Karen E. Quinones Miller's
Publishing Boot Camp
Sample Query Letter (Fiction)
Liza Dawson
Liza Dawson Associates
240 West 35th Street
Suite 500
New York, NY 10010
Dear Ms. Dawson,
It wasn’t that Regina Harris wanted to be a Harlem street woman, she simply had no choice. Orphaned at 13, and with an infant niece to support, she becomes a shoplifter and a "professional girlfriend" to make ends meet. But when she’s shot, and almost killed, while hanging out with a cocaine dealer, Regina turns her life around. She goes back to school, graduates from college, and begins a successful journalism career.
Now at 26, the beautiful, witty and articulate Regina seems to have it all. Gucci shoes, a glamorous career, and a snazzy apartment on New York’s Upper West Side, but still, she can’t quite get Harlem out of her blood, and she struggles to deal with two lives. She dines at fancy downtown restaurants with editors from The New York Times one night, and bar-hops in Harlem with her homegirls the next.
While partying with them at a club one night she meets, Charles Whitfield, 26, a snobbish upper-middle class young man from Philadelphia, who looks down on what he considers the lower-class. The sparks fly between the two when he puts down her girlfriends, but eventually they fall in love. They marry, but Regina’s past comes back to haunt them when Charles decides to run for the U. S. Congress.
I would like to submit my novel, Satin Doll, to you for representation. Though I have read many books which deal with the experiences of professional African American women, none have addressed the struggles of a successful woman from a humble -- and criminal -- background, who struggles to fit into a world that snubs its nose at people who make their living on the street.
I am a staff writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer, but I am originally from Harlem, and I’ve enjoyed writing "Satin Doll," my first novel. I would love to send you a copy of the complete manuscript of "Satin Doll," which runs 83,000 words. If you prefer, I can send you the first three chapters of my 14-chapter book along with a full-synopsis. I believe once you read "Satin Doll," you’ll see that it will appeal to the same women who love reading Terry McMillan and Sheneska Jackson novels.
You can reach me at work at (215) --- - ----, or by e-mail at _______. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Karen E. Quinones Miller