Rock Your Query: A Simple System for Writing Query Letters and Synopses

Rock Your Writing #3

by Cathy Yardley

Fiction editors and agents get hundreds of queries a day. How do you stand out?

How do you go from the slush pile to a contract?

First, you need to understand that the fiction proposal package of query and synopsis isn't about your novel. It's about showing how well you know your target audience, either editor or agent, and how well you're able to address his or her specific needs.

A great query letter gets them to read your synopsis.

A comprehensive, thoughtful synopsis then shows your next skill: not only do you know what an editor or agent needs, you know how to identify and showcase a complete story arc with escalating conflict and clear GMC.

A solid synopsis gets them to read your manuscript. Your manuscript will be what gets you the contract.

But how do you write a great query letter and solid synopsis?

By researching specific targets, and writing a focused query that incorporates pertinent details that show that you've done your homework.

By writing a mini-synopsis for your novel that only hits what the target wants to know: who is this story about, what are they doing, and why do I care?

By writing a full synopsis that shows you understand what drives a story, and that has all pertinent plot points. You also show that you know how to be succinct enough to focus on the plot points only, and leave any extraneous details out, not wasting your target's time.

This book gives you specific instructions.

In step by step detail, with simple templates, this book shows you what you need to do to create a fiction proposal package of query letter and synopsis that will get you out of the slush pile... and gets your novel in the hands of agents and editors.

Genres: Writing

27 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin's, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and that sometimes being a little wrong is just right.

Reviews

[J.R. Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge champion of Cathy Yardley's "Rock Your Writing" series, but this one fell a little flat for me. For one, a lot of the phrases in this are outdated ("save your postage" comes up at one point, but most agents don't accept submissions by mail at all anymore). I get the idea in theory, but a lot of this information feels out of date. This is someone who landed an agent 20 years ago, and it appears at this point she's giving great advice on a query, but also maybe has queried in a different time of querying.

Are the tips given about the queries themselves good? Yes. She's got some solid information on how to break your synopsis down concisely and in a well-written manner that will attract an agent. I'll definitely be applying those tips to my future queries. But out of the entire series, this book offers the least information, much of which overlaps with the information about querying that is widely available online, and you have to pry past outdated terminology to get to those solid advice gems.

[Irena Pasvinter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short, but all to the point -- as writing advice books go, this one is distilled to the highest concentration of excellent practical advice for writers in search of a literary agent. If you are in the so-called "query trenches" -- lost, bewildered, enraged, stressing out, losing hope, desperate, hallucinating, having a major bout of wishful thinking, knocking your head on the wall... you name it -- "Rock Your Query" is for you.

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Image credit:The original uploader was Chris-martin at Wikimedia Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

[Maggie Larche · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very helpful step-by-step guide to selling your manuscript. It is short, but I liked how it wasn't full of unnecessary fluff. Just good, practicable advice to get you creating a query and synopsis in record time.

Also, if you started with Rock Your Plot, you've got a great foundation to tackle the exercises in this book. They go together nicely.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, practical guide to creating a query package

I’m getting ready to query for the first time, and I’ve been overwhelmed with all the information and advice out there. Rock Your Query does a great job of distilling the process into clear, practical steps that even a newbie like me can follow. Highly recommended.

[Wilani Wahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not at this stage in my writing yet, but know this will help when I get there.

[Maureen Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick helpful guide to putting your best foot forward when submitting your book. Very helpful. I highly recommend.

[Sandy Hogarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Useful

Writing a query letter and synopsis that gets an agent’s attention is tough. This is a short but very pragmatic and useful guide.

[Phyllis Shearer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I found Rock Your Query offered some helpful suggestions in a different way from other books on this subject. That we need to come up with a fetching tagline to open our queries is not new. I don't know that any book could help with writing that specialized letter. I certainly know more about how literary agents view queries and the importance of telling that agent or editor "that you have something worth investigating further." You can't stress that one enough! Still I'm not sure what the author meant in saying it's the Wild Wild West in publishing these days. An example or two might have helped that metaphor. Yet, the book is nicely organized, short, and in the author's words, "action based." Good for a quick read at your fitness center while you're plugging along on the treadmill.

[Troy Blackford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much as she did in 'Rock Your Revision,' author Cathy Yardley places a lot of emphasis on plot in this book that is ostensibly about query letters. However, this is more understandable here, as finding out how to write snappy synopses is one of the keys to an effective query letter. A very, very brief book that would have seemed less light if it were merely a section of a larger book on writing overall, this is nevertheless useful to anybody interested in the topic.

[Iola · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little less comprehensive than I'd hoped/expected.

[Carmilla Mayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely easy to use and understand

I have implemented these strategies and sent out several queries. I started seeking help when I realized my query letter and synopsis were less than satisfactory. This book along with the guided hand of a great marketing professional got me sorted. I will update my 4 stars to 5 if and when I finally get that request for more pages. Then I can properly prove that it was 5 stars and worth every penny.