Okay I am without a doubt totally cheating here today. What do you think? And if you click on the cover, you can read an excerpt on my website :)

Here’s the blurb from the back:

When the Cavanaugh sisters* inherit the family moving company, they figure they’re “man” enough for the job. They’ll show those bad boys of Texas just how good these three gals are at getting exactly what they want….

Reecie is a caretaker from teh word go–she’s all business,w ehther it’s family or work. So she is more htan ready to let easygoing Jack Sunders step in and take care of her in the most intimate way possible…

Robbie Jo loves a good time at work and in bed–until she meets rodeo rider Cash McBride and realizes she’s ready to settle down and ride one man long and hard…

Carla is tired of sweating for a living. But getting hot and bothered around real estate attorney Josh Winters puts her in the mood for some seriously steamy sex…

Now…here’s where the NOT cheating comes in. Here’s where knowing how to write a killer query letter pays off.

1. Killer queries get you noticed (requests)

2. The most important part of your query is, without a doubt, the part where you tell your agent or editor about your book–We’ll call it the blurb.

3. Killer queries means writing a killer blurb.

4. I write killer blurbs. Matter of fact, my editor said I made her job easy. Why you ask? I’ll show you.

Below is the original blurb I sent my editor last August BEFORE I even wrote Make U Sweat. I sold on spec (I sold with no proposal–which is a whole ‘nother blog post in itself) but my editor needed a blurb for Marketing and Sales and catalog copy, so this is what I came up with:

Reecie, Robbie Jo and Carla Cavanaugh never intended to become professional movers, but what are you supposed to do when you’ve been bequeathed a Galveston, Texas, institution like Cavanaugh Brother’s Moving. Then again, as Robbie Jo says, it’s a great way to meet guys.

Reecie Cavanaugh is a caretaker from the word go—whether it’s her now-deceased father, her younger sister, her college-age daughter, or the family business, Reecie gets the job done, and she doesn’t waste time on sticky entanglements.

Jack Saunders takes nothing seriously—not his failing therapy practice, his three failed marriages nor his love of high maintenance women—until a particularly bad incident has him swearing them off in favor of more low-maintenance, no-strings-attached women… like Reecie.

Happy-go-lucky Robbie Jo Cavanaugh thinks she’s got the perfect life. Whether it’s working in the family business, partying with her friends at the Tiki Lounge, or racing her Mustang, she’s all about good times and good-byes…until she meets the one man that makes her wonder if maybe she’s missing something. But can she convince him that putting down some roots is the thing to do?

For Cash McBride, Galveston is a pit-stop while he decides what to do with the rest of his life. Of course, after fourteen years on the rodeo circuit, he’s much more used to pit-stops than forever-stops…until he meets Robbie Jo and decides that forever might not be so bad.

Carla Cavanaugh has worked in the moving business since she was old enough to reach the clutch in her daddy’s old pickup truck. At twenty-six she’s tired of wearing jeans and t-shirts to work, she’s tired of sweating for a living and she’s tired of Galveston Island. Real Estate attorney Josh Winters can give Carla everything she wants, if he can convince her cousins to buy out her share of the business. But the more time he spends getting to know Carla, the more he’s convinced she needs to stay in Galveston, preferably in his bed.

OBVIOUSLY, the one they used is much shorter but you get the idea. I also had to write one for Screwed (March 09) and the one they used for Hands On is almost exactly like my query letter. Funny enough I didn’t write the one for Nailed, but it’s very similar to the one page synopsis I sold the book on.

———

*Reecie and Robbie Jo are sisters, Carla is their cousin.

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