Comments on Nathan Bransford, Author: How To Format a Query Letter

Hi Nathan, Thanks for giving so much of your time...

2012-01-26T23:09:46.403-08:00

Hi Nathan,
Thanks for giving so much of your time to all of us! I just sent off my first query letter, manuscript duly copied and pasted into the emailed submission, as per targeted publisher request. Realizing that I had no guide for format or what to type in the subject bar, I of course, opened a page to your site, and found the information I needed in a couple of clicks. Manuscript sent, I am so grateful for the guidance I found on this site, from writing, to editing,editing, and more editing! So, lest I take up your entire column, I wnat to say again, thank you for being there to guide me on my journey form writer to author. Now the wait begins! If I'm published, great; if not, I'm framing my first rejection letter!

You're my hero.
C.K. Garner (aka, Candace Riffle)

Thanks for the info.

2012-01-25T18:25:43.112-08:00

Thanks for the info.

Yep, that's what I'm saying. Realistically...

2012-01-25T18:23:17.131-08:00

Yep, that's what I'm saying. Realistically no matter how you format it it's going to appear differently in various e-mail clients. So don't sweat that part too much. Do sweat how it's formatted when you send the actual manuscript to the agent.

So the format of the "sample" of the man...

2012-01-25T18:21:59.318-08:00

So the format of the "sample" of the manuscript within your query letter does not matter. Is that what you're saying? That just seems a bit odd.

ht sundance- I just mean the five pages that are ...

2012-01-25T18:19:26.768-08:00

ht sundance-

I just mean the five pages that are pasted into the body of a query letter.

This is great info, but the comment about not worr...

2012-01-25T18:14:35.245-08:00

This is great info, but the comment about not worrying about how your manuscript is formatted is odd information. Publishers want your manuscript to be formatted correctly almost as much as they want a clean query letter.

You have no idea how frustrating it was not to fin...

2011-12-29T10:42:36.269-08:00

You have no idea how frustrating it was not to find this information anywhere, until I found your site. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Simple format but very essential knowledge that sh...

2011-12-17T06:21:45.347-08:00

Simple format but very essential knowledge that should be keep in mind. Thank you for posting it here..

Excellent post Nathan,I have lately realized is al...

2011-12-08T15:11:51.989-08:00

Excellent post Nathan,I have lately realized is always to established your own client to make use of basic textual content rather than html.

Good to hear that there are only Less than 25% are...

2011-12-08T01:21:00.393-08:00

Good to hear that there are only Less than 25% are formatted. This is such a great new learning on how to format a query letter.

Thanks Nathan

Hi Nathan, This was the same set up I used, I got...

2011-12-08T00:25:50.999-08:00

Hi Nathan,

This was the same set up I used, I got it from a friend of mine and he said he got set up on query letter here. Such a huge help to everybody..

Great post, Nathan. I have only one problem with ...

2011-11-15T21:10:49.727-08:00

Great post, Nathan.

I have only one problem with the loss of formatting for my eQuery (and I know it is not acceptable to attach when Querying which would make my life much easier...):

I have just finished my manuscript that is in the Speculative Fiction genre.. which means it has its own world, own races, and own languages. The languages are very clean and uniform looking--no wildly accented words that look like gibberish (though I suppose to a non-fantasy reader they might be). For my languages, I've had to create my own font (YIKES!). All proper names are in the created language (and actually mean something as traditional names do, like Nathan is Hebrew for "God has given"). So here is my question, and I apologize for the long lead in to it: Should I type out the names without the accents, or should I forgo eQuerying altogether and use snail mail so that the agent will get an idea of the language?

Thanks,
Joshua

Hey Nathan, That was a great and job well done, y...

2011-11-11T12:32:57.998-08:00

Hey Nathan,

That was a great and job well done, you're the man. I just added the format on my email. Your post has been very helpful to me. Thanks

Rhonda

Hi Nathan, fisrt of all, thanks for the advises b...

2011-10-23T15:18:15.040-07:00

Hi Nathan,

fisrt of all, thanks for the advises because I literally hate querys! I have a big project, a saga, and it's so hard to resume it in just one paragraph and at the same time exxplain the first book!
Regardless that point I have a question, if I have a blog ( not very popular) about 80 followers with comments about my book, do you think this wise to insert it on my query?

PS: English is not my native toungue, and the book will be in spanish... just in case

Thx for your time!

xeeran- If it's an actual letter on paper the...

2010-11-20T10:30:00.262-08:00

xeeran-

If it's an actual letter on paper then perhaps, but for e-mailed queries it's not necessary.

Everyone says it's a business letter, therefor...

2010-11-20T04:53:23.596-08:00

Everyone says it's a business letter, therefore, wouldn't it be more professional to include the business you are querying in the format?I continue to be impressed with your practical generosity.business letter

Thanks. Very helpful. Just get to the point withou...

2010-10-29T03:02:14.199-07:00

Thanks. Very helpful. Just get to the point without annoying distractions, no?

Thank you for this simple yet precise guideline fo...

2010-09-30T15:36:30.754-07:00

Thank you for this simple yet precise guideline for queries, Nathan. It's extremely helpful to find advice like this. Just a few questions: Do you want/accept a small bio of the query-sender? If so, where should we include it? Will your answer ever depend on age? I know that young writers are pounced upon more quickly these days by literary agents....Most likely boosted because of "Eragon".

I was ready to send you my Query letter but there ...

2010-09-30T11:17:12.063-07:00

I was ready to send you my Query letter but there is much more. To me it was like writing a short business letter showing my product. Reading the info you have here has made me stop and fix the Query.
Thank you again.

Mr. Bransford your information has been very helpf...

2010-09-30T11:03:22.406-07:00

Mr. Bransford your information has been very helpful.

Mr. Bransford, As a general rule, should you incl...

2010-09-22T12:44:04.669-07:00

Mr. Bransford,

As a general rule, should you include page numbers/headers with email queries? Thanks for your time.

Out of curiosity, Nathan, do you have anything aga...

2010-09-20T10:38:03.624-07:00

Out of curiosity, Nathan, do you have anything against introductory first chapters?

Thanks, Nathan! Your great! I no this advise wil...

2010-09-14T08:41:36.744-07:00

Thanks, Nathan!

Your great! I no this advise will help me be the best selling I know I will be!

It won't bee long before you all know what my name is!

:)

Hi there! You made a post about Re-querys awhile b...

2010-08-12T13:42:01.244-07:00

Hi there!
You made a post about Re-querys awhile back, and I am wondering how do you format those? What if the query was invited by the agent? What if it wasn't?
Thank you so much for dedicating yourself to helping writers!

Helpful piece of information. But how do you write...

2010-08-10T15:27:38.371-07:00

Helpful piece of information. But how do you write a query/synopsis for a trilogy? What are the standard requirements? What about a book series?