FYI, I totally made this story up just for the letter. 🙂
June 1, 2010
Susan Love, Editor
Romance Books R Us, Inc
100 Lovers Lane
Valentine, CA 99999
Dear Ms. Love,
What starts out as a bad day sends Katie Willis into the arms of the man of her dreams—or so she thinks. My novel, Mysterious Stranger, takes the reader on a wild ride of suspense, danger, and romance. It is complete at approximately 80,000 words.
Always in the wrong place at the wrong time, Katie Willis becomes a hostage in a bank robbery. Another hostage, Brooks Gibson, rescues her and they flee. The bank robbers want their eye witnesses out of the picture, however, and Katie and Brooks are forced to go on the run. As they journey toward the state line, Katie starts to fall for Brooks until events unfold that cause her to doubt his intentions. Could he be involved with the bad guys? Katie struggles to discover the true identity of this mysterious stranger.
I worked for six years as a vault supervisor for Bank of America, which gives me great insight about bank security. I am in two critique groups, one local and one online. Both groups have extensively critiqued my manuscript. I am a member of Romance Writers of America. Mysterious Stranger is my first novel.
Thank you for considering, Mysterious Stranger. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Jill Williamson
This letter is short and sweet. It starts out with a hook, informs the editor that the book is complete and how long it is.
Next I give a tight, one-paragraph summary that leaves the editor hanging. It’s good to do this in a query letter.
Then there is a short paragraph that includes mention of my history working at Bank of America. That is important since I’m writing about a bank robbery. My work experience gives me first-hand knowledge of the inner-workings of a bank, which should make my story more believable. I also mention my other writing activities, not including them all. Just enough to let the editor know that I’m putting time into my writing career.
And I close with a thank you.
When I was working as an editor, I would have been thrilled to receive such a concise letter and I would have emailed the author back and asked for three sample chapters.
Which three chapters…..????
The first three chapters. Editors will always ask for the first three, which they also call “a partial.” If they like those and want more, they will usually ask for the full manuscript, also called “the full.”