Query Letter Builder

Write your query one line at a time. Each part has prompts and sentence starters, the letter builds as you type, and you download a rough draft to smooth out in your own words.

How this is structured. Real queries that get requests don't split the hook from the pitch. They open with one line covering the agent, your title and your stats, then run three short paragraphs that escalate. What she wants, what gets in the way, what happens when it all goes wrong. That's the shape this builds.

1

The agent

Spell the name correctly. Some writers use the first name to avoid guessing wrong at titles, which is a reasonable move.

2

The opening line

One sentence doing three jobs. Why this agent, plus your title, subgenre and word count. This is where the queries that work put the stats, not at the bottom.

Tap to drop a starter in at your cursor. Anything in brackets gets selected so you can type straight over it.

you have [genre] on your wishlist you represented [BOOK], which shares my book's [quality] you're looking for [thing] we met at [event] and you asked to see this

Round to the nearest thousand.

ExampleI'm querying you because your wishlist asks for romantasy with a working-class heroine, and I'd love to share THE SALT ARCHIVE, my adult romantasy, complete at 98,000 words.
3

Paragraph one, what she wants

Introduce your protagonist and what she's after right now. Where she is, what she wants, and why that's harder than it sounds. Three or four sentences.

Tap to drop a starter in at your cursor. Anything in brackets gets selected so you can type straight over it.

After [event], all [Name] wants is [Name] has [done thing] for [time], because [Name] is [description], despite She settles in [place], where she hopes to She has [time] before
ExampleNeve has forged shipping maps for six years, which is illegal, well paid, and the only reason her sister is still in school. Now the harbour master has started checking cargo papers against the official archive, and Neve needs one clean forgery to cover the six years of dirty ones behind her. She has eleven days before the audit, and the only copy of the seal she needs sits inside the one building she has spent her whole life staying out of.
4

Paragraph two, what gets in the way

The complication. In romantasy this is usually where the love interest arrives and the friction between them gets named. Two or three sentences.

Tap to drop a starter in at your cursor. Anything in brackets gets selected so you can type straight over it.

Her plans go well enough, although nothing she does seems to [Name] soon discovers that The only person who can help her is who is desperately seeking and neither of them can afford to
ExampleGetting through the door is easier than she expected. Getting past the new inspector is not, because Ruen recognised her handwriting the first week he arrived and still hasn't reported it. He could arrest her tomorrow and won't tell her why he hasn't, and every day he lets pass makes them both harder to forgive.
5

Paragraph three, when it goes wrong

The escalation and the stakes. Finish on the emotional question the book is asking, not on the plot resolution. Never give away the ending.

Tap to drop a starter in at your cursor. Anything in brackets gets selected so you can type straight over it.

But just as [Name] starts to think When [threat] arrives, threatening to [Name] and [Name] must work together through she is forced to face whether and everything she has built
ExampleBut when the audit turns up a forgery that isn't hers, Neve realises someone has been copying her work to move something far worse through the harbour than untaxed silk. Clearing her own name means confessing to six years of crimes. Protecting Ruen means letting him answer for a map she made. She has spent her whole life choosing who to lie to, and now she has to choose who to tell the truth.
6

Comps and positioning

Two or three recent books in your lane, and what each one shares with yours. Skip the genre's biggest titles.

Use a vertical bar to separate the title from what it shares.

ExampleTHE SALT ARCHIVE is about forgery, debt, and the people we protect by lying to them. It is for readers who loved the guild politics of A MARVELLOUS LIGHT and the slow-burn restraint of EMILY WILDE'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES.
7

Your bio

Two or three sentences. Credits, or expertise connecting to this book. If you have neither, one plain line about yourself is fine.

Tap to drop a starter in at your cursor. Anything in brackets gets selected so you can type straight over it.

My short fiction has appeared in I work as a [job], which is where [element] came from I'm a graduate of I live in [place], where I

Your query letter

Here it is, assembled from everything above. Read it through, then download it and smooth out the joins in your own words.

Assembled draft0words

This gives you a rough draft, not a finished letter. The sentences won't join up perfectly and some of the joins will read a bit mechanical. That's expected. Download it, then smooth it into your own voice, because the voice is the part an agent is reading for and it's the one part this can't do for you.

Checks

0words