How To Write A Winning Query Letter (With Examples)

Gary Smailes | 19 December 2025

Understanding Query Letters

Picture this: you've spent months, maybe years, crafting your manuscript. You've revised until your eyes bleed. You've polished every sentence until it gleams. Now comes the part that makes most writers break out in cold sweats — getting an agent to read it.

Enter the query letter: your literary wingman, your manuscript's best friend, your one shot at making a killer first impression. Think of it as a one-page pitch letter to literary agents, but not just any pitch letter. This single page holds the power to open doors or slam them shut.

Here's the brutal truth: agents receive hundreds of queries every week. Most get rejected within the first paragraph. Some don't even make it past the subject line. Your query letter doesn't just introduce your book — it determines whether an agent will request sample pages, and ultimately, whether your manuscript sees the light of day through traditional publishing.

For fiction and narrative nonfiction writers, there's no way around it. The query letter stands as the essential gateway to traditional publishing. You don't get to bypass this step, charm your way around it, or substitute it with a clever TikTok video (though that might work in a few years — who knows?).

But what exactly does this single page need to accomplish? The answer might surprise you with its complexity.

First, your query must demonstrate your book's marketability. Agents aren't just looking for good stories — they're looking for stories they know they can sell to publishers. Your query needs to show that your book fits into a recognizable market while offering something fresh enough to stand out on crowded shelves.

Second, it must showcase your writing skills. This sounds obvious, but here's the catch: writing a gripping novel and writing a compelling query letter require different muscles. Your query needs to be clear, concise, and compelling in ways that might feel foreign if you're used to writing 80,000-word character studies. You're essentially writing marketing copy, and it needs to sparkle.

Third, your query establishes your professional credibility. Agents want to work with authors who understand the business, who'll be partners in the publishing process rather than obstacles to overcome. Your query letter signals whether you're someone they want to represent, not just whether your book is worth reading.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Get it right, and you might find yourself with multiple agents competing to represent you. Get it wrong, and your masterpiece sits in a drawer while you wonder what went sideways.

Most writers approach query letters like they're writing book reports — dry summaries that list plot points without capturing what makes their story compelling. Others swing too far in the opposite direction, writing breathless hyperbole that sounds like movie trailer voice-over work.

The sweet spot lies somewhere between these extremes. Your query needs to be professional but not stiff, exciting but not overwrought, confident but not arrogant. It needs to give agents enough information to understand your book while leaving them hungry for more.

Remember, agents aren't your enemies. They want to find great books. They're hoping your query will be the one that makes them sit up and take notice. But they're also busy professionals who need you to make their job easier, not harder.

Your query letter is your book's job interview, first date, and audition all rolled into one. No pressure, right?

Essential Components of a Query Letter

A strong query letter includes five parts. Think of a short checklist. Nail each part, earn a read.

The Hook

Open with a single, punchy line. Name, age, a defining trait, and the central problem. Present tense. No backstory. No throat clearing.

• Thriller: “When 17-year-old EMT Lina steals a cartel ledger to cover her brother’s surgery, three killers roll into town.”
• Romance: “Two rival florists in Lagos fake a partnership to win a royal wedding, then risk careers for a real relationship.”
• Literary: “After a factory shutdown, a quiet janitor breaks into offices he once cleaned, chasing proof of his own worth.”

Aim for clarity over cleverness. Strong nouns and verbs. Stakes front and center. Avoid rhetorical questions. No hype.

Quick exercise: write three versions of your hook, each with a different focus, character, plot, or concept. Read aloud. Choose the one with the most punch and the least fluff.

The Synopsis

Two to three short paragraphs. Present tense. Active voice. Focus on the spine of the story. One or two named characters, maximum. No subplots, no theme essays, no worldbuilding tour.

• Paragraph one sets the stage. Protagonist, setting, goal.
• Paragraph two sharpens conflict. Obstacles multiply. Stakes rise.
• Paragraph three hints at the climax. Leave a sense of direction, not a blow-by-blow.

Example, compressed:

“Lina, a 17-year-old EMT in a border town, works double shifts to keep her injured brother in rehab. A raid turns chaotic, and a dying smuggler presses a black notebook into her hands, murmuring one name.

