For authors querying agents
AI Query Letter Generator for Your Book
Paste your pitch or drop your manuscript. Get a one-page query from your own sentences, with each line River wrote marked for you to rewrite.
Free to start. No card needed.
Dear [Agent name],
[One line on why you chose this agent, such as a wish-list post or a client's book.]
Iris Calloway has rebuilt her late husband's restaurant one plate at a time. Now the critic whose review nearly closed it wants a place in her kitchen.
Iris, 34, keeps Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is simple: win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris asks to shadow her kitchen.
Nate is the only one who notices what she cooks when no one is watching: her grandmother's Filipino dishes, the ones Teo never put on the menu. Iris must choose between the safe menu that could save the restaurant and the food that is finally hers, while falling for the man whose next review could close it for good.
Thank you for your time. [Your name]
What you'll get
A one-page query built from your own sentences
- A one-page query, about 300 words
- Every line River added, flagged for your voice
- A five-line checklist before you send
Before and after
A rambling pitch in. A one-page query out.
THE SECOND-CHANCE SUPPER CLUB, contemporary romance, 86k. Iris Calloway, 34, keeps her late husband Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is to win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris, the critic whose review nearly closed them, wants to shadow her kitchen. He's the only one who notices she secretly cooks her grandmother's Filipino food, which Teo never put on the menu. Big choice at the end about the menu and about him. About me: line cook 11 years, now I teach culinary arts.
Iris Calloway has rebuilt her late husband's restaurant one plate at a time. Now the critic whose review nearly closed it wants a place in her kitchen. Iris, 34, keeps Teo's restaurant open on a line of credit that runs out in June. Her plan is simple: win the Portland Plate Awards, sell, and stop cooking his recipes. Then Nate Ferris asks to shadow her kitchen, and he is the only one who notices what she cooks when no one is watching.
"One plate at a time" is River's phrase, not yours, so it carries a comment asking you to keep, change or cut it.
Why it works
What is a query letter, and what goes in it?
A query letter is a one-page email that pitches your finished book to a literary agent, and River's query letter generator drafts one from your own sentences. It opens with a hook, gives a short pitch with the stakes, names the title, word count and genre, and ends with a line about you. Former agent Nathan Bransford suggests keeping it to 250 to 350 words, personalization and bio included. Paste the pitch you already have, or drop your manuscript, to start.
The hard part is fitting 80,000 words into about 300 without losing your voice. River starts from your phrases and details, keeps your strongest lines word for word, and leaves a comment on every sentence it wrote itself, so you can see at a glance what to rewrite. That matters beyond style. Some agencies, Andrea Brown Literary among them, consider only human-created submissions, and some query forms ask whether AI was used. Rewrite the flagged lines yourself and answer those questions truthfully.
Your doc holds the query and a short checklist for sending. River never makes up comps, credits or a word count. It uses yours or leaves a marked slot, and when you ask, it suggests recent titles it has confirmed exist, with a reason for each. Many agents also ask for a synopsis, and the synopsis generator writes one from the same manuscript. Prefer to write the letter yourself? Start from the annotated query letter template.
What lands in your doc
What lands in your query doc
- A one-page query of about 300 words, with its word count in your send checklist
- Your own phrases kept word for word wherever they work, so the letter still sounds like you
- A comment on every sentence River wrote itself, so you know exactly which lines to rewrite
- When the query is done, ask for other openings or a synopsis written from the same book
- Marked slots for anything River cannot know, like the agent's name or why you picked them
- Comp suggestions when you ask, each confirmed to exist, with publisher, year and the readers you share
- A five-line send checklist covering subject lines, attachments and agencies' rules on AI use
How it works
From pitch to query in four steps
Paste or drop
Paste your pitch paragraph, or drop the finished manuscript as a Word file, PDF or text file.
River finds the story
It pulls out your hero, what they want, what stands in the way, and the choice that costs them.
Get your query
The letter lands in your doc with marked comp slots and a short checklist for sending.
Rewrite flagged lines
Put each flagged sentence in your own words, then personalize the letter for every agent you query.
How long a query runs, and what agents disagree on
Agents agree on the shape of a query and argue over the details. Length is the clearest case. Janet Reid treated 250 words as the target on QueryShark and told writers over 400 to cut, while Jane Friedman's guide allows somewhere around 200 to 450. River aims for about 300 and reports the count, which sits inside each range. Whether to open with the hook or with your title and word count is another split, so each agent's own guidelines come first.
Comps cause the most worry. Many agents like two recent titles that share your readers, and some QueryManager forms include a box for them. Janet Reid argued that a strong query can skip comps entirely, and warned writers off franchises. River never invents a comp. It uses the ones you give, or leaves two marked slots and, if you ask next, lists up to three recent books it has confirmed exist, each with its publisher, year and the readers it shares with yours. Read any suggestion before you use it.
Some things never belong in a query, however tempting. Keep the ending for the synopsis, since Jane Friedman advises against giving it away here. Leave out rhetorical questions, statements about theme, praise for your own book, film talk and past rejections. Keep the bio short and true: one job or experience that connects to the book beats a list of hobbies. Before you spend your agent list, a read from the AI beta reader shows where readers would stop turning pages.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
How long should a query letter be?
About one page, or roughly 300 words. Nathan Bransford suggests 250 to 350 words counting the personal note and bio, QueryShark asked writers over 400 words to trim, and Jane Friedman allows about 200 to 450. River writes to around 300 words and puts the count in your send checklist, so you know how much room is left.
Can I use AI to write my query letter?
Check each agent first. Andrea Brown Literary accepts only human-created submissions, and some QueryManager forms ask whether any part of your package was created by AI. River treats its draft as a starting point: it builds from your sentences, flags every line it wrote, and expects you to rewrite those lines and answer any AI question honestly.
Should my query reveal the ending?
No. A query sells the setup, the central choice and what it could cost, then stops before the outcome, and Jane Friedman's guide advises keeping the ending out. The synopsis is where the whole plot goes, twist and ending included. The synopsis generator writes one from the same manuscript, in the same space as your query.
Do I need comp titles?
Usually, but not always. Many agents like two recent books that share your readers, and some query forms make the Comparable Books box required. Janet Reid argued that a compelling query can do without them. River never invents comps: it uses yours, or, when you ask, suggests real recent titles it has checked, with the publisher, year and reason.
What if I have no writing credits?
Keep the bio short and true. A sentence about work or life experience tied to the book is plenty, and "This is my first novel" is an honest close. Skip the years you spent writing and any rejections. Add it at the end of the pitch box, or River leaves a slot. For longer bio boxes, use the author bio template.
Can the query letter generator read my whole manuscript?
Yes, if you drop it as a file. River reads PDFs and text files in full and up to about 85,000 words of a Word file, so save a longer book as a PDF. River reads your file and writes the query in a new doc; your file stays as it is. River uses your word count, or counts the file and asks you to confirm it.
Is my manuscript used to train AI?
No. Under River's privacy policy, nothing you write in River goes into training AI models, and its contracts with AI providers bar them from training on your content as well. You keep all rights to what you write. Your manuscript and query stay in your private space, where you can edit or delete them.
Your next step
More for your book
Start your query from your own words
Paste your pitch or drop the manuscript, then make every flagged line sound like you.