What is a query? What do I reply if it is in the beginning stages?

[Guest]

Hi friends - I have received a request from a company called Purcell Agency in Chicago.

The owner there asked me for a “query” for each of my projects as well as some chapter examples.

What is a query? What do I reply if it is in the beginning stages?

Thank You!

[Lynn]

Did they contact you out of the blue? If so, this may be a scam. In general, legitimate agents have thousands of queries that they wade through and reject. They don't have time to request queries. Please be very careful. Check the email address of the email you received. Does it match the Purcell Agency's? One of the big scams is to impersonate a legitimate agency. I would look at the agency's web page and call them directly to see if one of their agents has written to you. Also, check with Writer Beware to see if there have been complaints.

[William]

A query letter is a page establishing the manuscript and your reasons for writing it, also comparable successful titles in the recent past. From looking at their website they also want the first Three chapters of whatever you were pitching pasted into the email. Their submission guidelines seem pretty straightforward and you want to follow those to the letter.

Agents traditionally do not take on fiction projects that are not complete but you’re welcome to pitch whatever you want. Know that the more unprofessional you look, the less you will be taken seriously down the road.