A crew arrives within hours, ripping through homes and beating neighbors for answers. When the crew targets her brother’s rehab center, Lina strikes a deal with a disgraced detective. Trade the ledger for protection. Trust, once. Survive the week.

The handoff fails, the detective vanishes, and the crew locks down the stadium during Friday’s game. Lina plans a hostage swap, knowing one mistake ends her brother’s chances.”

See the shape. Want to know more, but not lost in detail.

Tips:

• Use proper nouns sparingly.
• Keep sentences short.
• Replace summary words like “tension builds” with the event causing the strain.
• If the story includes a twist, hint at pressure points, not secrets.

The Bio

One tight paragraph. Relevant credits only.

Strong inclusions:

• Publications in known outlets, even small ones.
• Awards, residencies, workshops with select entry.
• Professional expertise tied to the book. A paramedic writing a medical thriller. A historian writing a period novel.
• Platform with concrete numbers, if meaningful for nonfiction or crossover projects.

Optional lines for newer writers:

• “I work as a high school counselor, which informs the classroom scenes.”
• “My short fiction appears in Flash Frog and Jellyfish Review.”
• “I am a member of SCBWI and attend regional conferences.”

Skip personal details unrelated to the book. Pets, childhood love of reading, astrology signs, and favorite coffee belong in a different conversation.

The Professional Closing

Wrap up with the basics, clean and clear.

• Title in caps, genre, and complete word count.
• Comps, if you have two that frame tone and audience without grandstanding.
• A polite request for representation and pages.

Sample closing:

“TITLE is an 85,000-word psychological thriller. Readers of Megan Abbott and Tana French will feel at home. The manuscript stands alone.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I would welcome the chance to send pages or the full manuscript.”

For nonfiction or narrative nonfiction, include a line on platform or access. For series potential, signal readiness, not grand plans. Example: “Book one completes a contained arc, with room for future cases.”

Proper Formatting

Presentation signals professionalism before a single sentence lands.

• One page. Aim for 300 to 450 words.
• Single-spaced, left-aligned paragraphs, one blank line between paragraphs.
• Standard font, 12 pt Times New Roman or 11 pt Arial.
• One-inch margins.
• Address the agent by name. Spell the name correctly.
• Subject line for email: Query, TITLE, Genre.
• Follow the agency’s posted guidelines. If pages or a synopsis belong in the body of the email, place them below the letter.
• No attachments unless guidelines request attachments.
• File names with your last name and title if a document upload is required.

Final check:

• Every sentence earns room on the page.
• Every claim feels grounded.
• Every detail points toward a single goal, a request for pages.

Think concise, specific, and professional. Then send.

Crafting an Irresistible Hook

Your hook earns the first five seconds. Use them well. Lead with motion, friction, or a strange situation. No throat clearing. No backstory. Drop the reader into the moment where trouble begins.

Start with action, conflict, or intrigue

Show pressure on page one of your query. Give a clean, concrete event.

• Weak: “Mara grew up in a small town where she always felt different.”
• Strong: “When sixteen-year-old Mara wakes to find her brother missing and her fingernails stained with his blood, she has twelve hours to prove she did not touch him.”

See the difference. The second line holds an event, a clock, a consequence. You feel stakes without a lecture on childhood.

Try this exercise:

• Write one opening line where someone wants something specific, today.
• Cut any phrase before the first verb.
• Replace one vague noun with a specific one. Car becomes hearse. Papers become a forged passport.

Introduce the protagonist fast

Name, age, one defining detail. Pick the detail that influences choices, not a random quirk.

• “Jonah, 42, a bankruptcy attorney who never misses a payment, burns a client file and lies to the court.”
• “Nia, 19, a rookie firefighter, pulls her ex out of a basement blaze, then finds his pockets full of evidence.”

Age helps agents place category. Detail signals voice and world. Keep it tight.

State the central problem early

Agents read for goal and obstacle. What does your lead want, and what blocks the path. Place both within the first two sentences.

• “A widowed baker wants custody of her niece, but a forged will names a stranger.”
• “A junior spy needs to steal one code word, and the only person who knows it is her mother.”

Avoid hedging and fog. Tension lives in specifics.

