If you have contacts in the publishing world use them to get your work in front of an agent. If don’t have a contact then make a list of the top 10 agents you want to work with and send each one a customized query letter.

The query letter is a one page attention grabbing letter that provides an agent with enough information about you and your project to spark their interest. Agents shuffle through hundreds of pages of manuscripts and query letters each month. Don’t waste their time by sending them unsolicited boredom. Be concise and entertaining. Your query letter should follow this format:

1. Paragraph 1 - The Teaser
   Write the most attention grabbing sentence of your life. If you have walked on the moon or graduated at the top of our Ivey League class let them know. If you are like the rests of use, find a nice fit between who you are and what your book is about. For example, “I have been a health inspector for 25 years and I propose to write a book about what you are really paying for when you go out to eat.” The combination of who you are and the topic of you book needs to be a believable and provide a compelling reason to read more. Being able to match who you are with what you intend to write will generally be enough to get the agent to read the second paragraph.
2. Paragraph 2 - Enlarge the Idea
   Expound about what you intend to write about. Include examples and anecdotes that exemplify your idea. Show off your best material. Writing a good paragraph about your book gives the agent some confidence that you can actually write the book.
3. Paragraph 3 – You You You
   Now that you have shown you have a good idea for a book show that you are the best person to write it. The two most common ways to show you are the best is by describing relevant facts that show the connection between you and your idea, and by flexing academic credentials.
4. Paragraph 4 – Close It
   Tell the agent you are only showing your proposal to only one agent at a time, and only show you proposal to one agent at a time. Agents hate worrying that someone else is going to steal their gem. Tell the agent why you decided to send your query letter to them. Give them your phone number, email address, and home or work address.

Remember to make your query letter exciting. Use it to make the agents crave more of your writing. Do not exceed one page or your letter will go into the trash instead of in front of their eyes.

Do you want to have a chapter of your novel critiqued? Join Review Fuse and let us help you refine your novel.

Jacob

See Part 1 of this series - The Publishing Process

Before you send your query letter to an agent prepare a proposal. Whoa! Why do I need a proposal before I send out query letters? If an agent follows up with you and you are not prepared, you lose your best chance at getting published. Nothing reeks of unprofessional and unorganized more than unpreparedness.

A proposal is a thorough outline of your book. The proposal should contain the following elements:

Overview

The first two to three pages should be summary of your idea for the book. Provide a synopsis of your fiction work or an explanation of the topics you intend to write about for a non-fiction piece.

Market

The next three to four pages should be a description of the audience your book will appeal to. This should include the age, education level, socio-economic status, and general reading habits your target audience.

Competition

Description other books that cover similar topics. Agents can easily discover if you’re omitting something so be honest. A crowded market is not necessarily a bad market. A crowd is one indication that people are making money in that market.

Author(s)

Briefly description yourself and the co-authors of the book. Brag and boast about yourself and the other authors. Convince the agent that you are the best author for this book. If you don’t convince the agent to support you, he will never convince a publishing house to back you.

Chapter Summaries

The majority of the proposal should be a chapter by chapter outline of the book. For fiction pieces include up to twenty pages of text from your book. For non-fiction provide a minimal outline summarizing the heart of each chapter.

Delivery

End with a short paragraph stating the length of and deadline for completing the book.

To learn more about preparing a proposal and how to get published I recommend reading either The Complete Starter Kit for Aspiring Writers or 100 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, both by Scott Edelstei.

Find out what your peers think about your book by uploading a chapter for critique.

Jacob