Around the Internets it seems to be conventional wisdom that novel writing and query letter writing require two different skill sets, and an author who is good at one may not (or even need not) be good at the other.
Personally, I disagree with this premise entirely and believe that anyone who can write a good novel can write a good query letter.
But. For the sake of this discussion, let’s say that writing a novel and writing a query does require different skill sets and one may not necessarily go with the other.
Well… you need both skill sets.
International bestselling author Jeff Abbott was kind enough to send me just a few of the instances when he has had to distill his work into cogent summaries without the help of anyone:
- My publisher once asked me to write a letter to the sales force, talking about myself and my book. It wasn’t something a copywriter could do. I had to do it. And you want to make a good impression on the sales force–you live and die by sales. That letter is something they can then use in closing more orders for your books.
- Most publishers ask you to fill out a marketing questionnaire, so the publicists can use that in shaping their press pitches. A lot of that involves summaries of your book to different audiences: press, readers, booksellers, etc. Yes, the publicist has read the book. But they want to know what YOU want to stress before they start throwing ideas at you. You have to be part of that conversation.
- Writers are sometimes involved in jacket copy. Not often. But if the copywriter is stuck or having trouble, it’s not unusual for the author to take a stab at a rewrite. The few times I’ve heard of this happening, it’s because the copywriter missed on the major stakes of the book for the main character or emphasized a minor point to the exclusion of the focus of the book. Copywriters aren’t perfect. No one can know your book better than you do.
- You get a call from a film studio, interested in you writing a treatment or a script for your book. This might come from your agent or they may have read the book. They want you do to a pitch on how you’d do the adaptation. And they want it tomorrow, via conference call. That’s a verbal form of a query letter.
- At the Southeast Booksellers Association, they do an event called Moveable Feast–ten booksellers at a table, one empty chair for an author, a few dozen tables. You sit at each table and talk about your book to the booksellers for ten minutes, then move to the next table. Guess what? Your publicist isn’t sitting next to you, whispering cues in your ear.
- At a cocktail party in London, me and 25 booksellers met for drinks and dinner. I had to mingle, meet everyone. At that point, the booksellers knew I’d had one successful book in the UK; they wanted to know about the next one. And they want to hear it in your words, not the press kit. They want to make that connection with you. You have to be able to talk about your work, your vision, what makes you you in a brief and interesting way.
- Any number of times, just out socializing, someone finds out I’m a writer and asks what I write or what’s my new book about. They want something short and snappy and memorable. I want them to be interested in the book.”
Annnnnnd so on.
So the message for the school of “I’m Just a Novelist” — successful summarizing doesn’t end with the query. If you feel like you can’t do it, forcing yourself to write a good query is a great way to start.
Need some help summarizing? Here’s another post that might help:
Need help with your pitch? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and consultations! And if you like this post, check out my guide to writing a novel.
UPDATED 5/29/19
Art: Die Dorfpolitiker by Friedrich Friedländer
lynnrush says
So true. I stink at writing queries and once thought them as separate skills.
It’s the same skill, just a slightly different take on it. I mean, who better to write a brief snapshot than the author who knows the story so intimately, right?
Just as long as you have good, brutally honest crit group…you’ll be set.
Anonymous says
And, Nathan, you’ve given us so many wonderful tips on how to write the query properly, we really have no excuse. Thank you for this version of a pep talk. And now, you’re letting us send part of the MS, too?! Your magnanimity overwhelms me.
ryan field says
I hate doing it…but it has to be done. And it does get easier with practice.
I had to give a publicist a quip the other day, and that was even harder.
Scott says
I just wrote four large paragraphs on this, and when I previewed I lost it all.
I'd summarize, but I'm too frustrated right now. >:^|
Lady Glamis says
It certainly is an art, as you state in your title. Thank you for the great advice and tips. And as always, you have given so much information and direction in writing a query that it is only a matter of hard work and will-power to get this all down right. Thanks!
Mira says
Well, I’m of the school that writing skills can vary. But I think your point that summarizing is a valuable skill for any author to learn is a really good point.
I’m surprised, though, that there aren’t more services available to authors. People who hire themselves out to write queries, synopsis, etc.
There are probably some people who really excel at that type of writing, and if it’s not your strong point, why not give them the work?
Nathan Bransford says
Yeah, sorry everyone, Blogger seems to be going haywire with the comments the last couple of days. Back to the old commenting format for now (temporary! temporary!), and hopefully they work it out.
Nathan Bransford says
mira-
You mean… A writer hiring a writer to do their writing?