Skip rhetorical questions and hype

Hooks built on questions often pull focus from story to sales pitch. Same with melodrama.

• Avoid: “What would you do if your soulmate chose your sister?”
• Use: “On the night of her engagement, Tessa learns her fiancé proposed to her sister first, then lied to both.”

Keep the temperature steady. No “worlds will collide,” no “everything changes.” Show the moment instead.

Three approaches, one premise

Work the same idea three ways. Then pick the version with the most punch.

Premise: A teacher finds proof the town’s hero staged his own death.

• Character-driven: “Evan Park, a high school history teacher with a record of avoiding conflict, finds a photo of the town’s dead war hero buying gas last week.”
• Plot-driven: “A leaked DMV photo blows open a decade-old funeral, and a small-town teacher chases a living ghost as a militia closes ranks.”
• Concept-driven: “A town built on a martyr’s story learns the martyr shopped for snacks last Tuesday.”

Each line frames a different entry. The first spotlights the person. The second spotlights the chase. The third spotlights the idea. All work, but one will match your book’s center.

Genre-tailored examples

• Mystery: “When Detective Alma Cruz links three arsons to a church raffle, the only common winner is a dead priest.”
• Thriller: “Seventeen-year-old courier Dani loses a biochip on a subway, then watches a stranger plug it into her neck.”
• Romance: “Two wedding photographers, sworn enemies with matching five-star ratings, get hired for the same royal ceremony and one room in the palace.”
• Fantasy: “A mute scribe who hears the dead takes dictation for a king, write confessions or join the chorus.”
• Literary: “After a factory closes, a janitor breaks into offices he once cleaned, hunting proof his years mattered.”

Note the spine in each. Person plus problem. No backstory lecture. No theme statement floating without action.

Keep it short and clean

Aim for one sentence, two at most. Present tense. Strong verbs. Concrete nouns. Read it aloud. If your tongue trips, trim or swap words.

Swap this:

• “Jade goes on a journey of self-discovery when she returns to her hometown to face past trauma.”

For this:

• “Jade returns home to testify against the coach who made her a star, then finds her mother dating him.”

Test for clarity

Use this quick checklist.

• Name and age included where category needs it.
• Goal and obstacle present.
• Stakes implied or stated in plain terms.
• No more than one proper noun beyond the lead.
• No rhetorical questions, no clichés, no feverish adjectives.

If a word fails to earn its keep, cut it.

Two-minute revision drill

• Write your hook in 25 words.
• Trim to 18 words, keep the spine.
• Expand to two sentences, add a clock or sharper stakes.
• Pick the version with the most heat and fewest syllables.

Example pass:

• Draft: “When a blackout traps an anxious nurse and a prison bus in the same tunnel, she must choose who to save.”
• Cut: “A blackout traps an anxious nurse and a prison bus in one tunnel. She chooses who lives.”
• Sharpen: “A blackout traps an anxious nurse and a prison bus in one tunnel. Her choice decides who leaves breathing.”

Common pitfalls and fixes

• Backstory flood. Fix by moving history to a second paragraph of the synopsis.
• Vague stakes. Fix by naming a consequence. Prison. Eviction. Custody loss. Job loss.
• Overcrowding. Fix by naming one lead and one antagonist or force.
• Quirky for quirky’s sake. Fix by picking a trait that drives plot, not a pet preference.

Hooks reward patience. Try three or four versions. Sleep on them. Pick the line that lands clean, pressure on the page, promise in the air. Then let the rest of the query do its job.

Writing Compelling Synopsis Paragraphs

Think of the synopsis as a clean three-beat story. Three short paragraphs, each with a clear job. Present tense. Active voice. No fluff.

Paragraph one: anchor the reader

Name the protagonist, give age if category needs it, place the story in a setting, and state the initial goal or conflict.

• “Mina Park, 28, runs a failing noodle shop in Tacoma. When a developer buys the block, Mina needs three months of profit to keep the lease, then a rival opens across the street.”

Two or three sentences do the work. No backstory dump. No theme statement floating without action. Focus on the moment where pressure starts.

Try this quick pass:

• Write one sentence with name, age, role, and location.
• Add a second sentence with the first problem, plus a time frame or consequence.

