One of the biggest query letter mistakes we see at BubbleCow, when working in partnership with writers, is the failure to produce a decent ‘sales’ pitch. Don’t get me wrong, we see many great query letters. These are often elegant and well written summaries of the writer’s book. The problem is that plot summary is the job of the synopsis. The job of the query letter is to convince the publisher you have written a saleable book.
One good way to prove your book is saleable is to show that a market already exists for your writing. One very effective way of doing this is to show publishers the kinds of books that are already selling. In essence when writing your query letter you need to show the publisher COMPETITOR titles.
Why?
The answer is that by highlighting the competition you demonstrate two things:
- That a market already exists and there are ready made readers for your book,
- That you understand the market and have written a book that has a recognised route to the book shop shelves.
So, when writing your query letter pick three or four titles that will be competition for your work and include them in your pitch. Don’t just go for the best sellers, instead try to pick titles that spread across the genre.
If you want more advice on writing a query letter, synopsis or extract, simply add your email here to join our FREE 5 day guide to writing a great book proposal.