Should a cover letter ALWAYS accompany a query letter?

[IThinkICan29]

I thought they were one and the same. Some sites seem to indicate they are (definitition-wise) and yet, I've come across several sites that define them as separate entities. HELP ME!! I was never concerned about this before sending out my queries. But now I'm wondering if my bait remains biteless because it isn't properly dressed. I know, HORRIBLE analogy--and my bait really hasn't been out there that long. Hey, what can I say? I'm out of coffee and it's Friday.

*Any advice would be appreciated*

[alleycat]

A cover letter and a query letter are not the same thing. According to what you're submitting (or hoping to submit), and to whom, you will need EITHER a cover letter or a query letter.

[IThinkICan29]

A cover letter and a query letter are not the same thing. According to what you're submitting (or hoping to submit), and to whom, you will need EITHER a cover letter or a query letter.

I think my head is going to explode. Could you kindly direct me to a thread that might offer some insight? I mean, I know the definition of a cover letter that accompanies a resume. Is it similar? None of the agents I've queried so far indicated a cover letter was required, but....now that the query letters are in the mail, I'm worried. Is this anxiety typical?

I need a drink.

[Karen Duvall]

A query letter pitches your book. It's the first thing you send to an agent. If the agent requires sample pages, those go along with it.

A cover letter accompanies sample pages the agent requests after he or she has received your query letter. A cover letter also goes with the full manuscript after it's been requested.

You never, never, never send a query and a cover letter together. Did I remember to say never? They're totally, completely different tools of correspondence with completely different objectives.

[alleycat]

I'll try to keep this simple. You can find fuller definitions here at AW, and on other websites.

A cover letter is enclosed when you're sending part or all of a manuscript.

A query letter is sent when you're trying to interest an agent or a publisher in your work (generally no part of the work itself is send, except for those occasions when a publisher does ask for some part of your manuscript along with your query letter).

So, if you're trying to interest an agent or publisher, send a query letter. If an agent or publisher asks the writer to send part or all of their work as part of the submission process, then send a cover letter along with it.

Edited to add: I was typing as Karen was posting. I didn't mean to duplicate her answer. Basically, we're saying the same thing.

[blacbird]

Generally, you send a cover letter (very brief, simply stating the name of the work and your personal contact information, and a polite thank-you) with a short fiction submission, accompanying the manuscript. You send a query letter (a little longer, but best kept to one page, describing the work and with pertinent personal information) as a request to an agent or editor to cajole them into replying with a solicitation for you to send a manuscript of a novel. Almost never do you send a full manuscript, unsolicited, although some agents or editors may want a short partial submission to accompany the query.

Oh, yeah, and neither of them work. At least not in my experience.

caw

[JeanneTGC]

You query an agent you have never interacted with, whom you are cold-calling, essentially. You provide a cover letter when said agent says, "send me your first 3 chapters/full MS". You provide a cover letter when you've met an agent and been asked to send something in.

Your cover letter, like your query, should reference your story. However, it doesn't have to be as in-depth, since cover letters are just really there to restate, "Ms. Fab Agent, I met you at the Up and Coming Writer's Workshop and you requested the first three chapters of my novel "The Greatest Story Told". As we discussed, "The Greatest Story Told" takes us through I Think's trials and tribulations on the way to superstardom. (And so on)

A query needs to have more to it, since the agent has no idea who you are and what your story's about, and is looking at your query as a way of determining if they WANT to know more.

For short story subs, it's sort of a combo of the two, but more on the cover letter/list your prior credits side of the house.

Hope this helps!

[IThinkICan29]

Thanks guys!