Paragraph two: escalate with purpose

Push the main conflict forward. Introduce one or two obstacles. Raise stakes in concrete terms. Keep the spotlight on the lead.

• “A viral review brings a crowd, but the rival steals recipes and lures Mina’s best cook. Mina risks the shop’s last savings on a night market stall, then learns the developer owns that permit too.”

Notice the nouns and verbs do heavy lifting. Crowd, rival, recipes, savings, permit. Readers feel the squeeze without a list of subplots.

Keep names to a minimum. One protagonist plus one opposing force often covers this section. Replace side characters with roles if mention feels necessary. Brother, boss, landlord.

Paragraph three: aim toward the climax

Point to the showdown without walking through the final pages. Hint at the plan, the choice, or the cost. The goal is a promise of shape, not a full reveal.

• “With one weekend left, Mina bets on a citywide food festival that bans chains. Winning would secure the lease and keep her staff housed. Losing means shuttered doors and a call to her mother she has avoided for a decade.”

End with stakes clear on the page. Prison, custody, eviction, public disgrace, broken marriage, lost home. Name a cost readers understand without extra context.

Stay on the spine

A query synopsis lives on the main plot thread. Save subplots for pages. Cut secondary arcs unless those arcs change the lead’s path in a direct way.

• Keep romance mentions brief unless the book is romance.
• Keep worldbuilding light unless the world alters the core conflict.
• Keep the cast lean. Fewer names create cleaner momentum.

A useful test: remove any sentence about a side character. If the story still reads clean, leave that sentence out.

Use present tense and active voice

Present tense brings energy. Active voice brings clarity. Watch for helpers that weaken momentum. Try verbs like wants, decides, fails, wins, hides, confesses, runs, threatens.

Weak: “The plan is made, and the team is assembled.”

Strong: “Marta plans the heist and recruits a locksmith.”

Weak: “The town was shocked by the verdict.”

Strong: “The verdict shocks the town.”

Read each sentence aloud. If the subject does not act, revise.

A full example, three short paragraphs

Premise: A junior park ranger uncovers a timber fraud scheme.

Paragraph one:

“Ranger Tessa Kim, 24, logs trail damage in Alaska when a drone crashes at her feet. The footage shows marked old-growth trees tagged for removal on land with federal protection.”

Paragraph two:

“Tessa alerts a supervisor and loses access to patrols. A logging crew shadows her routes, a whistleblower disappears, and a forged memo sends reporters away. Tessa digs through permit records at night while a storm closes roads.”

Paragraph three:

“Before the storm wipes evidence, Tessa hikes to the boundary line to pull the markers. Exposing the scheme would save the forest and place her on record against management. Staying quiet would protect a job her family depends on.”

Notice the spine holds. Person, goal, obstacle, stakes. No extra characters named. No ending spoiled, yet the shape points to a choice and a high-cost outcome.

Genre tweaks without losing focus

• Mystery: foreground the crime, the sleuth, the method, and a ticking pressure from an authority or a killer.
• Thriller: foreground pursuit, threat escalation, and a clear clock.
• Romance: foreground both leads, the central rift, and the emotional stakes linked to a decision.
• Fantasy or SF: foreground one world rule only when that rule drives the conflict.

Each genre rewards specificity, but the structure stays the same. Lead plus problem, then obstacles, then a pointed path to a break or a breakage.

Trim for clarity

Synopses bloat when sentences carry filler. Replace weak phrasing with sharp action.

• Swap “begins to” with the main verb. “Begins to run” becomes “runs.”
• Swap vague stakes with named consequences. “Risk everything” becomes “risk deportation,” “lose custody,” “face disbarment.”
• Swap passive structures with direct subjects. “Mistakes were made” becomes “Darius lies on record.”

Quick exercises

• Write a one-sentence logline. Expand to three sentences, one per paragraph. Expand each sentence with one obstacle or consequence. Stop before a full summary returns.
• Cut every sentence that lacks a verb with motion. Keep want, decide, refuse, chase, confess, threaten, choose.
• Print the three paragraphs and highlight names. Anything beyond the lead and one opposing force likely belongs on the cutting room floor.

