An agent gets over a hundred. submissions per week. With that many submissions, a bad cover letter can be enough to get you thrown into the trash pile without the agent even reading your story.
On Tuesday I had a lecture by three agents, who told us a little bit about how to write your cover letter. I am going to share the tips with you.
*Get the names right. This sounds basic, but you’d be surprised how many get this wrong.
*It should contain three chapters of your story. Unless you are writing non-fiction, in which case they want a chapter breakdown as well. There is no point in sending in a script if your whole novel isn’t finished. They won’t take you on.
*The synopsis is not important. They just want a short summary of the story.
*If you are in a writing group, writing class, etc. Mention it. They like to see that you are serious about your writing.
*State which genre you are writing in.
*If you can, compare your story to other successful novels.
*Number your pages.
*Don’t try to be funny. And no gimmicks.
*AVOID sending your script in April and December. These are busy months, and they don’t have time to read a lot.
I hope this was helpful. Good luck with your writing! Follow me for more tips. ❤
Writing a cover letter to an agent
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MissWriteress 