Navigating the Querying Trenches: A Guide to Querying Agents

Querying a manuscript to literary agents truly is a rite of passage for authors, myself included. I finished the first draft of my debut manuscript in early April 2026. I am currently finishing up round two of line editing, and I have made several improvements to the prose and to the plot. As you query agents, you want to ensure that you have a submission-ready manuscript on hand for agents who request it.

For many writers, the querying process is filled with anxiety, frustration, and, perhaps most important of all, hope. The hope that an agent will love your manuscript as much as you do and see its potential. This post explores how I approached querying. Since I am still actively querying, I do not have the results of my queries yet. Once I know if my querying has been successful, I will create another post outlining the results. Regardless, I hope that this post can help you get started on your querying journey.

Take the time to sit down in front of your computer and get your manuscript as polished as you possibly can before querying agents.

Step One: Polish Your Manuscript

This is a querying basic, but I cannot emphasize it enough: Polish your manuscript! Do not begin querying until you have a manuscript that you have thoroughly edited and that is as strong as you can possibly make it.

This includes the following:

• Developmental Editing: This is your first stage of editing. It focuses on ensuring that the novel's structure, content, plot, characterization, and pacing are intact. This is the time to iron out plot holes and make sure your story in general is ironclad.

  
  

• Copyediting: This form of editing focuses on improving readability by fixing grammar and spelling errors, enforcing style guidelines, and maintaining consistency in tone.

  
  

• Line (Stylistic) Editing: This is your final stage of editing. It involves reviewing a manuscript line-by-line to improve the flow and clarity of the writing. You are refining sentence structure, word choice, and syntax to make the language more effective.

Why is having a polished manuscript so important? The answer is simple. If your query letter, synopsis, and sample pages are strong, an agent may request additional pages of your manuscript to review—either a full request or a partial request. If you do not have a polished manuscript ready to send, you risk sending a semi-polished draft. You should not do that because the quality of your prose will not match the sample pages sent. So in sum, focus on polishing your manuscript before jumping into the querying trenches.

Step Two: Craft a Compelling Query Letter

Let's start by defining what a query letter is. A query letter is a one-page, professional business letter designed to hook a literary agent into requesting your manuscript. Look at it as a sales pitch. Since agents often receive hundreds of queries weekly, your letter must be concise, clear, and compelling, acting as a "trailer" for your book rather than a detailed summary. (The detailed summary is called a synopsis, which I highlight in Step Three.)

Before you sit down to craft your query letter, narrow down the genre(s) of your manuscript as specifically as possible. For example, simply saying that your book is "horror" is not adequate. Is it psychological horror? Visceral horror? Gothic horror? Additionally, what is your writing style—genre, upmarket, or literary? These qualifiers mean a world of difference when classifying your book. An agent seeking literary psychological horror may not be interested in your plot-driven, visceral horror story.

Once you have narrowed down your genre, you are ready to write the actual letter. Here are some pointers, focusing on the "bread and butter" of a strong query letter.

1. You want to begin your query letter by introducing the agent to your book, including the TITLE (in all caps), the rough word count, the genre, and relevant comps. You should have at least one comp that is within 3 to 5 years old. You should also personalize your letter to the agent, letting the agent know that you're not just mass blind copying a bunch of agents with the same letter.

Example:

Dear <Agent>,

I am excited to send you <INSERT BOOK TITLE>, an upmarket speculative novel

complete at 88,000 words that will appeal to readers of Micaiah Johnson’s The Space

Between Worlds and Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel, and to anyone haunted by the

bureaucratic complicity of the TV show Severance. Given your interest in <insert

personalization>, this book may be a good fit for your list.

2. Your query letter needs to include a hook. This is a compelling, one-to-two-sentence opening designed to immediately grab a literary agent's attention and spark interest in the manuscript. Think of it as a catchy elevator pitch.

