My Successful Query Letter

16 Full Requests and 3 Offers of Representation Later

If you haven’t guessed already…

I’m officially agented!

I signed with Ben Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary on February 16, 2026 and have been riding the high ever since.

In the coming weeks, I’ll put together a full How I Got My Agent and querying-journey post, but work demands too much of me at the moment to give it the time and attention it deserves.

So for now, I’ll cut right to the chase and share the query letter that got me 16 full manuscript requests and 3 offers of representation, and landed me my dream agent.

That is what you’re here for, isn’t it?

But wait!

Before I start, here is a brief description of query letters by Jane Friedman¹.

A query letter is a one-page business letter sent to literary agents […] to pitch a completed manuscript and secure representation.

The query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: to seduce the agent […] into reading or requesting your work.

Now, without further ado, my query letter:

Dear [AGENT],

Based on your interest in character-driven speculative fiction with lush settings written by queer authors², I believe my adult sci-fi romance, THE FRAGILE ARCHIVE (complete at 83,000 words), would be a great addition to your list. This standalone novel combines the solarpunk worldbuilding of Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild Built, the steamy queer romance of Seán Hewitt’s Open, Heaven, and the anti-corporate themes in Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous.

Botanical archivist Seven takes their job of preserving endangered plant species in the Southern Basin, a tropical paradise nestled between two estranged nations, very seriously. After eight years living in a remote habitat with only routine and a sentient computer for company, they have almost forgotten about the incident that led them there in the first place: the untimely death of their first love at the hands of a militant supervisor during training, which made them close themself off from others, possibly forever. When Milo, a stranger from the neighbouring nation, arrives at their doorstep injured and on the brink of death, they decide to set aside their solitude—and their trauma—and let him in.

As Seven nurses Milo back to health, the two develop an unexpected bond, one that causes Seven to rethink their sealed heart and their seclusion. Their attraction grows, and sunny days sharing stories about each other’s different worlds evolve into steamy moonlit trysts with far less talking involved. But their fledgling relationship comes with a ticking clock—and it will end when Milo is healed enough to return home. Seven must decide if they’re ready to venture away from their safe haven to help him get back safely, or if they and their heart stay locked up forever.

THE FRAGILE ARCHIVE draws on my experience as a plant-loving, capitalism-fatigued PhD candidate. With several academic publications in behavioural psychology, I decided to take a break from writing research articles to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a traditionally published author.

In addition to querying THE FRAGILE ARCHIVE, I’m drafting an adult horror romance: For most of his life, Andrew has been hiding his true identity. But when his ex-best friend, Shane, returns to their small Northern Ontario town, he must confront his feelings for him—before they rot him from the inside out. You can find more information about my projects on my website (https://www.rianlynch.com)³.

Thank you for your time and consideration! I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Rian Lynch (he/they)

And that’s it! That’s the letter that helped my dreams come true.

If you need help writing your query letter, there are many free resources available created by much more knowledgeable and experienced individuals than I am. Here are a few of my favourites:

• Jane Friedman’s The Complete Guide to Query Letters

• Alyssa Matesic’s How to Write a Query Letter from Start to End

• Eric Smith’s list of successful query letters

• Andrea Bartz’s Successful query letters: an ever-growing list

Feel free to drop a comment if you have any questions about my query letter, specifically, or how I went about writing it.

1. Source: Jane Friedman’s The Complete Guide to Query Letters

2. Yes, I added personalization to every query letter. Did this help get me requests? I’m not sure, but I felt better doing it.

3. Because I queried Ben on a referral, I included the logline from my WIP and my author website to give him an idea of my body of work. I did not include this in my cold queries.