 | This article needs more citations. (December 2009) |
A query letter, or query, is a formal letter sent by a writer to literary agents, magazine editors, and sometimes publishing houses or companies, to propose writing ideas.
Query letters are the standard format for unrepresented authors' submissions to potential agents; as such, querying is often a writer's first professional interaction with the publishing industry, with success furthering their steps on the traditional publishing path.
A standard requested format for a manuscript query letter to a literary agent could be approximately 200–400 words expressing the following information:
- The topic of the work
- A short description of the plot
- A short bio of the author
- The target audience
The literary agent would then decide whether to contact the author and request to see the manuscript, based on the contents of the query letter.
