Susan Velazquez Colmant

When I announced that I would be opening for queries for Summer 2025, I hit 200 followers on Bluesky so in honor of the milestone, I offered an “ask me anything” session.

Someone asked, “What’s the first thing that jumps out to you in a query?” Off the cuff, I simply wrote, “A strong hook or stakes for the reader.”

But now I’m thinking about it some more and I want to try to articulate what goes through my mind when I’m reading queries.

We’re hiring a new assistant at my agency and we’re promoting a part-time associate to full-time so I’m being reminded of what it’s like to review applicants for an entry-level publishing position.

For those of you who don’t know, publishing is an extremely competitive industry. Like most creative industries, there’s more people interested in working in this industry than there are available positions and so lots of people toil away at internships (typically unpaid) in hopes of accumulating enough experience that will finally make them stand out for a full-time position. (The inherent unfairness and lack of sustainability of all this could be the subject of a different post so I won’t get into that here.)

I recall looking at resumes for the subsidiary rights assistant position and being struck at how many intelligent, qualified candidates we had in our pool. People who went to Big Name schools, who had Big Deal internships, and who wrote some Damn Good cover letters. (I still have my old cover letter and resume from when I applied to JABberwocky and I cringe in comparison. But hey, I got the job!)

Because there were so many strong applicants, the main metric we had for deciding who got to move into the interview rounds was, “Who are the top five candidates who are just slightly better than the others?” And then when we moved into in-person interviews, where we could finally put faces to names and get a feel of everyone’s personalities, it was splitting hairs to try to figure out who would move on to the second round and then the final hire. Who was slightly better at describing their previous experiences and explaining their transferrable skills? Who did slightly more prep and research about our agency and the position? Who seems like a slightly better fit for this position?

At some point, we had to review the facts and then just go with our gut. (And to note, the final hire turned out to be absolutely fabulous so no regrets there.) But in the final stages, there was this sort of sentiment like, “Damn, we really could hire any of these people and the probability is extremely high that any one of them would be an amazing fit.”

When I read queries, I am reminded of this sentiment that I felt when we were hiring. I know there’s jokes and horror stories about awfully written queries from people who have no clue and no interest in learning how the traditional publishing model works and their query letters reflect that. I’m talking queries that go like, “Hello Agent, did you know that Google turns up 5 billion search results for the word ‘fantasy’? Ergo, my fantasy novel is brilliant and is a guaranteed bestseller. But you’re probably some snotty New Yawk literary agent who can’t recognize good writing when you see it. Anyway, represent me and make me a million dollars?”

In actuality, a majority of writers have good/decent query letters.

If you’re a writer who has done the work to Google “how to write a query letter,” read the Query Shark archives, and hang out in online or real life writer communities to listen for advice then chances you are already starting from a good place.

A lot of the queries I read are pretty solid pitches. I’d rate them 7 to 8 out of 10. They’re well organized, well formatted, and have the premise and story stakes clearly laid out.

If you are curious as to what an organized query looks like, I’m generally a fan of the basic 3-4 paragraph structure as described in Jane Friedman’s blog. I personally like to see the housekeeping (genre, word count, comps, maybe a one-sentence descriptor) in the first paragraph so I can get into the headspace for the genre and style of the book before I read the sample pages. But I don’t discount queries that don’t present it my preferred order. And actually, I bet if I dug up the query letters from my signed clients there will be a few that break the conventional querying rules, let alone my personal preferences. (Digression: I do want to briefly talk about an editor I once talked to who told me she doesn’t read pitch letters until AFTER she’s dipped into the manuscript which blew my mind because I can’t imagine reading like that. But if one editor does that, I bet some agents do the same so maybe you can relax a bit about your query!)

Anyway, so let’s say a majority of queries are thought out and well done. The bad ones typically just look like the rough drafts as seen on Query Shark and the good ones are the ones that got Janet Reid’s seal of approval. So what tips something into the “great” category where it can get a full request or even an offer of representation? What makes a query a 9 or even 10 out of 10 instead of the 7s or 8s?

You’re going to throw tomatoes at me but here it is: just simply whether it piques my interest.

*ducks tomatoes*

I know, I know. There’s no secret tip, there’s no sure-fire way, and frankly, anyone who tries to tell you there’s ONE TRIED AND TRUE METHOD GUARANTEED TO LAND AN AGENT is wrong.

Even the queries that Janet Reid would have marked up with the blue text, I still take a serious look at the pitch materials to see if I can identify the salient points of the story and whether they garner enough interest for me to keep going.

Think about when you’re browsing in the bookstore and you’re trying to decide what to purchase. There’s so many amazing and wonderful books lining the shelves but your budget can only go so far.

You pick one book up from the front table that advertises enthusiastic reviews, a bestseller sticker, and there’s even a tag from the bookseller gushing why they loved the book so much. But then you read the blurb or flip through the opening pages, and it just doesn’t “wow” you so you move on to the next book.

Does that make that first book “bad”? Clearly lots of people enjoyed it. Even it was objectively “bad,” there was still something in there that people connected to. But you’d rather spend your dollars on a book that truly “wows” you, that you can’t put down, and that you’re eager to tell other people to check it out. Right?

That’s what reading queries is like for me.

I’m in the bookstore (aka the query box) and I’m excited to find something to read. Yes, excited. I don’t know where the stereotype comes that agents are big meanies who get off on crushing dreams comes from but trust me, we’re in this business because we want to sell books which means saying “yes” to things.

But I have my limitations. I have to think about maintaining my current client list and the other projects I’m working on at my agency. There’s so many queries that have exciting potential but I can’t take on every single one, especially if it’s a project that needs a lot development and editing. I simply don’t always have the bandwidth to take every project that catches my eye.

Recently in an agent’s meeting, multiple people with open query boxes reported a large uptick in requests compared to last year. Last summer, I received over 1,500 queries. I can only imagine how much more that number could go up if what my colleagues report applies to me too.

So I apologize in advance for the rejections. It is very likely that your query and your opening pages were good but it just didn’t tip over from being “good” to “great” for me. Emphasis on “for me.”

I am only one person and I’ve got things that I like or that I dislike that probably makes people go, “Whaaaaa?” But I know platitudes like this do not feel very comforting when you’re on your third querying round and still can’t get a full request.

Maybe there is something you could be changing in your pitch materials. Maybe not.

I say this not to depress you, but to free you. I don’t know you or your story but even so, I would say you’re likely just as good (or bad) as any writer currently on the shelf.

Anyway, see you in the query box.