Here’s an email I recently received from a client:
Hey Amanda!
Thanks for your help beta reading my novel last year. Your comments were helpful!
I’m starting on my query letter now, and had a question: after you read my work I took your advice and hired an editor to clean up the mistakes I was missing. Should I let the agent know that I’ve had it edited already?
This is a great question, and one I’ve had more than once.
THE ANSWER
My standard answer here is that all work should be edited before submitting a query letter; however stating that the work is edited (even by a professional editor) in your query letter comes off as a bit “amateurish”.
Upon reading whatever portion of your work the agent requests, they will know if it’s been edited already – or if it needs editing.
So no – don’t mention editing, and use the space within your query letter to tell the agent what they need to know.
Comment below with your thoughts!