A final checklist

• Present tense throughout.
• Protagonist named at the top with age if category needs it.
• Setting sketched in one clean phrase.
• Goal and initial problem on the first paragraph.
• Two concrete obstacles in the second.
• Clear stakes and a pointed path toward a climax in the third.
• No subplots, no theme lectures, no crowded cast.
• Clean, strong verbs and concrete nouns.

Follow this structure, and agents read with trust. The story feels focused, the voice feels confident, and the pages behind the query start to call.

Common Query Letter Mistakes to Avoid

Agents read fast. They triage. Small mistakes sink strong pages. Skip these traps and your letter stands taller the moment it lands.

One page means one page

A query is a single page. Single spaced. Standard font. Clean margins. That limit forces clarity. Respect it.

Trim anything not about the book or your qualifications tied to the book. No childhood anecdotes. No pets, unless the book is about veterinary work and you are a vet. No life story.

Bloated:

• “I have always loved writing since second grade when my teacher praised my poem, and after a decade in finance I finally found the courage to pursue my dream.”

Tight:

• “I am a financial analyst with bylines in Barron’s.”
• Or skip the bio line if you have nothing relevant. Silence beats filler.

If you struggle with length, try this:

• Write the letter. Cut 20 percent. Read aloud. Cut another sentence. The point survives. The sludge goes.

Plot dump vs story spine

Many writers retell the whole book. Scene by scene. It reads like a police report. Agents do not need a scene list. They need a story.

Weak:

• “First, Ava goes to the library. Then she meets Tim. Next they plan a fundraiser. The fundraiser fails. Then Ava visits her aunt.”

Strong:

• “Ava, a wary volunteer, takes over a bankrupt library and faces a forced sale in six weeks. A rival board member blocks permits while a donor’s scandal poisons public support.”

See the difference. The second version tracks goal, conflict, stakes. No blow-by-blow. No side quest.

“Dear Agent” is a red flag

Mass queries look lazy. So do greetings to the wrong person. Spelling errors in names end a read before it begins.

Address a specific agent. Use the name they list on the agency site. Check pronouns on the site or Twitter. If the agent says “query through QueryManager,” use that portal. If the agent says “email only,” use email.

Personalize without flattery or fluff. One line shows intention.

Useful personalization:

• “I enjoyed your client Jane Li’s memoir on caregiving and saw you seek narrative nonfiction with a medical lens.”

Empty personalization:

• “You seem like a great fit for my work.”

Rhetorical questions and trumpet blasts

Rhetorical questions waste space. They test the agent’s patience.

Weak:

• “What would you do if your child vanished at sea?”

Stronger:

• “When her son vanishes at sea, Mara steals a Coast Guard boat and searches a storm line alone.”

Bold claims spark eye rolls. Skip declarations about sales or cultural impact.

No:

• “This book will outsell The Night Circus.”
• “The next Gone Girl.”

Use modest, accurate comps if you choose to include them. Two recent titles in your lane show market sense and tone. Do not compare to a phenomenon. Do not promise the moon. Let the pages earn confidence.

Ignoring guidelines

Guidelines are not suggestions. They are the filter. Miss them and you lose the read.

Common misses:

• Wrong file type. The agent asks for a pasted sample. You attach a PDF.
• Wrong sample length. The agent asks for ten pages. You send three chapters.
• Missing details. The agent asks for word count and genre up top. You bury both or forget.
• Subject lines. The agent gives a format and you ignore it.

Build a simple system:

• Create a spreadsheet with agent name, agency, wish list notes, materials requested, date sent, and response.
• Copy and paste guidelines into the sheet. Highlight quirks like “no prologues” or “query only, no pages.”
• Draft a base letter. Save separate versions tailored to different requests. One for ten pages. One for synopsis asked as an attachment. One for no attachments.

Follow directions and you look like a pro. That sets a tone before anyone touches your prose.

Unnecessary personal details

Your letter sells one thing. The book. Personal notes belong only if they prove authority, access, or platform.

Relevant:

• “As a pediatric ER nurse for twelve years, I bring direct experience to this medical drama.”
• “My essay on food insecurity ran in The Atlantic and won a Pushcart.”

Not relevant:

• “I write at my kitchen table with a cat on my lap.”
• “Friends say my stories are great.”

