How I'm Approaching Querying + My Best Tips
Querying is not easy. Whether you’ve been in the trenches yourself or have heard others discuss it, you probably know this to be true.
Getting your book picked up by a literary agent or publisher requires a few things:
Luck — you need to query the right person at the right time with the right project.
Patience — you need to be willing to stick with it and keep trying.
Talent — this is the only variable you really have control over, and it’s an important one.
So, how can we best approach querying to make it feel as manageable as possible?
Here’s what I’m doing…
#1 — Polish that book
Perhaps most importantly, your book needs to be ready. Not just ready in that it’s complete. Ready in the sense that it’s been edited thoroughly and is the best you can make it. It’s been ripped apart and put back together. It’s been scrutinised by editors and beta readers.
You get one chance to hook an agent or publisher, so you want to put your best work forwards.
As an example, here are the stages of my story development before querying:
Drafting: January — June 2024
First revision: June 2024 (adding forgotten scenes and a light line edit)
Second revision: July — August 2024 (a printed copy with deep structural and line edit notes)
Beta feedback: August — October 2024 (I had five beta readers)
Third revision: November — December 2024 (based on beta feedback)
Editor feedback: December 2024 — January 2025 (I hired a professional editor to give me deep structural feedback on the manuscript)
Agent 1-2-1 feedback: January 2025 (I arranged an agent 1-2-1 session through Jericho Writers for a query, synopsis and opening pages assessment)
Fourth revision: January — April 2025 (based on editor feedback)
Started querying: April 2025
Compared to some writers, this might be quite a quick turnaround, for others it might be quite long. The length of time it takes you to prepare your book for querying is completely personal. There is no right or wrong timeframe. What’s important is that you truly believe the book is ready and at its best.
Important things to look out for:
Developed characters — goals, motivations, internal and external conflicts, agency, consistency.
Plot and structure — no loose ends, clear transition between acts, well-placed plot beats, clear and consistent stakes, rising tension.
Setting — clear setting boundaries, vivid descriptions, detail consistency, setting impact on plot and/or characters.
Prose — consistent spelling, clean punctuation, limited repeated words, phrases, and/or actions.
#2 — Prepare your content
When querying, you’ll be required to deliver a few things. These include:
A query letter
A synopsis
Sample pages
Query letter
Your query letter is a one-page pitch for your book. You’ll include housekeeping information such as your genre, word count, target audience, and some comparative titles to demonstrate how your book might be marketed and where it would sit on a bookshelf. This is also a good place to include a personalisation to the agent addressing why your book might be a good fit for them.
You’ll include a short synopsis of your book. This is similar to the blurb you’d see on a book jacket. This should explore who your protagonist is, their status quo, what they want, the inciting incident, what or who is stopping the protagonist from achieving their goal, and what is at stake.
Lastly, you’ll include your bio listing any relevant writing experience or awards or perhaps your personal reasons for writing the book. Don’t worry if you don’t have much to say here.
Synopsis
A synopsis is a 500-800-word summary of your book. Your synopsis should start at the beginning and detail everything that occurs right up until the end. You should include spoilers and twists and give away the ending.
Sample pages
Your sample pages will vary depending on what each agent or publisher asks for. Most commonly you’ll be asked to deliver the first chapter, 10 pages, 20 pages, 50 pages, or the first three pages.
I recommend having each of these prepared in a folder so you can upload or copy and paste as needed.
Additional information
Sometimes, agents and publishers will want a little more information from you. This could be:
Your bio
A one sentence pitch of your book
A one paragraph pitch
A full list of comparative books
A list of your favourite books in the same genre
A summary of your book’s target audience
An insight into what other genres you write or what you might be currently working on
To avoid writing these things from scratch, I recommend creating a Word document and housing your answers to all these questions in there. Then you can copy and paste (and personalise) your answers whenever these questions arise.
#3 — Curate your list
So, you’ve got your book and you’ve got your query materials. Now you need to find agents and publishers.
Where to find them
Check the Acknowledgement section in books of your genre.
Manuscript Wishlist — I find most agents go into more detail here than they do on their website.
Query Tracker — you can search for agents by genre. It’s worth getting the Premium Subscription ($25USD for a year) so you can get access to exclusive insights and tracking. Seriously. Get it.
Google search for agents or agencies representing your genre.
Social media — a lot of agents have X accounts, so do some digging.
Get organised
When I was first researching agents, I started a spreadsheet so I could keep track of everyone I wanted to query.
The spreadsheet included:
Their name and agency
What they were looking for — genre and specific tropes, themes, settings, comps, etc.
Query method — email, Query Tracker, online form
What they required for querying — eg: query letter, synopsis and first chapter
Date of query
Expected turnaround time — usually between 2-16 weeks and if/when they wanted to be nudged
Date of response
In this spreadsheet, I then ordered the agents into particular groups — my absolute top dream agents, my secondary dream agents, and my third dream agents.
Note: I never included any agents I didn’t want to be represented by. All of these agents were dream agents, but some resonated with me more or were looking for exactly what I was writing, so they were at the very top of the pile.
I then picked a couple from each list and sent out queries. I didn’t want to query all my top agents first just in case I received any good rejection feedback that I could implement.
Final words
At the end of the day, I’m not sure there is really a “right” or “best” approach to querying. However, this is my second time querying properly and it has been much easier this time around thanks to all the prep I did beforehand.
Querying is hard. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and the only way to get through it is to just keep being positive and to focus your creative energy on your next project.
If you’re in the query trenches, good luck! I’d love to know in the comments if you have any tips you’d add to this list.