A Winning Query Letter

IWW member and novelist Anita Saran recently posted a note saying "I got my contract today - seems very fair. I get 45% royalty on net proceeds and one year after my novel appears as an ebook (in various digital formats), it will be in print too. And of course copyright remains mine ... If anyone wants to see my query that the Chief Editor at Mojocastle Press called extremely impressive, intrigiing and professional, let me know. Amazing - I have only sent out my Circe query to 4 publishers, and I've already nailed it."

I asked Anita to allow the IWW to post this winning query letter on the IWW Blog, and she graciously agreed ...

Dear Ms. X,

My 58,000 word novel, Circe, is a satire on the perennial quest for the ideal mate. It is humourous, a study in monstrosity. It is about the emerging woman torn as never before between body and soul.

Here there is an alien posing as Elvis Presley, starving ascetics, pirates, Circe's hated and loved rival in Beauty, Aphrodite, a flying carpet that was once a man, a Poison Maiden, Count Hackula, a nervous dentist, a suicidal matador, a flying Mummy, an effeminate rock star, even a robin with a red arse.

Circe’s love quest ends with her philosophical conversation with Ambapali, the courtesan, who became a nun after seeing The Buddha. She realizes during an out-of-body experience that there is no such thing as the ideal mate. She discovers the romance of her own goddesshood.

Circe first appeared as an e-book with Mylero.com but received no press due to their poor management. In fact, it was a rip off for me. I didn't get paid for the 23 copies it sold. Perhaps more, but I'll never know.

Publishing Credits:

• Short story, City of Victory broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July, 2004.
• Dolphin Girl and Other Stories published by Har Anand, New Delhi -2002.
• Aditya, the Underwater Boy, science fiction novella for teenagers won second place in a national competition run by Nehru Children's Book Trust, New Delhi, and was published by them in 1999.
• Numerous articles and stories have appeared online.
• The most recent is my science fiction story:
• http://www.cezannescarrot.org/vol2iss2/enlightenedrobot.html

I look forward to hearing from you and sending you a synopsis and sample chapters.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Anita Saran