If the urge to add a quirky detail hits, stop. Use that line for a sharper verb in your synopsis.

Sloppy tone and weak verbs

A query shows your control on the sentence level. Typos happen. Too many signal a rushed send. Read aloud. Run a spell check. Then read again.

Watch for flabby phrasing.

Weak:

“The plan is to try and begin an investigation that will hopefully reveal the truth.”

Strong:

“She starts an investigation and uncovers the truth.”

Swap filler for clean action. Cut hedges like “perhaps,” “sort of,” “almost.” Pick verbs with muscle. Wants. Refuses. Betrays. Fails. Wins.

Name overload

A query is short. Names chew space and attention. Limit them.

Keep the protagonist. Name a clear antagonist if needed. Everyone else gets a role.

Cluttered:

• “Lena teams up with Jorge, Piper, Malik, and Officer Dean while sparring with Councilwoman Hsu and developer Curt Bradley.”

Clean:

• “Lena teams up with a community organizer and a wary cop while a councilwoman shields a developer.”

The story reads smoother. The agent tracks the core conflict without a roster.

A quick checklist before you send

• One page. Single spaced. Standard font. Clean margins.
• Addressed to a specific agent by name.
• Hook up top. Synopsis in two or three paragraphs. Bio only if relevant.
• Present tense in the synopsis. Active voice. Strong verbs.
• No rhetorical questions. No hype. No bestseller boasts.
• No subplots or name soup.
• Accurate word count, genre, and title included.
• Guidelines followed to the letter. Materials in the right format.
• Spell check complete. Agent name spelled correctly.

Treat the query like your first professional handshake. Firm, focused, and short. That earns the next ask, which is all you need.

Query Letter Examples by Genre

Genre shapes your approach. Different markets want different things. Agents who sell romance look for emotional heat. Agents who sell literary fiction look for beautiful language and depth. Know your lane and play to its strengths.

Literary Fiction: Character and Language Lead

Literary fiction sells on voice, theme, and the beauty of the prose. Plot matters, but character transformation drives the story. Agents want to see your command of language and your ability to explore the human condition.

Lead with your protagonist's internal world. Show their emotional stakes. Hint at the larger themes without spelling them out. Use precise, evocative language that demonstrates your style.

Example:

"When Claire's husband dies in their kitchen on a Tuesday morning, she discovers that grief is not the overwhelming sadness she expected, but a strange, persistent numbness that makes her question everything she thought she knew about love. At sixty-two, she takes a job at a flower shop and begins learning the names of things she never noticed: larkspur, delphinium, sweet pea. As she arranges bouquets for other people's celebrations and condolences, she slowly pieces together the fragments of her marriage and realizes that the man she mourned for thirty years was someone she never really knew.

When a young customer asks her to design arrangements for her wedding, Claire confronts the gap between the marriage she thought she had and the one she lived. Through the language of flowers, she learns to speak truths she spent decades avoiding."

Notice the focus on emotional experience over plot mechanics. The voice carries literary weight. The stakes are internal, personal, and universal.

Commercial Fiction: Hook Them Fast

Commercial fiction needs immediate momentum. Lead with conflict and stakes. Show the marketable premise up front. Agents want to see broad appeal and page-turning tension.

Start with action or a compelling situation. Make the stakes clear and urgent. Show why readers will lose sleep turning pages.

Example:

"Marketing executive Sarah Chen has forty-eight hours to find her missing sister before their parents arrive from Seoul for Sarah's wedding. The problem: her sister disappeared while investigating their family's role in a decades-old immigration fraud that could destroy their father's business and land him in prison.

As Sarah follows her sister's trail through Seattle's underground networks, she uncovers family secrets that threaten everything she believes about her parents' success story. When federal agents approach her at her rehearsal dinner, Sarah faces an impossible choice: protect her family's lies or save her sister's life.

With her wedding guests arriving and her fiancé demanding answers she doesn't have, Sarah must decide how far she'll go to protect the people she loves from the truth they've all been running from."

High stakes. Clear timeline. Family drama mixed with suspense. The hook grabs immediately and the conflict escalates with each paragraph.

Mystery/Thriller: Crime and Momentum

Mystery and thriller queries need tension from the first line. Lead with the crime, the victim, or the investigator in immediate danger. Agents want to see a compelling puzzle and rising stakes.

