlled, and worth reading.
A strong query letter is a one-page pitch for your manuscript. It introduces the book, presents the story in a sharp and compelling way, and positions the manuscript professionally in the current market.
The goal is not to explain the entire plot. The goal is to make the agent want to read pages.
Clear premise. Strong protagonist. Active conflict. Real stakes. Clean market positioning.
Open either with a real personalization or go directly into the book. Do not fake flattery. If you have no meaningful personalization, skip it.
Example:
Dear [Agent Name],
I’m seeking representation for TITLE, a completed [genre] manuscript at [word count] words. It will appeal to readers of [comp 1] and [comp 2].
Personalized version:
Because you represent character-driven upmarket fiction with dark humor, I thought TITLE might be a fit. It is a completed [genre] manuscript at [word count] words.
This is the heart of the query. It should introduce the protagonist, the central problem, the major obstacle, and the stakes.
[Protagonist], a [brief vivid identifier], wants [goal]. But when [inciting incident], they must [action / conflict], or else [stakes].
Example:
Twenty-eight-year-old archivist Lena Vale has built her life around preserving other people’s stories while carefully avoiding her own. But when her estranged mother disappears after mailing Lena a box of letters written by a father she never knew, Lena is forced to follow a trail of secrets across three states and into the family scandal that made her leave home for good. If she wants answers, she’ll have to expose a lie powerful people have spent decades protecting—even if it destroys the only version of her past she knows how to live with.
Use this only if the story needs more escalation. This is where you sharpen the dilemma, introduce a major relationship or rival, or heighten the cost of failure.
Example:
As Lena gets closer to the truth, the search pulls her into an uneasy alliance with a local reporter whose career depends on publishing the very story she is desperate to bury. The deeper they dig, the more Lena realizes her mother may not be missing at all—she may be orchestrating one final reckoning.
After the pitch, include the professional packaging: title, genre, word count, and comparison titles.
Example:
TITLE is a standalone upmarket suspense novel complete at 88,000 words, with series potential. It combines the family-buried-secrets tension of COMP 1 with the emotional excavation of COMP 2.
Keep it short. Include only what helps sell the manuscript: publication credits, awards, relevant professional background, or expertise tied to the book.
Example:
I hold an MFA from [X], and my short fiction has appeared in [Y]. Like my protagonist, I worked as an archivist, though thankfully without uncovering any multigenerational conspiracies.
If you have no credits, say so simply:
This is my first novel.
The close should be simple, polite, and clean.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I’d be glad to send the full manuscript or any additional materials.
Best,
[Your Name]
[Email]
[Phone if desired]
[Website if relevant]
Use this structure:
Dear [Agent Name],
I’m seeking representation for TITLE, a completed [genre] manuscript at [word count] words. It will appeal to readers of [comp 1] and [comp 2].
[Pitch paragraph: protagonist + inciting incident + conflict + stakes.]
[Optional second paragraph: escalation, dilemma, twist, emotional engine.]
TITLE is a [standalone / standalone with series potential]. [Brief comp positioning.]
[Brief bio.]
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best,
[Your Name]
Things become complicated and she starts to realize that maybe the truth is not what it seems.
The closer she gets to her mother, the more evidence points to a brutal fact: the disappearance was planned, and she was always meant to follow.
Never write things like:
A great query letter is built on restraint. Most weak queries say too much. Most strong queries leave out the right things.
Do not try to explain the whole book. Do not try to impress with vocabulary. Do not pad the letter.
The real target is simple: make the agent want pages.