Little Random Crumbs About Writing

How I Write a Query Letter

When you want to get your book published, the one thing you need to write is a query letter.

This is where they check the important details of your manuscript, kung tungkol saan ba ang nobela mo, ilang words, kung sino ka ba, at kung dapat ba silang gumugol ng oras sa pagbasa ng pinaghirapan mo.

And no matter how good your manuscript is, kung palpak ka naman sa pag-construct ng query letter mo, wala rin. So you have to really prepare for this one. You need to be concise. You need to hook them right away from the first few sentences of your letter.

I've been writing several query letters since year 2016 and mind you, ngayon lang nila ako napansin. Kailan ko lang din kasi napagtanto na mali pala ang ginagawa ko noon. Bino-bore ko sila masyado sa haba ng mga paragraphs ko.

So that is the first important thing you need to know. Use as few words as possible, but not so few na tipong wala na silang nakuhang impormasyon sa iyo.

Here is the exact query letter I sent to the publishing house na tumanggap nung isang manuscript ko:

Dear Editor,

Walang Aswang sa Amin is the story of Jennifer Medina, a college delinquent, who must convince everyone that a serial killer is the one behind the numerous deaths in their town, not an aswang, and definitely not her.

This story is a combination of mystery and horror which will appeal to young adult readers. It is 44,000 words long and is written in taglish.

Along with this email are the summary, synopsis, my short bio, and the full copy of my manuscript.

Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely, 

Mark Fermill

Look at how short that is? Short but has all the necessary information they need.

Sa first paragraph, huwag ka nang magpaligoy-ligoy. If the publishing company is currently accepting manuscripts and you have already indicated the word "Manuscript Submission" in the email subject line, huwag ka nang mag-intro pa ng, "I would like to submit my blah blah blah." No! Diretsohin mo na agad! Syempre, inaasahan na nilang nag-email ka dahil gusto mong mag-submit ng manuscript for consideration. Ipasok mo na agad ang hook mo, ang logline ng story mo.

Ang pagkakamali ko noon, napapahaba ko lagi ang nilalagay kong summary. Biruin mo, two paragraphs ng summary nilagay ko dati sa query letter ko? Shocks! What the hell, old self? Most of the time, kailangan isa lang. Just think of a way to market your book to them with as little words as possible.

Sa second paragraph, nilalagay ko ang mga technical details ng book. Kung anong genre nito, sinong target audience ko, ilang words, at kung anong language ang gamit ko sa story. All of these information are important to them, which is why pumapangalawa agad ito sa hierarchy ng paragraphs.

With these information, iche-check nila kung kaya ba nilang i-publish ang gawa mo dahil what if 150K words pala ang manuscript mo? Patay tayo kapag ganyan. Usually kasi, naa-attract lang sila sa 30-50K words na manuscript. Pero syempre iba-iba pa rin iyan per publishing house. You need to do your research whether they will have a liking to your book.

Sa third paragraph, usually nakalagay dito ang author's information. But hold your horses my friend, hindi porket sinabi kong author's information e ilalagay mo na rito kung saan ka nakatira, kung ilang taon ka na, kung anong zodiac sign mo, no!

They only care about marketable information about you. If you have an author platform with lots of followers, do mention that. Kung author ka ng isang bestselling book, mention that also. Kung graduate ka under a degree related to writing, you are welcome to say that. But if you're unsure whether they would care about you, don't bother.

Gaya ko. Wala naman akong author platform na malaki ang following count. Itong wattpad account ko? Psh. Maliit na bilang lang iyan para sa kanila. I can't say anything din about published books dahil wala pa ako noon. Related degree? Lol. Malayong-malayo ang degree ko about writing, so I didn't really bother mentioning it.

Which is why dineretso ko na siya sa closing statements. Sinabi ko kung anong mga naka-attach sa email na iyon at pinasalamatan ko sila sa kanilang oras. After that, I hit send. Tapos.

And after half a month, nag-reply sila, yay!

I didn't post this to brag or anything. I just wanted to share what worked for me. Noon kasi, curious na curious ako kung anong hitsura nung mga successful query letters ng mga tagalog authors. Puro mga letters lang kasi ng mga english authors ang meron sa mga google search results, e baka naman kasi iba ang taste ng mga pinoy 'di ba?

Well ngayon alam niyo nang ganito lang pala siya.

So if you have finished stories, I suggest na i-edit niyo na silang maigi ngayon at kung balak niyo rin silang i-submit for publishing, maglaan kayo ng maraming oras sa pagpapaganda ng query letter ninyo.

Good luck and thank you for reading this!