Free tool
Free query letter review in under a minute
Paste your query letter for instant checks on length, word count, genre, comps and greeting, then an AI review of your hook, stakes, voice and clarity with line-level fixes.
- Free
- No signup
- Your text is not stored
What the grader checks
Two passes. The instant checks are rules that run in your browser: length, whether you state the word count and genre, whether you include comps, how you greet the agent and whether you open on a rhetorical question.
The AI review reads the letter the way an agent's assistant screens the inbox. It rates your hook, stakes, voice and clarity from 1 to 10 and suggests up to five line-level edits, each tied to the sentence it's about.
A strong query letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Greeting: the agent's name, spelled right.
- Hook: your protagonist and the situation that starts the story, in one or two sentences.
- Story: what they want, what stands in the way and what they lose if they fail. Stop before the ending.
- Book details: title, genre, word count and one or two recent comps.
- Bio: a few lines on anything relevant, such as publications, expertise or why you wrote this book. Short is fine.
- Close: thank the agent in one line.
Common reasons agents pass
- The hook is generic: it could describe a hundred books.
- The stakes are vague, or missing.
- Too many names and subplots for one page.
- The word count is far outside the genre's usual range.
- The letter opens on a rhetorical question or a statement about theme.
- It isn't personalized, or it went to an agent who doesn't represent the genre.
When to pay for a human query critique
If the AI review scores your hook and stakes at 7 or higher and you still get no requests after a couple of batches of queries, the letter may not be the problem. The opening pages might be.
If the letter keeps scoring low after two rewrites, a paid critique from someone who reads queries for a living is worth it. Ask for one that includes a rewrite of your hook.
Check your opening pages with the readiness scoreRun it on the whole manuscript
These tools read a sample. StoryWith AI reads the whole book: structure, pacing, continuity, and a readiness score with every issue linked to its passage. Start free, then upgrade when you're ready to analyze the whole book.
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- Query Letter GeneratorAnswer six questions about your novel and get a first-draft query letter in agent format.
- Editing Cost CalculatorEstimate developmental, line, copyediting and proofreading costs from published EFA rates.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is the query letter review free?
Yes, with no signup. The instant checks are unlimited because they run in your browser. The AI review shares the free tools' fair-use limit of 6 runs every 12 hours.
Do the instant checks work in any language?
The instant checks are written for English query letters. The AI review reads the letter in the language it's written in and answers in that language.
How long should a query letter be?
The usual advice is about one page: 250 to 400 words. A letter that runs long risks losing the reader before it reaches the stakes.
Should I include comparable titles?
Yes, if you can find good ones: one or two books from the last few years that share your book's readers. Avoid huge bestsellers and classics, which say more about your hopes than your market.
Is my letter stored?
No. For the AI review it's sent to our AI provider and isn't saved by StoryWith AI. We don't use it to train AI models.
Can you write the query letter for me?
Our free query letter generator drafts one from six answers about your book. Then bring the draft back here to grade it.