Customize your query letter. ... Tell me that you can send a full book proposal and a sample chapter, for instance. End with a particular ‘ask’ so I know how to follow up. ...

As Hodapp says, the letter has one goal: to get the agent to request the full manuscript, "period." It's harder than it looks. Agents receive thousands of letters and only respond to a small fraction.

Almost ALWAYS! Query letters are standard in the industry. That being said, what is most imperative is that you do your homework when approaching any agent. They each have a preferred method of ...

Jessica Sinsheimer, an agent at Sarah Jane Freymann Literary, did a search in the agency’s database of query letters from recent years: 131 of them mention Eat, Pray, Love.