   
   

   Example:

   
   

   "A woman is travels to a parallel Earth to search for her brother who has been missing for two decades."

3. The next couple of paragraphs following the hook should focus on your main protagonist's arc. Highlight your main character's journey while homing in on the emotional stakes. Do not simply list the novel's main plot points. Why? You need the literary agents you are querying to care about your protagonist. That is why it is so important to focus on the emotional stakes of the plot. Avoid spoilers in your query letter. Do not give away the ending. You want to leave the agent needing to know more. Another tip is to use active voice when crafting the body of your query letter. Use strong verbs to make the pitch energetic.

   
   

4. Include Strong Comps. Comps are books or other forms of media that you are comparing your book to. You need to include at least two in your query letter, with one of them being from within the past five years. Your book isn’t supposed to be identical to your comps, but your story and your comps should have something in common—similar thematic components, tone, worldbuilding mechanics, etc. The purpose of the comps is to show a literary agent where your book would be placed on a shelf in a bookstore.

5. Add a short bio. Close out the body of your query letter with a short one- or two-line bio. You want to include one or two interesting details about your life, especially if they relate to why you chose to write your particular story.

   
   

Example:

I hold a B.A. in psychology and a master’s degree in public administration. A career in

social services gave me firsthand knowledge of the bureaucratic systems that inspired

this novel—and the people they leave behind.

Reddit Group: If you would like a review of your query letter, there is a Reddit group dedicated to answering writing- and publishing-related questions with a focus on the traditional publishing market. They offer critiques of query letters.

The group is: r/PubTips.

Step Three: Write a One-Page Synopsis

In addition to a strong query letter and polished manuscript, you will need to write a professional synopsis of your novel. Many literary agents require a synopsis as part of a query package.

A synopsis is a 500-800 word summary of your book. It should outline your plot in neutral language and demonstrate a clear narrative arc. All big turning points and climactic scenes, in addition to all plot twists, should be mentioned. To be clear, your synopsis is not the same as a back cover blurb or the brief outline in your query letter. Your synopsis should include spoilers.

Your synopsis should be no more than one page (approx. 500–600 words), single-spaced, and in Times New Roman font. Do not indent paragraphs. Include your character names in ALL CAPS or bold the first time they are introduced. This makes it easier for the agent to follow. Adhere to these guidelines unless specifically requested to do otherwise.

Step 4: Research Agents

Before you begin reseaching agents, you must identify how your story fits into the publishing world. The more you can narrow down the genre, the better your search for agents will be. Why? Because you need to target only agents whose wishlists fit your genre and writing style.

Here are some resources for researching and querying agents:

QueryTracker: A comprehensive, searchable database to find agents, track queries, and analyze response rates.

Publishers Marketplace: The industry standard for reviewing recent deals and verifying an agent's sales history (requires a subscription).

#MSWL (Manuscript Wishlist): A social media hashtag used by agents to share the specific types of stories they are seeking.

Reedsy: A comprehensive online marketplace for authors and publishers which contains a directory of agents currently seeking submissions.

Keep a spreadsheet of the agents you plan to query, and ensure you update it with each new query and when you receive responses from queried agents. If you sign up for QueryTracker, you can keep track of queries on their platform. However, I recommend keeping your own query log as well.

Step Five: Start Querying

Now that you have your polished manuscript, query letter, synopsis, and list of agents ready, guess what? You are ready to start querying literary agents!

My last word of advice is to review each agent's submission guidelines very carefully and submit to them only what they request. If they request a covering letter plus the first three chapters, do not send them your synopsis and the first five chapters. You risk an automatic rejection.

Some agents want you to query by email. In that case, make sure to read the directions carefully. Does the agent want all your submission materials to be copy-pasted into the body of the email? Or does the agent prefer that the covering letter be copy-pasted, and your writing sample be added as attachment? Always doublecheck. Different agents have different submission guidelines.

Good luck querying, and I wish you the best of success!