RW says
And I have to be able to do it to be able to actually finish the book itself. To make the work focused and clear — revised, in other words — requires that I be able to tell myself succinctly what the story is about. The inability to tell myself what the story is and the fact that the manuscript drags on and on full of beautiful writing without going anywhere go hand-in-hand.
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! says
UGH. I can easily write a 4 page story, detailing everything, but I just cannot write ONE PARAGRAPH summarizing my novel. Ugghhh yes I know I need to master the art of summarizing.
Damn.
Robena Grant says
Thank you for this, and a huge thank you to Jeff Abbott. This is excellent advice.
Will try now to post as I’ve been kicked off this past week. : (
Steve Fuller says
Ahhh…the old commenting system.
Stevie so happy.
And Nathan, after reading that breakdown on your last post, I am worried about you. Where should we send money?
Bryan says
That post was great Nathan. See, I knew there was a reason I mention you a lot in my blog!
MzMannerz says
Reposting a ? from yesterday, because I didn’t write it until today so think it got lost in the pile. I didn’t see it in the FAQ section and hope I didn’t miss it.
If you query an agent and the agent passes, and you have a new project ready and want to query again (having waited at least six months, natch): should you mention that you’ve queried the agent before?
Nathan Bransford says
mzmannerz-
If the agent requested some of your work last time: yes. If they didn’t: no.
Mira says
Nathan – did I mean a writer hiring a writer?
Yes, actually. I know it sounds funny, but here’s an example. I don’t care how much you paid me, I can not write poetry.
Well, that’s not true. I can’t write poetry that doesn’t make people’s eyes start to bleed.
So, you could have a writer who was really good at a lyrical narrative style, but terrible at a concise, structured paragraph.
A writer in my writer’s group writes amazing fiction. She just started college. Her essays are painful. She can probably learn to write in a formal style, but it will never be her forte.
So, why shouldn’t she hire someone who is fantastic at writing in a formal style? For something as important as a book cover, for example.
Anyway, just my long-winded thoughts.
Hilabeans says
Inspirational.
My two bucks (adjusted for inflation):
Seriously, I think that we all make the summary more difficult than it needs to be. The first iteration of condensing my 10pg outline and 400pg MS into an elevator pitch was, in a word, excruciating. But the more I worked at it, the more I was able to siphon out the good stuff. (disclaimer: not that the rest was bad, just not as important)
After that experience, I’ve learned to start off with the pitch. Any new book idea is shortly followed by a two sentence summary and loose outline. It seems to help me stay on track with the main theme and plotline. I’m telling you, the practice saves a lot of time.
In any case, you always want to be ready with a zinger for that sometimes-contemptuous-always-nebulous question, “So,” (insert skeptical look), “What’s your book about?”
Have you ever wondered... says
Insightful as always. You seem to be one of the few agents on a list of many I follow who consistently gives valuable info to the aspiring writing. So thank you very much.
Nathan Bransford says
mira-
Even if summarizing doesn’t come naturally to a writer, they simply need to get better at it. You don’t have to become a world class marketer and summarizer, just a competent one. To take the poetry example, you don’t have to be Robert Frost.
Queries and summaries are just words arranged in the right order. It goes with the territory.
Writers write. Including summaries.
Sarah Jensen says
I love Jeff Abbott. His advice is wonderful. I believe the name of the new game will be who can promote themselves. We’re going to have to get used to know what we write and who we are if we want to make it in this business.
pjd says
Sloppy writing usually reflects sloppy thinking. If you can’t summarize your story in a paragraph, then perhaps you aren’t sure what your story is.
I’m not saying it’s easy. It can be terribly difficult. But saying you’re a novelist who is unable to write a tight summary paragraph is like saying you’re a 7-course-meal chef unable to make decent garlic bread.
Kristan says
Siiiigh. But you’re right.
Ink says
I think a lot us over-worry and over-think queries, but they’re much simpler than we seem to want to give them credit for. And I think (as fiction writers) we’re already using the exact talents needed for query letters, and we’re using them all the time.
When you have backstory elements in your story, what do you do? If it’s a key element and super important to the novel you could use a “show” technique like a flashback. But in a novel you can’t do this all the time (or even much of the time) without seriously overworking the technique. Most of the time you use a bit of exposition to explain something. And you don’t want an eight page explanation (which would kill the fictive dream and likely be dead boring), but rather something as tight and pithy as possible, something both sharp and inobtrusive. You gotta slide that stiletto in carefully…
So, you find the heart of that information, the elements the reader needs in that particular moment, and add a hint of the rest, a bit of intrigue that makes the reader want to know more… and which they’ll get only by reading onward. This sort of summary with a hook seems, to me, like one of the basic techniques for making a narrative work. And whether we think about it consciously or not we probably do it quite a bit. All you have to do for a query is translate the technique over.
