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I've now answered all queries through Query Manager (a reminder: I only take and answer queries through QM). I'll be looking at submissions and requests next, but since I've combed through about 750 queries in the last few weeks, I thought I'd talk a little about what I look for! https://twitter.com/RebeccaPodos/status/1338880051169931266
The information I most want to know before I request a submission (along with basic stats) is:
1. Who is the main character/characters? What background and baggage do they bring to the story? I want to enage with them as a person before following them into the plot.
1. Who is the main character/characters? What background and baggage do they bring to the story? I want to enage with them as a person before following them into the plot.
2. The central conflict. What does the main character want most, and what do they have to do to get it? This shapes the plot, externally and internally.
3. The stakes. What will change if the main character succeeds, and what will happen if they fail?
3. The stakes. What will change if the main character succeeds, and what will happen if they fail?
Okay, basic stats (and a reminder that this is how *I* read and sift through queries, not every agent). Either before or after the body of the query, I want to know your genre/age-range, word count, and if possible, comp titles.
Be as specific as possible with your genre, and make sure you do your research on age! One of the biggest red flags for me is mislabeling or being unable to label your book. I get queries for YA novels with post-college protagonists, or "MG/YA" combinations.
I've heard folks say it's a writer's job to tell their story and an agent's job to package it. But there are parameters to writing MG vs YA vs Adult, or Romance vs Women's Fiction, etc. If you're not writing or revising with them in mind, that suggests a lot of work ahead of me.
Word count! I'm not extreme; I don't believe that YA contemporary MUST fall between 65 and 80k, or that Adult fantasy MUST be over 100k, and so on. But if you're wildly off the curve—if your YA is under 40k or hovering around 200k—I worry how much you've read of your genre.
Comp titles! I'm looking for books that are both recognizable and meaningful. You want recently published books, and books that suggest a certain genre or subject can sell well. But when comps become too huge (Hunger Games meets, say, ACOTAR) they start to lose their meaning.
If you can't find the perfect and salable comp books, it's okay to skip this. Better no comps than inaccurate comps!
If you can achieve all of this, and do it with language and atmosphere and style that convinces me you know how to tell a story, I’m going to assume that you have a good handle on what your story is, and want to read on. Hence, a full request :)
A caveat: as others have mentioned, queries can be the first thing to fall to the side when agents are swamped, and a LOT of us were swamped this past year. So yes, make sure your query is as strong as possible, but be gentle with yourself, and please patient with us 
