Why does your query letter matter?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: A query is an agent’s first sample of your communication and professionalism, and it helps them assess both the manuscript and the potential long-term working relationship.
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How do you query agents without spamming them?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Follow each agent’s directions and query a considered group of good-fit agents in batches; avoid both one-at-a-time querying and sending to every remotely possible agent at once.
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How long should a query letter be?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Keep it under 300 words. Agents read hundreds a month, so give them the facts and a sense of your voice, then let them get to your sample.
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What goes in the first paragraph of a query letter?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: A simple salutation with the agent’s name, then your title in caps, word count, an honest genre, comp titles, and a real age range, closing with your logline.
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What is a logline and how do you write one?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: A logline is a one-sentence or single-clause hook that captures the heart of the plot. Write it by reducing the central premise to that compact form; it can also weave in comp titles.
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What should the second paragraph of a query letter contain?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Treat the second paragraph like back-cover copy, not a synopsis: in about three sentences, introduce your main characters and get to the stakes as early as possible.
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What goes in the bio paragraph of a query letter?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Keep the third paragraph to two or three sentences: where you are based, anything pertinent to the book, your writing credentials, and your contact information.
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Do you need an MFA to get a literary agent?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: No. Ismita calls that idea categorically false; today you reach largely the same agents whether or not you have an MFA.
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Why do AI-written query letters get rejected?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: AI-written query letters can be rejected because they often sound generic and do not convey the writer’s own thinking or voice. Ismita says agents want to hear from the writer, not an AI-generated query.
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How many comp titles should you use in a query letter?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Two is ideal; it lets an agent triangulate where your book sits. You can add a third in your second paragraph, but don’t cram in five or six.
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When should you revise a query letter or submission package?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: A form rejection rarely identifies the problem, but repeated fast rejections or no requests across a measured batch are signals to review the query letter, genre, word count and agent list.
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Should you query with a pen name or your real name?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Query with your real name even if you’ll publish under a pen name; it won’t get you rejected, but an offer of representation needs your legal name for the contract.
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Can you use a nonfiction book as a comp for your fiction?
Ismita Hussain’s advice: Yes, but you have to explain the connection, and it can’t be your only comp.
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About the agent
Ismita Hussain is a senior literary agent at the New York-based agency Great Dog Literary. A native Southerner, avid classics reader, and polyglot, she pivoted to publishing from a career in healthcare, where she worked in departments ranging from neonatal to geriatric care. Her passion for disability representation and advocacy led her to become a founding member of Disability and Publishing, where she serves on the board of directors. She represents an eclectic list of award-winning authors writing literary fiction, romance, book club and upmarket fiction, nonfiction, and YA.