During the third Writers League of Texas virtual presentation on traditional publishing, James Mustelier from The Bent Agency spoke on How to Set Yourself Apart in the Agent Search.

James shared the agent’s experience of sorting through the query inbox to help us understand the things that influence or discourage an agent from wanting to see more from the author. He went over everything from the best fonts to use to tone to what he likes to see in the opening pages.

I had so many notes about the obstacles that can affect your chances of making a positive impact on an agent and what he likes to see in a letter, however, I will stick to ten takeaways, plus a bonus. Feel free to contact me and I’ll send you my notes (if you don’t mind the sloppiness of my handwriting).

1. James said it’s not uncommon for agents to receive 50-100 queries every day, sometimes more on the weekend.
2. It could be helpful to wait a little bit (maybe a week or so) after an agent opens for queries so that your letter doesn’t buried in the onslaught of submissions.
3. Even though it’s the story that matters, the query letter can help or impede the process.
4. When making a decision, James looks at everything—even the email display name. Make sure it is professional.
5. In his experience, the majority of promising manuscripts are accompanied by a well-crafted query letter that demonstrates the author’s voice, writing skills, research acumen, organization ability, situational awareness, and self-awareness.
6. His agency has a policy to respond to every query.
7. Cutting and pasting your pages into the body of the email can affect formatting. Do your best to fix any formatting issues before sending to the agent. Double-check the formatting by sending a test to different clients, devices, and operating systems.
8. Don’t get funky with the font color, size, or type. Use the standard size (12 to 14) and fonts (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, and Helvetica). Also, keep the layout of the letter simple. Don’t label each section or use bullet points.
9. Avoid directly addressing who the audience is for the novel and why the story is relevant. The genre, comps, and body of the letter should give the agent everything they need to know.
10. Nothing moves the needle more than something that makes him laugh. Weave some of the best lines from your novel into the query to invoke emotion and to make the letter memorable.

Bonus Mindblower: The voice of your letter should be the voice of your manuscript. It should feel like the narrator is giving a two-minute pitch on why someone should read the story.

Learn more about the upcoming WLT 2025 Agent Symposium sessions.

 As always, I turned the blog into a podcast. Enjoy!