Need Query Help?

Are you struggling with your query letter? Well, here’s something that might help you not only with the writing of the query, but its placement as well. Go to http://www.agentquery.com/. This site has been Writer’s Digest’s “Best Website for Writers” for years. Not too shabby and it’s free.

What is agentquery.com and what can this site do for you? Agent Query was designed to help writers research agents on a more current basis than any agent or market book published. Agents send their information, including what they represent, to Agent Query and a profile is set up for them with updates throughout the year. All you have to do is enter the agent’s name in the search box and his/her mini profile will pop up. If you want to read more about them, click on the full profile link beside their name. Some agents have their own websites for which a link will be provided.

You can also do a search for agents based on the genre you write. This way, you’ll have a pack of agent profiles to peruse. Be warned, depending on the genre, you could be looking at profiles for hours. Yeah, it’s that big.

Okay, so now you know who you want to send this baby to, but you still have to write the darn thing. How do you go about producing a query letter that agents will love? Agentquery.com can help you with that as well. Go to the home page. There’s a section on the top left for writers. There you’ll find info about agents in general, how to submit to agents, how to write a query, and more.

In the middle of the page, there’s a link that says: “Join AQ Connect! Agent Query’s Social Networking Site!” Click and join. Now, you have many options available to you. You can post your query letter and have other writers, Agent Query crew members, and possibly agents read and critique your work. Keep in mind, not everyone is at the same writing level nor do they necessarily know what’s acceptable or expected of your genre. Still, if you get enough feedback, you should be able to come out with a query that’s better than what you had originally written. Hopefully, you’ll be lucky enough to have some excellent feedback (and yes, that can sometimes hurt) so you can develop a powerful query that will leave agents begging for more.

I’ve learned a lot from this site. Not only from the critiques I received, but from the ones I gave. Reading a lot of queries and critiques of those queries can help you learn to identify what’s right and what’s wrong. Eventually, you should be able to apply that knowledge to your own work or so we hope. ;)

Go to www.agentquery.com join their social networking clans, and look around. There are all types of groups, from query letter development, to first page critiques, and more.

What do you think? Have you gone to this site before? Any experiences you want to share? Or do you have another site you’d like to recommend?