Congratulations! You've just taken an important step toward publication, or, if you're already published, toward selling more work. Unless you own Random House, mastering the query letter is probably your number one route to a book or magazine article contract. (Mastering the synopsis is number two, and you'll know how to do both after reading this book.) Writing a great book isn't enough; you've got to be able to "sell" your idea to the publishers. That's where the query letter comes in.

I'll show you verbatim copies of query letters that got an editor's (or agent's) attention, resulting in either a request for a partial or complete manuscript, a contract for representation, and, in several cases, a contract for publication. In addition, I've interviewed several editors and publishers to find out what they like and also seriously hate about the hundreds of queries that cross their desks every week. I'll show you examples of synopses that garnered an instant contract offer, and I'll share all the tricks I've figured out after twenty years of writing, and ten of trying to get published.

While I can't promise instant publication and fame, I can assure you that once you master the query letter, you'll never again be relegated to that publishing no-man's-land, the slush pile. Editors will ask to see your work, and when your envelope shows up on their desk, they'll give it special attention. Why wouldn't they? It's something they want, something they made a special point of requesting.

These days, virtually all my correspondence from publishing houses is made up of requests to read more of my work, contract offers, or a personalized rejection letter which reads, in essence, "love your style but this work isn't quite right for this list--got anything else?" No matter what the reply, I'm always in the game because I use queries to build ongoing relationships with editors.

Some of the query examples are my own, and some are from fellow authors. I'll dissect them and show you what all these letters have in common. By the time you're done reading this, you'll be able to spot a great query from a lousy one and apply that knowledge to your writing.

If it sounds impossible, it's really not. I used to despair of ever being published, and deeply envied those writers who somehow managed to sell book after book after book. Since I was trying so hard to get published (and failing for years), I assumed all published authors were related to publishers or had fancy degrees or had sold their souls to the devil. What I didn't know--what it took me years to figure out--is that my first impression, the query letter, was coloring entire relationships with editors.

To my joy, once I figured that out, I was also pleased to realize that writing a great query letter was easy. I used to hate that part of it ("Dammit, I'm a writer, not a salesman!") but now thinking up queries is one of my favorite parts of the creative process. It's exciting to pitch an idea to an editor, especially when you get positive feedback a few weeks later.

But it wasn't always that way. It took me over ten years to figure out that it was about writing a great query ... what a waste of time! Ten years of rejection slips. The yucky kind, the badly copied form letter that starts, "Dear Writer." Ugh! (My all-time favorite rejection slip was on an inch-wide strip of paper; they wouldn't even waste a whole sheet on me!) Here's your chance to learn from my mistakes and trust me, they were legion.

But who am I to write this book? I don't have a degree (unless you count the high school diploma from Cannon Falls High School, representing an amazingly mediocre GPA). In fact, I have yet to set foot in a college classroom. I have yet to take a writing course of any kind (unless you count seventh grade English, in which I received an uninspired "B").

And yet, within thirty-six months I sold four book manuscripts, a screenplay option, and five articles. As of this writing, I've sold three books in the last two months. I'm currently negotiating with one publisher to sell the electronic rights to a book, with another publisher to sell the print rights of one of my electronic books, and the editor of one of the magazines I recently sold to keeps bugging me for more columns. In the last four weeks I've received six letters from editors: one a polite no-thank-you (personalized) with a respectful request to see more of my work as soon as I finish my current project, three requests for sample chapters, one request for the entire manuscript, and one contract.

Lest you think I'm bragging (What have I got to brag about? Remember the mediocre GPA and the years of "Dear Writer" rejection forms!), anybody can land a book contract. What's a little more interesting is, non-celebrities can land a book contract. It's true! It just takes persistence ... and a tolerance for rejection. I started sending manuscripts to publishers when I was 17. I didn't get a book contract until I was 26. That's a lot of rejection slips. But I didn't. Neither should you.