![]() ![]() If you’ve written a book proposal (and you probably should), then your query letter is often a more condensed version of your book proposal’s overview or summary-those first 500 words (or first one to three proposal pages) should summarize the most important and salable qualities of your book. Query Letter Elements: Information-Driven Nonfiction Your bio, platform and credentials to write the book.Target readership: who will buy this book and why? (it cannot be everyone and anyone).Hook: a compelling description of the narrative. ![]() What you’re selling: genre/category, anticipated word count, title/subtitle.Personalization: where you customize the letter for the recipient.Include these elements, in no particular order (except the closing): The query for this type of nonfiction may end up looking very similar to a novel query, especially if you’re writing a memoir. (This is not the case for novelists.) Query Letter Elements: Narrative-Driven Nonfiction I discuss platform here. Your query and book proposal not only have to present an effective argument for why your book should exist, but also should reflect your authority and platform as a book author. It’s also important that prospective authors give some thought to their author platform, or their ability to market and promote their book to an existing audience they can reach, without the publisher’s help, through online or offline activities. Narrative-driven nonfiction (including memoir, biography, and narrative nonfiction)īefore you begin the query process: you should have a finished and polished book proposal ready to go, which should include at least one sample chapter, if not more.But for our purposes, to provide some kind of roadmap, we’ll split up nonfiction queries into two types: There isn’t a single formula that can cover all these categories or types of books. a prescriptive book (a book that helps the reader learn or do something better, such as a how-to, self-help or business book).a narrative about some thing (broadly called narrative nonfiction think Seabiscuit).a narrative about someone else (biography).All novels are narratives with character, plot, setting, conflict, and resolutions (of some kind). With a novel, you’re always trying to craft the perfect hook that encapsulates the essence of your protagonist and the conflict-and it doesn’t matter what type of novel it is. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of complication when querying a nonfiction project it’s not as straightforward and formula-driven as querying a novel. ( Nonfiction is often sold on the basis of a proposal.) Therefore, the query is a sales piece, and it’s all about the art of seduction.Ī query letter for a nonfiction book isn’t all that different from a fiction query: you’re still trying to get an agent or editor interested in looking at your work, but that may mean a book proposal and sample chapters, rather than the full manuscript. When you’re pitching fiction to an agent or publisher through a query letter, your ultimate goal is to get your manuscript read. For years, I’ve offered a lengthy guide on how to write a query letter for a novel. ![]()
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