Do agents automatically reject with longer query letters?

Putputt

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While slightly off topic, I know a top editor who grabbed a manuscript from an unsolicited query because the entire query consisted of five words. I'm the best there is. Turned out teh writer may have been exhaggerating a bit, but he was nonetheless very, very good, and the editor bought the novel.

I also know an editor who hired a staff writer because instead of sending clips, he sent just four words. I can flat write. Turned out he was underestimating his talent.

Erm, I'm not an agent or an editor, but to me those two queries sound like something straight out of SlushPile Hell. I don't think they're very good at all. :D I think they're actually pretty terrible. They don't tell me anything I need to know about the book. They sound pretty spammy as well, which to me translates to "Delete now".
 

MandyHubbard

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No, forty words for the part of the query about the book itself is not way too short, if the words are the right ones. While I agree that it usually takes considerably more, I think it's because too many writers simply can't write well, or because far too many agents and editors ask for a long synopsis style query, and writers dutifully give it to them. And then wonder why a hundred agents said no.


I've seen very good agents grab a manuscript from a single sentence more than once, but my favorite query consisted of two sentences that had a total of nine words. Two short sentences that said something brilliant in a wonderful way.

Not every agent or every editor likes the same old same old boring tell me all about your novel approach.

Frankly, an agent or editor who would rather read 2oo, or 250, or 300 words about a novel, rather than a few short sentences that show how good the writer is, wouldn't much interest me.

Really, don't you get tired of reading 250 words about this novel, and then 250 words about that novel? It takes about ten minutes for my eyes to blur, and for all of them to start sounding alike.


A decent to good writer can tell me all I need to know about a novel in a couple of hundred words. A really great writer, however, can show me how well they can write, and that they have something worth saying, in forty words or less. Often in one or two very short sentences. Given a choice, I'll take this writer each and every time.

You're conflating two things, though:

1) Whether the writer can write
2) The pitch that tells me what the book is about, which tells me where it fits in the market.

Writing samples SHOW me the writing but I need the query pitch to know what the book is about. I'm not hiring staff writers or looking at clips, I'm looking for NOVELS I can sell. I pass on good writing all the time, because the book isn't marketable and I know this based on the pitch.

If ten minutes makes your eyes blur, it's a good thing you're not an agent. I get enough queries daily to fill twenty-thirty minutes, and no i do not get tired of 250 words after 250 words, becuase it gives me the information I need to make a good decision.

And FYI? A good query does NOT 'sound alike' to all the others. It stands out in a big way.
 

MandyHubbard

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Erm, I'm not an agent or an editor, but to me those two queries sound like something straight out of SlushPile Hell. I don't think they're very good at all. :D I think they're actually pretty terrible. They don't tell me anything I need to know about the book. They sound pretty spammy as well, which to me translates to "Delete now".

Completely agree. They'd get auto rejections from me.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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While slightly off topic, I know a top editor who grabbed a manuscript from an unsolicited query because the entire query consisted of five words. I'm the best there is. Turned out teh writer may have been exhaggerating a bit, but he was nonetheless very, very good, and the editor bought the novel.

I also know an editor who hired a staff writer because instead of sending clips, he sent just four words. I can flat write. Turned out he was underestimating his talent.

I really don't think those two sentences showed writing talent. What they showed was ego, and brass balls. Those attributes can sometimes be the difference between a good writer and a successful writer, but they don't always go hand-in-hand with talent. In fact, very often they are overcompensating for a complete lack of it.

If I were reading those submissions, they would get a chuckle, and then go straight in the bin.
 

WeaselFire

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Just to make it clear, I'm not talking like 5 pages, or any length as extreme as that.
First, agents do nothing automatically. Second, if your query is more than 250 words, which is one page double spaced, then you're rambling.

Jeff
 

popgun62

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As I said, my query was 700 words, and included length of the manuscript, target audience, comparable authors, a short synopsis like one you would read on the inside jacket of a book, a short bio, previously published books, blurbs from bestselling authors, award nominations, etc.

I'm not talking about the cover letter, which should only be a short intro - this was the actual query. I received full manuscript requests from several major agencies and as I said, ended up getting a four-book deal from a large indie press and representation by a big New York agency.

A query should be as long as it needs to be and as short as it can be. Just make sure it's not boring. If it's interesting, an agent isn't going to care how long or short it is.

It's just like a book - if a book is boring me, I find myself checking to see how many pages I have left to the end. Or I just stop reading. Otherwise, I keep reading until I'm done and say, "Man, that was good!"
 

amergina

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I think the 250 words is more the length of the meat of the query--that is the book-jacket like synopsis, plus the genre and word count.

All the other stuff: why you're querying them, your awards, blah blah blah can add up to more words.

Mind you, I got requests for two projects and ultimately gained representation from an in-person 12-minute pitch session. (So technically, I guess my query was 0 words!)
 

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I really don't think those two sentences showed writing talent. What they showed was ego, and brass balls. Those attributes can sometimes be the difference between a good writer and a successful writer, but they don't always go hand-in-hand with talent. In fact, very often they are overcompensating for a complete lack of it.

If I were reading those submissions, they would get a chuckle, and then go straight in the bin.

Me too, Kallithrix.

As I said, my query was 700 words, and included length of the manuscript, target audience, comparable authors, a short synopsis like one you would read on the inside jacket of a book, a short bio, previously published books, blurbs from bestselling authors, award nominations, etc.

