Query letters are not fun for anyone. Writers hate writing them, and agents are so inundated with them that it can be hard to churn through the onslaught, day in and day out. But as with most painful things in life, they are necessary and unavoidable. A query letter is still the best way to concisely tell agents who you are and why your book is exciting.

Everyone has a different system for reviewing and processing queries—some agents automatically route them to a query inbox and review them en masse, while others only review projects that have made it past the first barrier of assistants.

My method is probably a little weird. I have all queries sent to my main inbox, and I try to review and file every last one of them by the end of the day. This works for me for two reasons: 1. I am a little OCD about keeping my inbox manageable and filing things correctly; and 2. It means I never have a fantastic project languishing in a rarely-checked inbox for months.

So over time I’ve gotten decent at weeding out the no-good queries and spotting the gems, without sinking too much time into it. This is only remotely feasible because I have A System. I love systems. Systems make the world go round. Here’s my system for reviewing and assessing queries:

1. Is it fiction? If so, I delete it. I don’t represent any fiction and would rather spend 2 minutes writing a helpful rejection to a nonfiction query than 1 minute sending a meaningless rejection to every single query.
2. What type of book is it? If it’s memoir or narrative of some kind, I have a different system. If it’s practical nonfiction, I jump to the next step.
3. Does the author have a platform? Before spending too much time on the query, I immediately scan for the “About the Author” paragraph. Does the author have an online presence? If so, stats immediately grab my eye. Has the author listed media outlets, brands, connections, and other bold-face names that jump out on the page? If the author has a strong platform, then I’m immediately intrigued and jump back to the beginning of the query to read the whole thing carefully.
4. Could I see myself working on this book and being a genuine advocate for it for 2+ years? Sometimes authors have wonderful platforms and well-researched queries, but the thought of spending a few years working on that topic feels a little…meh. And that’s okay—it’s just not for me. Luckily, there’s probably another agent out there who will be 100% all-in for your project.
5.  If I’m excited about a project, I usually try to reach out within a week of reviewing the full materials. Otherwise, I file the query into a set of folders, and then batch-process rejections every 60 days or so.

As you can see, with the type of nonfiction I do, platform is the #1 most important thing I’m looking for. If someone has a fantastic platform, but I’m a little iffy on the concept, I always think it’s worth reaching out and having a conversation about how open they are to repositioning the book. But if someone has an interesting concept, yet no platform, the sad truth is that it will be very tough for me to take on, even tougher to get a publisher to take a bet on it, and near impossible to ultimately find readers and tell them the book exists.

Of course, the hard part of getting the “About the Author” paragraph right is actually building the platform. You’ll need a mix of concrete online metrics, third-party validation from media outlets, and connections (both with brands and individual influencers, such as bloggers, journalists, and other authors).

Once you have those in place, it’s simply a matter of highlighting your strengths in this one essential paragraph. Here’s a handy template to get you started:

[Your name or your blog name] receives over X monthly page views and over X monthly unique visitors.  [Your name] reaches over X readers through my social media platforms, including X readers through Facebook and X readers through Instagram. [Highlight your strongest social channels.] My work has been featured in major media such as [list of media outlets], among many others. I have established business partnerships with major national brands such as [list of brands], and many others. In the past year, I’ve spoken at [list conferences or events].

Remember that not every author’s platform will or should be identical—you may have a robust speaking schedule but still be working on your online presence. Or you may be able to secure endorsements from dozens of high-profile influencers, but you’re still working on building up your social media numbers. Pinpoint your strengths, highlight them in a concrete way, and you’ll make every agent’s heart go pitter-patter!