What are the facts the agent needs to know right now? And what are the hooks they need to get them wanting to read more? This, to me, is pretty basic exposition, something we all likely do as we go about telling little stories within the big stories. If you can write competent exposition you can write competent query letters.
I think the problem is we writers worry too much. A query letter! Oh my God! Everything’s riding on this! We build the pressure up, overthinking our stories and what agents want… when we should just be telling our story. Just tell it (Yes, I’ve seen too many Nike commercials).
Anyway, that’s my take. Green tea and relaxing massages all around!
My best to everyone,
Bryan Russell
Ashley D. says
I think Blogger needs to stick to this commenting format! When they changed it, I couldn’t EVER comment on your blog! I would get everything typed out but my word verification wouldn’t show up, which, obviously, prevented me from posting.
SO frustrating!
So, in case they switch back and I am left unable to comment again, let me take this time to say.. Thanks, Nathan! For taking the time to share all of this very useful information with us!
I haven’t gotten to the query stage yet but I know that the information on your blog will be a tremendous help!
Eva Ulian says
Wise words indeed- every single one of them should be cherished by every author! Excellent post!
MzMannerz says
Thanks for your answer to my earlier question, Nathan.
***
I am reminded of cover letters and resumes. With few exceptions, regardless of the job you seek, a solid cover letter and resume are necessary. It’s a general skill anyone wanting to enter the professional job market must hone. Perhaps the same is true for queries – short format summaries may not be a writer’s thing, but they need to hone the skill anyway.
Laura D says
Thank you, thank you, thank you Nathan! I totally agree that writing a query is the same skill as any other writing. Marketing through writing should be a dream for writers. I don’t know why there is such cold feet over querys. It’s a chance to put yourself out there and shine.
Mira says
Nathan,
Okay, I’ll concede this one to you. You have good points. It doesn’t have to be fantastic, just competent.
And there’s definitely value in learning a new writing skill, even if it doesn’t come naturally.
But please, please, please don’t encourage me to write poetry. Having people sign that 10 page indemnity disclaimer before they read my work was terribly onerous. And it doesn’t look like it will stand up in court, given the terrible pain and suffering my poetry inflicts.
No, the world is a better place if poetry and I both respect the mutual restraining orders.
Whirlochre says
Querying is the nightmare I get to straddle in the next few months and I’m not looking forward to it at all.
In principle, I’m in agreement with you that writing is writing, but I do find the consolidatory work more difficult than throwing ideas at a page or (heaven forbid, if I’m let out for the night) a person.
JES says
If you’re one of those who manages to squeeze in an hour or two of writing a day, no matter how fired up you are about the WIP you’re going to come up with days when your fingers just hover over the keyboard. Nothing happens. The Muse sits in the corner, filing her nails and whistling softly, pretending you don’t exist.
At such times, use the hour (or two!) to write and rewrite and re-rewrite your summary, or your query, your cover letter, or any of the dozen other things that agents and editors seem to want aside from the work itself. If you re-do them a half-dozen times over the course of six months it’ll be a lot harder to kid yourself into believing, …but I just can’t WRITE queries/synopses/whatever.
And as somebody up above said, you’ll understand your own work a heck of a lot better!
Josh says
Nathan, this was a great post, because I don’t know how many of us know about all of the other work authors have do to make their book successful.
Its seems to me that the only reason people are against summarizing their work is because its too tough/hard, and I just don’t get that.
We have all put so much work into learning how to write, being diligent at finishing our books, editing and reediting. Why wouldn’t you want to learn the skills necessary to query, and summarize your book, help with selling your book to booksellers, so that your book can be successful? And if you don’t care about your book being successful, then why are you trying to get it published anyway– post it online and invite people to read it.
If you were told, “Hey I will publish your book if you can write me a good summary?” Wouldn’t you jump at that chance?
Anonymous says
pjd is exactly right. It may be hard to admit, or something one doesn’t want to work on, but outlining, pitching and querying sharpen your story, forcing you to look at the plot and characters in a critical way.
I didn’t get this truth until I finished my third manuscript. The first two meandered around a plot, sort of, and I found it impossible to summarize them. While putting everything into one paragraph was still difficult, the third one showed real growth on my part as a writer.
