For most authors, writing a powerful story is just a part of the journey toward being published. Submitting work to a journal, publisher, or agent is hard work that requires research. A great place to focus your time and effort is the query letter. There are different opinions on formatting a query letter. Should it be more personal or professional? How much of your work should it summarize? How do you demonstrate to an agent that you understand story structure, and that your work contains the elements of a fantastic story? Author and educator José Pablo Iriarte often teaches on writing effective query letters, with knowledge from his research and his own experience of rejection and acceptance. His says that, while many people focus on how personal or impersonal a query letter is, the truly important elements of a query letter are those that reflect your grasp of story, your command of language, and your ability to captivate a reader. Listen to the clip below to learn how to incorporate these elements into your query letter and improve your chances of getting positive responses.