For anyone who has ever been frustrated by the query writing process, you should head on over to literary agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. Aside from being a long-time fighter for strong queries that don’t start with rhetorical questions, Bransford recently posted his thoughts on why certain queries, even when they break “the rules” an agent sets down, can still be accepted and even lead to offers.
http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2008/06/query-points-system-and-rulebreaking.html
He rates aspects of a query on a scale, and these are the most important factors whenever he reads:
– Professionalism (appearance of query, spelling of name, personalization, absence of strange pictures)
– Book Idea (presentation of hook, marketability, writing style/quality, resonance with me)
– Qualifications (writing credits, celebrity status)
So if you don’t write a wonderful query, you misspell the agent’s name and so on, but you have a smashing story idea, chances are the query will get read. I know I’ve always feared that if I get one thing wrong or out of place, it automatically sticks me in the reject pile. But the hope that an agent might give it the benefit of the doubt helps take a little of the stress off.
As he says, with this in mind, don’t just toss the rules out the window. Try and follow an agent’s guidelines, try to stay professional, because doing these things will help keep the door propped open wider. At the same time, don’t freak out over making the letter “perfect,” for fear of having it thrown into an incinerator otherwise.
I see that smile.