Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
I'm about to start querying my YA book Powerless, and the query letter is not going well. How do you condense a 79,000 word book to just 200-300 words? Definitely not my forte.
So I decided to look at some agented authors who had written successful query letters. More specifically, I took my top 4-5 agents, looked at their client lists (specifically, clients writing YA sci fi and fantasy), and then I Googled every one of those authors to see if I could find a query letter.
Five hours later, and I had a short list of 10 query letters I wanted to emulate. See the results here: drive.google.com/file/d/1hfy22X83NFKUc1oh3OTrttetXbxGeRPP/view?usp=sharing
Now, on to the query trenches! Being a writer's fun. 😅
QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMENTS:
- Which of the queries do you like the best?
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - It's time to query and I'm freaking out
0:56 - An intro to query letters
3:08 - Victoria (VE) Schwab's query letter
5:18 - Victoria Lee's query letter
9:51 - Query 1: In the style of VE Schwab
12:53 - Query 2: In the style of Victoria Lee
USEFUL RESOURCES:
-Victoria Lee's query letter blog post: victorialeewrites.com/querying-a-complicated-book-dissecting-the-elephant
- Victoria Schwab's query letter: veschwab.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/wednesday-breaks-down-the-query
- The Query Shark blog: queryshark.blogspot.com
#writing #authortube #querytrenches
I'm about to start querying my YA book Powerless, and the query letter is not going well. How do you condense a 79,000 word book to just 200-300 words? Definitely not my forte.
So I decided to look at some agented authors who had written successful query letters. More specifically, I took my top 4-5 agents, looked at their client lists (specifically, clients writing YA sci fi and fantasy), and then I Googled every one of those authors to see if I could find a query letter.
Five hours later, and I had a short list of 10 query letters I wanted to emulate. See the results here: drive.google.com/file/d/1hfy22X83NFKUc1oh3OTrttetXbxGeRPP/view?usp=sharing
Now, on to the query trenches! Being a writer's fun. 😅
QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMENTS:
- Which of the queries do you like the best?
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - It's time to query and I'm freaking out
0:56 - An intro to query letters
3:08 - Victoria (VE) Schwab's query letter
5:18 - Victoria Lee's query letter
9:51 - Query 1: In the style of VE Schwab
12:53 - Query 2: In the style of Victoria Lee
USEFUL RESOURCES:
-Victoria Lee's query letter blog post: victorialeewrites.com/querying-a-complicated-book-dissecting-the-elephant
- Victoria Schwab's query letter: veschwab.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/wednesday-breaks-down-the-query
- The Query Shark blog: queryshark.blogspot.com
#writing #authortube #querytrenches
