Query letters

Queries are hard to write. The only way to know if you got it right is if an agent asks you to send a full manuscript. This is the email query I sent that made an agent ask for a full and who knows if they'll like it.

Dear xxxxx,

We met at, or I know you from, or we share a common interest in fiction about multi-culturalism.

I often write about beautiful, smart heroines from marginalized communities. My story is like a contemporary version of The Queen's Gambit but more realistic—as a chess master I know if you want to win, drugs or alcohol will stop you. [This reference comes from The Queen's Gambit. If the agent doesn't get it, then to my way of thinking he/she isn't right for this project.]

My publisher The Wild Rose Press doesn’t do coming-of-age stories. The Chess Master, a 66,000-word contemporary is a novel set first in Camden NJ then NYC. A little black girl, Tayshia, from a rundown neighborhood, loses her daddy but keeps him in her heart primarily through memories of playing chess with him.

It is also a story about her two sisters, brother, Mom, the family’s friends, and an ex-spy who all travel the journey with her as she xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. The ex-spy must eliminate his nemesis xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Roadblocks confront them on the journey but it is her growth that is the crux of the story.

Sami Robinson, a woman of color, and author of Broken Toy has collaborated with me on the story. Sami is at: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxgmail.com.

The ms. has been endorsed and edited by Doctor Leroy Dubeck, former United States Chess Federation President, Cy Lakdawala, pre-eminent author of 50 chess books published through Everyman Chess and/or New in Chess, and Ann Robson, a gifted author who belongs to my critique group. I am an RWA member and have held board positions with RWASD (San Diego). Check in with my editor at The Wild Rose Press Judi Mobley at judi@thewildrosepress.com if you like. Leroy and Cy are renowned influencers in chess. I too have a strong chess following.