Picture Books queries are a different animal from Mid grade and YA queries. You are going to be emailing your entire ms.
I met with two of the four other members of my picture book critique group this week and we each tried to hammer one out.
One
question that came up immediately was what do you put in the
"experience" part of the query letter when you have yet to be
published?
Everybody had to have a first query. Even
Dr. Seuss. And we all know how that one went. It took him lots of tries
to get a "yes" for
To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. And he had illustrations!
Then there are those of us who write stories only. Doreen Cronin's first book was
Click Clack Moo. Cows That Type. What did she put for experience?
Best advice I could find was if you have not yet been published. Don't put anything. Except that you are a member of SCBWI.
Advice from Query Letter Wizard:
The
first paragraph. Always. Why? Because most query letters are not read
top to bottom. Sad, but true. Agents, buried under mounds of
submissions, will give your query only a quick look to determine if the
first paragraph grabs and sustains their interest.
This is why you
must write and re-write those three sentences so they tell the plot and
give compelling information about your protagonist and their challenge.
SENTENCE ONE: Introduce your protagonist (main character) and what they want in the first sentence.
SENTENCE TWO: Describe the obstacle (s) that stand in their way.
SENTENCE
THREE: Hint at the possible outcome and the terrible "or else" that
could happen if your protagonist does not succeed. Write this "tease" to
motivate the agent to read your query second paragraph which expands
the plot as it involves your protagonist.
Here's another POV Mary Kole's From KitLit.com
Since
most agents ask that the picture book manuscript be included in the
submission, writing a really meaty query for that short a manuscript
seems a bit silly. When I see picture book queries — and when I write my
own picture book pitches, in fact — I keep it very simple.
I’ve
had a book by Katie Van Camp and illustrated by Lincoln Agnew called
HARRY AND HORSIE in my sidebar for a while as an example of a great
picture book with an outside-the-box friendship hook. If you haven’t
picked it up yet, I’m sorry for you, because you’re missing out.
If I were writing a query for HARRY AND HORSIE, it would read something like this:
Harry
and plush toy, Horsie, are the best of friends. One night, Harry is
trying out his bubble-making machine when one of his bubbles swallows
Horsie and hoists him into outer space! Harry has to rescue his best
friend — and go on a wild space adventure — before returning safely
home.
A quirky picture book with a great friendship
hook, spare text and retro-style illustration, HARRY AND HORSIE is sure
blast your imagination into the stratosphere! This is a simultaneous
submission and you will find the full manuscript of XXX words pasted
below. I look forward to hearing from you and can be found at the
contact information listed below my signature.
Easy peasy. No need to write an elaborate letter. Just present the main characters, the main problem, and the resolution, then work in a hook (“great friendship hook,” above), and sign off like you normally would with a novel query.
After
that, just paste the picture book manuscript. If you are an
author/illustrator, include a link to an online portfolio where the
agent or editor can browse your illustrations. Do not include
attachments unless the agent requests to see more illustrations or to
see a dummy.
If you are an author/illustrator you provide a
link to your portfolio. One of my PB critique members, Cassandra
Federman has a wonderful website. Check out her
portfolio. She also has a wonderful book to query.
Places to Query. Things to do.
Do
set up your own excel sheet so you can tract your queries. I have
columns on my submission sheet for Agency, Email, Project queried, Date
sent, Date responded and a note about the response - or lack of
response. So many agents do not respond. I know it hurts. We put so much
time and thought into querying. But don't let lack of response stop
you.
“It
is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it
is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to
keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”
― Martha Graham
Dory and I have so much in common. I often stop to Google.