Focus on the central mystery. Show the detective's personal investment. Build tension with each paragraph. End with stakes that matter beyond solving the case.

Example:

"When Detective Maya Torres finds her former partner's body in the evidence locker, she knows two things: someone wanted him to disappear, and she's next. The murder weapon is her old service pistol, reported stolen three years ago when she left the force in disgrace.

Internal Affairs gives her seventy-two hours before they issue a warrant for her arrest. Her only ally is the rookie detective assigned to investigate her, who doesn't know that every piece of evidence points to corruption Maya has been trying to expose since she became a cop. As she follows her dead partner's final investigation, she discovers he was killed for getting too close to a trafficking ring protected by someone high in the department.

With the real killers cleaning house and her former colleagues hunting her, Maya must solve her partner's murder before she becomes the next casualty in a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of city government."

The crime launches the query. Personal stakes intertwine with the investigation. Each paragraph raises the danger and urgency.

Romance: Two Hearts, One Conflict

Romance queries need both protagonists and the emotional stakes keeping them apart. Lead with their meeting or the situation that throws them together. Show the attraction and the obstacles.

Introduce both main characters quickly. Make their conflict clear and emotionally compelling. End with the stakes that threaten their happiness.

Example:

"Wedding photographer Emma Reeves has built her business on capturing other people's happy endings while avoiding her own. When she's hired to photograph the society wedding of the year, she discovers the groom is Jake Morrison, the man who left her at the altar eight years ago.

Jake, now a successful architect, took the job designing the wedding venue before he knew Emma was involved. Seeing her again reminds him why he ran: Emma deserves the stability he couldn't offer then and still can't promise now. But working together on the elaborate wedding preparations forces them to confront the feelings they never resolved and the reasons Jake disappeared the morning of their wedding.

As the society wedding approaches, Emma and Jake must decide whether to repeat the patterns that destroyed them before or risk their carefully rebuilt lives for a second chance at the love that nearly broke them both."

Both protagonists get clear introduction and motivation. Their emotional conflict drives the tension. The external wedding deadline creates pressure.

Young Adult: Voice and Coming of Age

YA queries need authentic teenage voice and age-appropriate stakes. Capture the immediacy of teen emotion and the weight of problems that feel life-changing to a young person. Focus on growth and self-discovery.

Lead with voice and situation. Make the protagonist's age and personality clear immediately. Show stakes that matter intensely to a teen audience.

Example:

"Seventeen-year-old Zoe Martinez thought the hardest part of senior year would be choosing a college, until her dad gets arrested for embezzling from his construction company and she discovers her family has been living on stolen money for three years.

With her father facing prison and their house in foreclosure, Zoe takes a job at the same construction site where her dad worked, determined to find evidence that will clear his name. Instead, she uncovers a network of corruption involving her dad's boss, the mayor, and half the city council. When her investigation puts her younger brother in danger, Zoe realizes that proving her father's innocence might destroy the only family she has left.

Torn between loyalty and justice, Zoe must choose whether to expose the truth that could free her dad but ruin their lives, or stay silent and watch him go to prison for crimes she knows he didn't commit alone."

The voice sounds authentically seventeen. The family stakes feel appropriately huge to a teen. The moral conflict drives character growth.

Genre-Specific Tips

Science Fiction/Fantasy: Lead with your world-building hook, but focus on character stakes. Show the magic or technology in action rather than explaining it.

Historical Fiction: Place your protagonist in the historical moment immediately. Show how the historical events create personal conflict.

Women's Fiction: Focus on relationships and emotional growth. Show the life event that forces change and the journey toward healing or understanding.

Memoir/Narrative Nonfiction: Lead with the most compelling moment or revelation. Show why your personal story matters to readers beyond your own experience.

What All Good Queries Share

Regardless of genre, strong queries share key elements: immediate engagement, clear stakes, compelling voice, and confident prose. They respect genre conventions while showcasing unique elements that set your book apart.

Study queries that worked in your genre. Notice how they balance familiar elements with fresh approaches. Then write yours with the same confidence and precision. Your genre sets the stage, but your unique story and voice make the sale.

Frequently Asked Questions

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