Heather Webber, author of the Nina Quinn series and the new Lucy Valentine series, spoke at our Sisters in Crime meeting yesterday to tell all of us the best way to get a query letter noticed by an agent. Query letters and cover pages have always been difficult for me—much like keeping my mouth shut around my in-laws and getting to the point when talking with friends.
Heather’s tips: in the first paragraph give the agent a taste of the book’s main character and what it’s about. Hook them into the story with more details in the second paragraph and supply the word count and your writing credits in the last paragraph. Keep it short…1/2 to 3/4 of a page. Most agents receive hundreds of queries a week and won’t read past the first sentence if it’s boring.
If you want to learn more about what’s going on with Heather and her other writing buddies, read her blog The Cozy Chicks.
Vicki Noll 