3 Ways to Improve Your Query/Cover Letter – Part II
3 Ways to Improve Your Query/Cover Letter – Part II
You've completed and polished your manuscript. Now all you need is the right publisher to take your work. But that requires a query/cover letter and any given publisher gets hundreds of queries a day. So how do you make your approach connect,and delight,the right publisher? The three key elements are covered in this two-part tutorial series.
Common mistakes must be avoided to let your passion and professionalism shine through. Part II of this series offers practical advice on how to get your foot in the door in today's highly competitive and evolving literary marketplace. We steer you away from those common mistakes and show you how to showcase your work, your passion, and even you commitment as a writer.
This tutorial is presented by Charlotte Robin Cook, an experienced publisher and story editor, and Jon James Miller, an award-winning screenwriter and debut novelist who retained his first literary agent with a compelling query letter in 2011.
In Part II, a 33-minute tutorial video, you'll discover:
- Common mistakes found in query letters that every writer needs to avoid
- How to perfect your timing in the submission of a query or cover letter
- How to initially approach an agent or publisher (and what not to include)
- How a positive attitude will get you a quicker response
- How to show your passion (without ‘creeping out' an agent/publisher)
- How to make a friend out of an agent/publisher
- How to keep moving forward with your writing while you're waiting for a response
- How to submit simultaneous queries without looking like you are
- How to toot your own horn without sounding conceited
Query and cover letters are the industry standard for new writers to introduce themselves to publishing professionals (who receive up to 10,000 queries a year!). Learning to write a compelling, engaging, and polite communication is the first step to being one of the writers who will succeed in securing representation,and starting their literary careers.
