For writers getting ready to query
Query Letter Template and Example
A one-page query letter template for pitching literary agents, with a word target for each main part, a send checklist and an annotated example.
Agency guidelines
What three literary agencies ask for with a query
Your query letter barely changes from agent to agent. What goes with it does: the subject line, the sample pages, and whether you email or fill in a form. Here is what three agencies' own guidelines say.
| Agency | How to send it | What goes with the letter |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Maass Literary Agency4 | By email or QueryTracker, as each agent's profile says. Email subject lines begin "QUERY:" and the title, as in "QUERY: The Count of Monte Cristo." | The agent's suggested number of pages and a one- to two-page synopsis, pasted into the email. The letter must include "both genre and word count." Unsolicited attachments go unopened. |
| Dystel, Goderich & Bourret3 | QueryManager for seven agents, email for the rest. An emailed query goes in the body, "not as an attachment." | The first 25 pages of a novel, pasted below the letter. Lauren Abramo's QueryManager form2 asks instead for 30 pages as a Word file, plus comparable books and a one-sentence pitch. |
| Andrea Brown Literary Agency5 | Through QueryManager, to one agent you choose from the agents' bios. Only four of its agents take adult books. | A short query letter, any past publishing credits, a short bio, a phone number and email, and the first 10 pages of a novel. It accepts "only human-created submissions." |
From each agency's submission guidelines and one agent's QueryManager form, checked October 29, 2026. Quoted words are theirs. Guidelines change, so reread the agency's page and the agent's profile before every query.
How it works
What is the format of a query letter?
A query letter pitches your finished book to one literary agent, by email or through the agent's online form. After "Dear" and the agent's name come an optional line on why you chose them, then a hook. A pitch of two or three short paragraphs follows: your main character, what they want, what stands in their way and what they risk, but not how it ends. One line gives your title, genre, word count and comps (recent books like yours), and a short bio and thanks close it.
Publishing educator Jane Friedman puts the whole letter at about 200 to 450 words1. Format it for email, not paper: she advises plain text in block paragraphs, "Dear [Agent Name]:" as the first line and your contact details at the bottom. Paste it into the body of the email, and attach nothing unless the agency asks. One agent's QueryManager form2 gives the letter its own box and asks separately for word count, comps, bio and whether AI created any part of the package.
Query only with a finished, polished book, as Friedman advises novelists and most memoirists; Dystel, Goderich & Bourret3 won't consider a query for an unfinished novel. Check its length against the usual word count for your genre, since Friedman says a novel past 120,000 words has a challenge ahead. Then follow each agency's guidelines exactly. All three agencies above share one rule: query one of their agents at a time, and try a colleague only after a pass.
How it works
From blank page to query
Download it or open it in River
Download two Word documents with no signup, or click Edit with AI to open the template and the example in River.
Describe your book
Optional. Add a sentence or full notes in the box above, and River starts your hook and pitch in your own words.
Fill in the brackets
Add your title, word count, comps, bio and why you chose each agent, or ask River to go through the blanks with you.
Check it and send
Run the send checklist, follow each agency's guidelines, then paste the letter into the email body or the agent's form.
Dear [Agent name]:
Maren Holt has spent eleven years repairing other people's history. Now she has to decide whether to repair her father's lie.
Maren, 38, is the only paper conservator in Port Absalom, Maine, a harbor town that lives on one story: in 1847 the whaler Constance turned back into a storm to save a crew of strangers…
THE SALT LEDGER is an upmarket mystery, complete at 88,000 words. It will appeal to readers of [a recent book-club mystery about a family secret] and [a recent novel set in a museum or archive].
I spent nine years as a conservation technician at a regional historical society in New England. This is my first novel.
Thank you for your time. The full manuscript is ready if you would like to read it. [Name] · [email]
What you'll get
Each query part with a word target, plus a worked example
- Hook, pitch, book line and bio, each with a word target
- A full example query, with a note on every part
- A send checklist and the query form boxes mapped
Before and after
Your book in. Your query, started.
A paper conservator learns the logbook her town is famous for was forged by her late father. Her name is Maren Holt, 41, and she is restoring the logbook for the town's 250th anniversary. The museum director, her oldest friend, needs the anniversary money to keep the doors open. Upmarket mystery, 84,000 words. I work as a book conservator in Maine, and this is my first novel.
Hook: Maren Holt repairs other people's history for a living. Now she has to decide whether to repair her father's lie. Pitch, paragraph 1: Maren, 41, is restoring the logbook her town is famous for, in time for its 250th anniversary. Then she finds [the proof] that it is a forgery, made by her late father. The book line: [TITLE] is an upmarket mystery, complete at 84,000 words. It will appeal to readers of [COMP 1] and [COMP 2]. About you: I work as a book conservator in Maine, and this is my first novel.
Brackets mark what only you know. River never fills them with guesses.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the query letter template
- Query Letter Template
The letter to fill in, subject line to sign-off, with a job and word target for each main part. - Example Query, Annotated
A full query for an invented mystery, THE SALT LEDGER, with a note on why each part works. - Before you send
Eight checks to run on every query, from the word count and the agent's name to attachments. - Query form boxes
Where each part goes on online query forms, from Comparable Books to the AI question. - Where agents disagree
At the end of the example: length, how to open, comps and personal notes, with who says what. - Brackets for what only you know
Slots for your title, word count, comps, bio and why this agent, so River never guesses them.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
How many words should each part of a query letter get?
Jane Friedman's guide gives the story 150 to 300 words1 and the bio 50 to 100, within about 200 to 450 in all. The template aims for about 300: a hook under 40 words, a pitch of 150 to 200 and a bio of 50 at most. The six real queries in our query letter examples run about 290 to 470 words.
What goes in the subject line of a query email?
Whatever the agency's guidelines ask for. The Donald Maass Literary Agency wants "QUERY:" and the manuscript's title4, as in "QUERY: The Count of Monte Cristo." When an agency gives no format, the template's default of "QUERY:", the title, the genre and the agent's name is clear. Query forms have no subject line; the title goes in its own box.
Where does the word count go in a query letter?
In the line with your title and genre, as in "complete at 88,000 words." Jane Friedman says that line can open the letter, though it often works better near the end. Give words, not pages, rounded to the nearest thousand: one agent's QueryManager form2 asks for the "approximate word count" and warns, "Do NOT enter page count."
Do I need comp titles in my query?
Usually, yes, so have two ready. Jane Friedman says comps are required by most agents and publishers1 and that two are enough. Pick books from the last few years that you have read and that share your readers. She warns that comparing yourself to a current bestselling author can look arrogant or too easy. Some query forms make Comparable Books a required box.
Is a query letter the same as a synopsis?
No. A query is a one-page pitch that stops before the ending, because its job is to make an agent ask for pages. A synopsis tells the whole story, ending included, and the Donald Maass Literary Agency wants it in one to two pages. Our synopsis template tells the same invented mystery as a synopsis, so you can compare.
Is this query letter template free?
Yes. Download the template and the annotated example as two Word documents, with no account or signup. Edit with AI opens the same two documents in River, which is free to start: you can fill them in, edit them or ask River to change them. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
What does Edit with AI do?
It opens both documents in your River workspace. If you describe your book in the box at the top, River starts the hook and pitch in your words. Anything you didn't say stays in brackets, and River never invents your title, word count, comps or credits. Some agencies, such as Andrea Brown Literary Agency5, accept only human-created work, so check each policy.
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