Nathan, your blog is invaluable to me as part of ‘learning the business of writing’. No one said it would be easy (in fact, all I’ve heard at conferences and workshops is expect it to be really, really hard), but your blog tells me from an insider what to expect and how to present myself professionally. Thanks
Heather says
I think the whole “I can’t write a query” think is just a cop-out. I bet most novelists could write a much better summary of someone else’s novel than of their own. It’s easier to see the big picture when you’re not married to every word and detail. Because let’s face it, when you spend hours, months, years of your life squeezing a novel out of your brain, it’s hard to let go of any of it. And that’s what summarizing is — it’s letting go of the nonessential details to distill your novel down to its essence. But I agree with Nathan that it’s something writers need to be able to do, not just for queries, but for the sake of the writing itself. If you’re so in love with your own words that you can’t let go of them for a summary, how will you ever be able to murder your darlings?
Melanie Avila says
Excellent post.
I agree that writers need to be able to summarize their work – if they want to be published and be successful. If they don’t want success badly enough, they can stop trying and claim it was too hard.
*shrugs shoulders*
I choose the first option. It’s not easy, but it’s what you must do to make it in this industry.
Just_Me says
I suppose that’s something to work on while I edit. My current WIP does not have an easy tag line, several other books I have as pot boilers do.
When you’re in the middle of the book and all of it is important to you as the author it’s hard to focus on just the main points.
Anonymous says
At a cocktail party in London, me and 25 booksellers met for drinks and dinner. I had to mingle, meet everyone.
Me ???????
Vancouver Dame says
I’ve been working on my query and synopsis as well, and this post is very timely for me. I find Jeff’s advice very realistic and helpful, and he reiterates what you’ve been saying, Nathan.
In order to start the process for myself, I tried summarizing each chapter, then condensing that writing and then stepping further back to see if I could pinpoint the highlights of the story as I saw it. I’m nearly finished, and I’m refining the summary each time by trying to zoom out more. This ‘stepping out of the story’ is a good way of seeing if the storyline flows well.
Business writing skills require you to focus on what you’re offering (the story), and why someone should be interested (what the story is about – condensed).
Excellent post, Nathan, and thanks for having patience with your blog fans. BTW – what’s happening with the changed format for comments??
Loralee says
Not to nit pic but it this good grammar?
“At a cocktail party in London, me and 25 booksellers met for drinks and dinner.”
Shouldn’t it be 25 booksellers and I?
Rick Daley says
I look at writing a novel vs. writing a query letter with this logic: a square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square.
Producing an interesting premise succinctly in 250 words or less is much different than expanding that premise into 60,000 to 150,000 words of compelling plot and /or literary greatness.
It is much more reasonable to assume that the writer who can produce the greater volume can also produce the lesser volume (a square is always a rectangle), but the writer who can produce a lesser volume may not be able to complete the longer work (a rectangle is not always a square).
I do not assume that query writing should be effortless for any writer, though. It takes time and practice. The more I struggled with paring my story down to 150 words (better yet, one sentence), the more I thought about what the story is really about, and I gained new insights into my own work. If you don’t fight it, it can be very beneficial.
I agree that a successful writer – defined as one with widespread distribution and readership – needs to be proficient in both the long form and the sort form. It’s simple economics. The supply of writers who have the dual proficiency exceeds the demands of the market, leaving very little chance for the lesser skilled writers to persevere.
For formal publishing, the short form is query writing. For self-publishing, it’s blogging and other means of marketing and self-promotion. For either, it’s necessary.
Bane of Anubis says
Bryan, you’re right that writing a query is easier than most make it out to be, but I think you hit the nail on the head about “worrying” compounding the stress. We send out queries into the black box ether and if we’re rejected, we don’t know why —
was it written poorly? Did the subject not appeal to the agent? Are our credentials not up to their snuff? etc… We have no way of knowing, usually, and that’s what makes queries so “hard” to do, IMO…
So, queries are somewhat easier to write than most people make out, but the psychological barrier of the unknown rejection will always make them very difficult to do.
Nathan Bransford says
OK, grammar people, it’s a blog post.
Anonymous says
Can I have Jeff Abott’s career? London, movie studios, sales forces, bookseller associations, all swirling around my book?
