The Anatomy of a Perfect Query Letter

FEBRUARY BONUS VIDEO, because we love our subscribers!

Jessica and James are dispensing more query advice, this time: the formula to the perfect query letter! Take a look at what elements every good query letter absolutely must have!

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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds YouTube channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.

Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.

James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also accepting submissions in all sub-genres of Young Adult fiction, and is actively looking for Picture Books that make him laugh.

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[JoannaDeVoe]

I hope you two know how deeply appreciated you are... Happy Valentine's Day to you both. 💕

[EfiLovesBooks]

Tremendously helpful. Thank you for making this!

[macostewart]

Thank you, Jessica and James, that was very helpful. Your mention that queries were more important than pitches caught my attention, and your explanation of the desired query contents confirmed what I’ve learned.

[davidf.farris]

Best one yet. Answered my question about including self-published work.

[sarahbell]

I've watched a few of your videos now and they have been SO helpful! Thank you both!

[MerlinGal]

Thanks for this! I've now got a checklist to measure a query letter against to be sure it is all it should be and isn't what it shouldn't be.

[davidcolgan]

Thanks again guys. Your information is as always, invaluable.
Have a great day. Hope the smoke has cleared for you. ❤

[McMurrayMuses]

Thanks for the advice! I love the Wonder Woman cup.

[ingridnorton]

Thank you so much for this video! I am getting ready to start my MFA in Writing and I had a stressful day managing kids and trying to write essays for graduate scholarships. I feel uplifted and hopeful after watching this. Thank you. :)

[debbiemirza]

Should the query letter be in the body of the email or as a word or pdf attached document in the email? Thanks for the info! So helpful! :-)

[JanetOppedisano]

Great advice, as always, Jessica and James! I really love how positive and fun your videos are while being informative and helpful at the same time. Keep up the excellent work, and thanks for sharing!

Now to get back to revising my query!

[andynarwhal]

Man, I wish I'd had this when I started querying.

[alexxtheo]

Thank you so much! So incredibly helpful!

[BozalliCopter]

That mic is doing a good job, sound is much better than in your earlier videos

[BeingBackAgain]

Thanks for the work you guys do with these videos, this has been VERY insightful and had I known the content of this here video when I published my first book I may have gone the traditional route back then. With the importance of this current work I wish only to do it right.

[dixonhill]

This was a really great one, gang! Thanks for all you do!

[kimyattasatchel]

This was very helpful thank you, you guys are awesome!

[vincent]

Wonderful channel. I've learned so much from you both. Thank you. Keep up the good work! :)

[k.williams]

so insightful and needed. thanks so much for sharing. 😉

[lauriemurphy]

Thanks for the advice! Love your videos!