Query Letter Tips for
Personalizing Your Submission
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
I’m a former literary agent and here are my favorite query letter tips for personalizing your submission. In short, if you don’t invest the time to tailor your query letter the same way you would do literary agent research or find the perfect comparative titles to cite, don't bother doing personalization at all. Query letter personalization can be a great way to make a lasting impression with a literary agent or publisher, but you have to do it right.
Query Letter Tips That Move the Needle
Take a moment to consider the countless hours you spent honing your writing craft and perfecting your self-editing. For some people, you’ve spent months, maybe even years of your life! Therefore, you should dedicate a considerable amount of your time to researching the literary agents you want to target, as well as writing your query letter.
And what are you learning during your research? You’re not just figuring out where people work, what kinds of projects they represent, and their submission guidelines. You’re also, ideally, picking up personal information about your literary agent targets, which leads me to one of my favorite query letter tips.
Nowadays, most agents are active online, engaging with readers on social media or giving interviews. Don't forget to peruse the books that agents have sold and gain insight into their work. You should be using Publishers Marketplace to track their latest book deals. Try to tease out a sense of their taste from what they’ve said online, using resources like MSWL.
Once you feel you have a good read (har har, publishing joke) on your target writing agents, it’s time to make your move. You will want to personalize your query letter based on everything you’ve learned. But watch out, as far as query letter tips go, this one has the capacity to backfire.
You have to be specific when you personalize. Phrases such as, "I am contacting you because of your love for books," "because you are an advocate for children's literature," "because you have sold some books," or "because you come from a reputable agency," are all examples of ineffective personalization. If this is what you’re planning, take these query letter tips to heart and … don’t.
When I was a literary agent, I wouldn’t necessarily be put off when a query wasn’t personalized—not at all. But if you make no effort or an obviously vague effort, all the query letter tips in the world won’t save you. Right away, the agent will know that you’re recycling the same line in every submission. And if anyone can recognize a form letter, it’s a literary agent!
Moving Beyond Query Letter Tips
At some point, you are going to have to venture out into the world … or at least the slush pile. Remember, if you don't have something specific worth saying when personalizing your query letter, then it's better not to even mention why you're reaching out. If you have robust and specific query letter personalization, put it right at the top of your submission, so the literary agent knows that you’ve done your homework.
Query letter personalization can be powerful, but vague “personalization” is a big misstep. We all know why you're emailing, that you want to get published, so there's no need to mention that, either. Furthermore, it's a given that every agent you contact loves books. Forge ahead confidently in the direction of your solid literary agent research. If you’ve done that part of the job right, you won’t need query letter tips or gimmicks. Your confidence will speak volumes for you!
Click here to purchase Successful Query Letters, my book on query letters, including over forty examples with comprehensive notes on each one. There’s a ton of submission advice, best practices, and insider information in these pages, and you’ll really enjoy seeing what other writers are doing in the slush.