Also, can we start banning commentors that continually point out insignificant grammar mistakes on blog posts? Hello? Talk about not seeing the larger picture… HE’S the BEST-SELLING author, YOU are not… 🙂
Dave Wood says
Summarizing used to give me a lot of trouble. Then I learned to write a quick bit of jacket copy when I first started working on a project. It helps to do it when the idea is fresh and fun. Then it’s there to re-inspire me when my writing hits a slow spot, and it helps at query time too.
K.S. Clay says
I agree. Writing is writing. A lot of people (not just writers) like to give excuses and say they “can’t” do something, usually because it’s difficult because they’re not used to doing it and people seek the path of least resistance. Now, if there’s a great fiction writer and they say they “can’t” write a query letter, or a poem, or something else, I’m going to say they’re lying through their teeth. It might take them longer, not being used to writing in that style, but they can do it.
I think part of the problem stems from the fact that a lot of writers see novel writing as enjoyment and will thus spend a lot of time trying to get it right. The same people see query writing as a job and sludge through it as quickly as possible. The best examples I’ve seen of query letters were ones that seemed to me as if the writers approached them with the same attitude toward creativity as their novels. I also think that the kind of summarizing you have to do in a query can help with the novel itself, or at least it does for me. When I sit down and summarize the story I have to decide what’s important. Then looking at that I have priorities. I tend to take those priorities back to the novel (but maybe that’s just my style since I tend to continually rework a novel summary, similar to that which will go in the query later, throughout the entire process of writing the novel).
Wow I’m long winded today! Maybe I should work on summarizing my comment.
Heather says
For me, the art of summarizing actually helped me to see that I needed to simplify my plot a little. I figure that my trouble summarizing the story was a sign that maybe I was trying to do too much… and I was right.
[enter rewrite phase here]
I actually suggest to my writer friends now that they take a stab at writing the query BEFORE they enter the rewrite section of their process. It really helps you to put the book into a larger perspective.
clindsay says
Great post!
Joy says
Nathan, you sound like me, a former English teacher, trying to convince my teenage students that they’re actually going to use their English skills once they leave school and enter the “real world.” Over and over I’d come up with examples of when their grammar and writing skills would come in handy–even if they worked on cars or in construction–but most of the time I felt my words were falling on deaf ears. It wasn’t until my students graduated, got jobs, and were “in the real world” that they realized what I said was true, and then it was too late.
I hope more “I’m just a novelist’s” hear and take your words to heart before it’s too late to realize, hmm, maybe I should’ve listened to Nathan sooner and started working on my synopsis skills.
Stephanie says
Great points! The only reason it’s ever a problem with me (and other writers, I’m sure) is just simple stage fright. It’s knowing THAT is the one thing all of the agents and editors will see. That makes me procrastinate writing it more than the book itself.
That said, I think I do pretty well. I keep getting compliments in my rejections, such as, “While I found your query intriguing…” Okay, maybe that’s just a fancy form letter, but it makes me feel like maybe I’m on the right track!
Anonymous says
How’s this for a summary? 🙂
“In 1941, 14-year-old Jay Johnson was forever scarred when he witnessed his mother’s brutal mauling by the neighbor’s pet chimp. Seventeen years later, Jay finds himself working for the newly formed NASA and is excited to be at the forefront of space exploration. That is until the newest member of NASA shows up. Ham is a two-year-old chimpanzee that NASA hopes to send into space. Jay is charged with helping to train the animal and finds that the years have not lessened his fear of monkeys. Now Jay finds himself stalked by fear and is faced with a hard choice. He can find a way to overcome his fear once and for all, or he can leave NASA and let the space monkey win. Jay has never been a quitter and though space monkeys may haunt his dreams at night he resolves they will not rule his day. The monkey may win a few battles but it will not win the war.”
Arron Ferguson says
I didn't get a chance to comment on the last post of yours due to the Blogger site's hiccup.
I found that previous post quite informative (pertaining to how the $$$ pie is cut up) – thank you for posting this information!
I come from the technical writing world where it's writer -> editor -> technical editor/technical reviewer -> proof reader -> publisher -> book seller.
In my experience, technical book royalties are anywhere from 8% to 15% of the net sales (minus returns, freebies, etc.) and a technical writer is fortunate to have a book with a "shelf" life of about two years (if lucky).
Anyways, I see this current topic debate not about query letters and manuscripts but whether or not a writer is expected to be part businessperson as well.
I see a parallel in the graphic arts and versus fine arts fields where graphics artists take the perspective that a business sense is an integral part of the career choice whereas fine artists are usually apposed to any of what transpires after the work has been created.
Anyways, thanks for the information.