For authors querying agents
AI Query Letter Generator for Your Book
Paste your pitch or drop in your manuscript to get a one-page query letter in your voice, with the hook, stakes, book details and bio.
Free to start. No card needed.
How to write a query letter yourself
Read a few query letters that got agents in your genre, then draft the story paragraphs first: they carry the letter. Janet Reid, the late agent behind the Query Shark blog, had a four-part test1. After reading your query, an agent should be able to name the main character, what they want, what's in the way and what's at stake. Open on one person and the problem that starts the story. Jane Friedman, a former Writer's Digest publisher, warns against naming more than three characters or revealing the ending2, which belongs in the synopsis.
Next comes one sentence of facts: the title in capitals, the genre and the word count, rounded to the nearest thousand. Add two comps, short for comparable titles: recent books you have read whose readers would want yours. Many agents expect them, and on one agent's form at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret3, the Comparable Books box is required. Close with a true line or two about you. With no credits, don't apologize: Friedman says you're "mainly getting judged on the story premise, not your bio."
Keep the whole letter to a page: former agent Nathan Bransford recommends 250 to 350 words for a novel4, counting the personal note and bio. Cut rhetorical questions, talk about themes, praise for your own book and past rejections. Follow each agent's guidelines exactly, and if you open with a personal line, make it one no other writer could send, like a client's book you loved. For a fill-in version with every part laid out, start from the query letter template.
How it works
How does River write your query letter?
Start with the pitch you have, plus your title, genre and word count, or drop in the whole manuscript. Add a line about yourself at the end, and River shapes it into the bio. If you attach the book, River reads all of it before writing. It finds your main character, what they want, what stands in the way and the choice that costs them, then writes only the query into your doc.
The letter follows the shape agents expect: a bracketed line for why you chose the agent, a hook of one or two sentences, then two pitch paragraphs in present tense. The book's facts, your bio and a thank-you come last. Your strongest phrases stay word for word, and shorthand becomes finished prose, so "86k" turns into "complete at 86,000 words." River aims for about 300 words, but if your notes are thin, it writes a shorter letter and names what would strengthen it rather than padding.
River never invents a comp, credential, award or word count. It uses what you give it, counts an attached manuscript's words and asks you to confirm, or leaves a marked slot for anything only you know. A five-line checklist under the letter covers the word count, what only you can fill in, pasting into the email body, subject lines and a personal first line. Then ask River to mark the sentences it worded, suggest real comps it has checked, or write a synopsis from the same book.
How it works
From pitch to query in four steps
Paste or drop
Paste your pitch paragraph, or drop in the finished manuscript as a Word file, PDF or text file.
River finds the story
It builds your hook from the most specific detail you gave, then finds the choice that drives the story.
Get your query
A finished letter lands in your doc, with marked slots for what only you know and a send checklist.
Personalize and send
Fill in why you chose each agent, ask River for changes, then paste the letter into their email or form.
Dear [Agent name],
[One line on why you chose this agent, such as a wish-list post or a client's book.]
Iris Calloway has rebuilt her late husband's restaurant one plate at a time. Now the critic whose review nearly closed it wants a place in her kitchen.
Iris, 34, keeps Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is simple: win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris asks to shadow her kitchen.
Nate is the only one who notices what she cooks when no one is watching: her grandmother's Filipino dishes, the ones Teo never put on the menu. Iris must choose between the safe menu that could save the restaurant and the food that is finally hers, while falling for the man whose next review could close it for good.
Thank you for your time. [Your name]
What you'll get
A polished one-page query letter in your voice
- A one-page query, about 300 words
- Your strongest lines kept word for word
- A five-line checklist before you send
Before and after
A rambling pitch in. A one-page query out.
THE SECOND-CHANCE SUPPER CLUB, contemporary romance, 86k. Iris Calloway, 34, keeps her late husband Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is to win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris, the critic whose review nearly closed them, wants to shadow her kitchen. He's the only one who notices she secretly cooks her grandmother's Filipino food, which Teo never put on the menu. Big choice at the end about the menu and about him. About me: line cook 11 years, now I teach culinary arts.
Iris Calloway has rebuilt her late husband's restaurant one plate at a time. Now the critic whose review nearly closed it wants a place in her kitchen. Iris, 34, keeps Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is simple: win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris asks to shadow her kitchen, and he is the only one who notices what she cooks when no one is watching.
Your details and best phrases stay. Notes and shorthand become finished sentences.
What lands in your doc
What lands in your query doc
- A finished one-page query of about 300 words: hook, pitch, the book's facts and your bio
- Your own best lines kept as you wrote them, so the letter still sounds like you
- A pitch in present tense that names three characters at most and stops before the ending
- Bracketed slots for anything you didn't give, like the agent's name or comps, never guesses
- For memoir and nonfiction, a query that leads with the hook or the reader's problem, then your platform
- A five-line send checklist under the letter to run through before you paste it in
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is a query letter?
A query letter is a one-page pitch asking a literary agent to read your book, sent by email or through the agent's online form. It sets up the story and its stakes, gives the title, genre, word count and comps, and closes with a short bio. Jane Friedman advises2 novelists and most memoirists to finish and polish the manuscript before querying.
How long should a query letter be?
Aim for 250 to 350 words, about one page. That's the range former agent Nathan Bransford recommends for a novel, personal note and bio included. Janet Reid called her own 250-word target flexible and said to cut past 4001, while Jane Friedman allows 200 to 450. River writes to about 300 words and puts the count in your send checklist.
Do I need comp titles in my query letter?
Usually, yes. Jane Friedman calls comps required by most agents and says two are enough, ideally books from the last few years whose readers would like yours. Some online forms make the Comparable Books box mandatory. Skip bestsellers that became blockbuster films. River never invents comps: it uses yours, leaves two marked slots or, when you ask, suggests real ones it has checked.
Can I use AI to write my query letter?
You can, but not for every agent, so check each one's rules and answer any question about AI honestly. Andrea Brown Literary Agency5 accepts only human-created submissions, and some agents' query forms3 ask whether any part of the book or query package was created by AI. To make the final letter yours, ask River to mark every sentence it worded, then rewrite those in your own words.
How do I write a query letter with River?
Paste your pitch into the box at the top of this page, or drop in your manuscript, and add a line about you for the bio. River writes a finished query of about 300 words into your free River workspace, with a send checklist underneath. Fill in why you chose each agent before you send, and see how to get a literary agent to build your list.
Is my manuscript private if I upload it?
Yes. It stays in your own River workspace, and River writes the query into a new doc without changing your file. Under River's privacy policy, your documents and drafts are not used to train AI models. The outside AI services that read your pages for River work under data protection agreements that bar them from training on it too.
Is the query letter generator free?
Yes, it is free to start, and you don't need a card. Your query letter opens in a River workspace, where you can edit it, share it or ask River to change it. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
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