TRANSCRIPT

Since picture books are so short, writing a query letter can feel like an unnecessary step. I mean it's like in the time it takes to read the query, you could have read the entire manuscript. Still, they're required and, since they are a reflection of you and your writing, they need to be great.

So, how do you write a query letter? Well, if you Google, How to write a query letter, you get over 200 million results.

Instead of sifting through all those results, I recommend following this formula for crafting your query letters:

Hook

Book

Cook

Hook: What compelling message will instantly catch the reader's attention? And I'll talk about this in more detail in the next video.

Book: What's the book about?

And, finally, Cook: Who are you and why are you qualified to write this book?

This formula encapsulates everything your query needs to contain.

But to stand out, you need to look at your query from the editor's and agent's perspectives. They are literally receiving thousands of queries a year. In my mind, that means the shorter the query the better. No one wants to read an email that looks like one giant block of endless text.

Also remember to break up the text into small chunks. This makes the letter look less overwhelming and easier to scan.

Proofread it. Like your manuscript, proof every word, have someone else take a look at it and paste it into a Gmail for one final look through.

And, finally, address it to someone. For publishers, this is a little bit difficult because specific editor names aren't typically listed on the websites. For these queries, I simply write, "Hi." However, when querying agents, address your query to a specific agent (Hi, Anna). And make sure you spell their name correctly. Even if an agent doesn't mind a typo or two in a manuscript, they might not appreciate you misspelling their name.

So, for your query letters, follow the hook, book, cook formula and you ll be in good shape. But, to be in great shape, be sure to check out the next video.

Also, in my book, The Unstoppable Picture Book Author, available at howardpearlstein.com, I have nine of my query letters that led to contracts. You can definitely check them out and use them as inspiration for your query letters.

Thanks so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.