Wondering About Query Letters?

As some of you may know, my son Josh is a copy editor/writer. He writes fiction. I write nonfiction. Josh also has a blog, Through a glass, darkly. Occasionally, I steal one of his blog posts and use it in my blog.

Today is one of those days.

If you're a writer, you will have to write a query letter asking an editor or agent to consider looking at your book or magazine article. Odds are, you'll write lots of query letters in your writing lifetime. Your goal, of course, will be to write a good query letter. All beginning writers ask How do I write a good query?

You may now thank Colleen Lindsey, an agent at FinePrint Literary Management for answering your question. She spent the day going through a slushpile--a mound of unrequested submissions--and found some pretty interesting queries. Let's just say the writers shouldn't be expecting a book contract any time soon.

If you're interested in finding out why lingerie and bribes don't belong in query letters, check out Colleen's blog.

**Karin, you win the copy of Trish Berg's book, Rattled. Send me your address and I'll drop it in the mail to you.**