I would find all that information interesting and impressive. But only if it contained real meat: I like the idea of quotes from best-selling authors, so long as the nominations were for good awards I'd have found that very pertinent, and your publication history would help me see how well your other books had done.

Too often, novice authors try this sort of thing but only have quotes from other aspiring authors, or a few nominations for obscure awards anyone can get in return for a cheque. It has to be real to work.

I'm not talking about the cover letter, which should only be a short intro - this was the actual query.
There's a significant difference between a cover letter and a query.

I got requests for two projects and ultimately gained representation from an in-person 12-minute pitch session. (So technically, I guess my query was 0 words!)

It depends how much you crammed into your pitch session, amergina. I can talk pretty fast...!
 

cornflake

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I've seen very good agents grab a manuscript from a single sentence more than once, but my favorite query consisted of two sentences that had a total of nine words. Two short sentences that said something brilliant in a wonderful way.

While slightly off topic, I know a top editor who grabbed a manuscript from an unsolicited query because the entire query consisted of five words. I'm the best there is. Turned out teh writer may have been exhaggerating a bit, but he was nonetheless very, very good, and the editor bought the novel.

I also know an editor who hired a staff writer because instead of sending clips, he sent just four words. I can flat write. Turned out he was underestimating his talent.

Not every agent or every editor likes the same old same old boring tell me all about your novel approach.

Frankly, an agent or editor who would rather read 2oo, or 250, or 300 words about a novel, rather than a few short sentences that show how good the writer is, wouldn't much interest me.

Really, don't you get tired of reading 250 words about this novel, and then 250 words about that novel? It takes about ten minutes for my eyes to blur, and for all of them to start sounding alike.

At this stage, I couldn't care less about plot, or about the chain of events that takes me from page one to page last. Any decent writer, and even a lot of lousy writers, can do this well.

A really good, talented writer will handle these things, so what I care about is finding writers who can flat write, who have something to say worth hearing, and who show me how good they are.

A decent to good writer can tell me all I need to know about a novel in a couple of hundred words. A really great writer, however, can show me how well they can write, and that they have something worth saying, in forty words or less. Often in one or two very short sentences. Given a choice, I'll take this writer each and every time.

Aside from the problem of the two examples at the top not actually telling anything about the book in question, as was noted, I've known agents who've had no shortage of that stuff.

The self-aggrandizing going-on is, afaik, about as risque and unique as a supermodel saying she eats burgers and ice cream and never exercises. It's eyeroll-worthy because it's so common, and such a demonstration of Dunning and Kruger's brilliance.
 

Jennifer_Laughran

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I have nothing really to add EXCEPT - what generally gets me to stop reading is not necessarily the actual LENGTH of a letter - it's when there is a gigantic dense paragraph of uninterrupted text. Very hard to read, and usually not worth it.

Much like in, say, a successful forum post - paragraph breaks are your friends.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I really don't think those two sentences showed writing talent. What they showed was ego, and brass balls. Those attributes can sometimes be the difference between a good writer and a successful writer, but they don't always go hand-in-hand with talent. In fact, very often they are overcompensating for a complete lack of it.

If I were reading those submissions, they would get a chuckle, and then go straight in the bin.

Yes, you're right about those two, but the ones in the queries to agents showed not only great writing talent, but also immense insight into the human condition.

But it's easy to say what you would do if sent such sentences. Those two editors always said the same thing, right up until the received them. Then curiosity took over, and probably a desire to show the writers up.

When faced with a brag, I think the tendency of most men is to say, "Oh, yeah? Well, prove it."

This often gets both of them into trouble, but I've seen it happen over and over. If I'm honest, I have the same tendency. It's really, I think, ego butting heads with ego.

I do wonder, however, if those writers didn't read the editor's personalities correctly. I do know the editor who hired the writer who simply sent the words "I can flat write" wrote an article complaining about bad resumes filled with bad writing.

It didn't occur t me at the time, but in hindsight, I wonder if that four word resume wasn't a deliberate, thought out answer to that article?

Never, ever would I send such sentences, even if I did believe this about myself, but I have found quite a few editors who are receptive to very short queries, if the query does show true talent, and isn't just a boast.
 

Laer Carroll

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What famous writer said “Sorry this letter is so long but I didn’t have time to make it short?”

But seriously it does take time and effort (and talent and skill!) to write something which says an enormous amount in a few words. You almost have to be a poet to do it well.
 

BC11

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There are so many variables with query letters, but it's about giving yourself the best chance. Longer queries work. Very short ones can work, too. But both types are more often problematic than not. Many longer queries I've read are crammed with filler that is also apparent in the MS, and shorter queries can (notice the modal) make little to no sense, or presume a query reader understands things that are not explained.

If the query works, I wouldn't worry about the length. You should post it in QLH if you have doubts.
 

Matthew Warner

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I think the 250 words is more the length of the meat of the query--that is the book-jacket like synopsis, plus the genre and word count.

All the other stuff: why you're querying them, your awards, blah blah blah can add up to more words.

This speaks to the core of my confusion about query letter length. I've heard that a query should be about 250 words--the equivalent of a one-page printed letter. But I'm confused about how much of that should be devoted to describing the novel I'd like the agent to read. Is amergina's advice sound, and I can safely devote up to 250 words to synopsis and then round out the letter with my bio and etc.? My current query draft has about 150 words synopsis and 100 words everything else.