This is from a YouTube panel from Big Sur of the Rockies writer’s conference. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

– Best queries: show the author’s knowledge of what they are offering. Knowledge of their audience and the market.
– How not to do it: Don’t make comparisons to best sellers.
– You want to have something to hook the reader to want to read more. Bio> show you’re ready to engage in the industry and your audience.
– You don’t have to have all your social media set up but you want to show that you are ready to engage with your audience.
– A query needs to be well written that illustrates your skill, such as knowing the word count that matches to your submission.
– Be professional.
– You are more likely to query an agent rather than a publisher.
– For the person, you pitch to, you want to approach with their interest only if you’ve had a relationship with them.
– Maybe quote something on their website or if they know other authors that agent represents.
– Why do you feel your book would appeal to someone? If you reference a book then show you’ve read the book you compare with.
– Reference what you know they love and what they are looking for
– Show some of your serenity in a positive say. One said like many nerds before me… is self-depicting.
– If you are a member of a writing organization, show that as they are invested in the business
– If you’ve published 20 books just mention the last three.
– If you have some awards mention it.
– Don’t say my husband loved it.
– Give an idea of the essence of the story. You don’t have to put in every character or the entire plot. Give the essence of the story.
– Twelve point, Roman type with one-inch borders. Query letter about four paragraphs. The story part of the query should be about five lines in one paragraph. And give a little about you.
– Do not do dear sir… find out the specific name. Some editors automatically deleted.
– Show that you have a personality. It should reflect your voice.
– Never trust anyone you feed for feedback.
– Hope to appeal to my wander lust> Save a little on my sky miles.
– Look at the back of a book jacket to see how books plots have been condensed.
– Do not you put in ‘have you ever wondered if” or such questions in your query. Avoid rhetorical questions.
– Don’t educate the agent on the market. It sounds patronizing.
– No gimmicks
– Don’t make up the agent’s mind by saying ‘you probably won’t read this.’
– Your query letter it’s your job interview. Be professional in every way.
– Agents share queries with each other in the same agency.
– It says queries only; but, send the first page anyway. That is an in-business secret. We can see your writing style. Make your first pages as strong as it can be. Do not send it as an attachment. Just post it beneath the query letter with a one-line introduction.
– Follow the submission guidelines. Don’t send a preliminary query just send a query letter.
– Don’t send a query only do it when the manuscript is done.
– If they ask for a manuscript, send it within the first week.
– Need to go through agents before publishing houses.