Recently on the blog we discussed 15 things I learned after reading 100 query letters during the RevPit contest. You can read the article here.

During that submission period for the RevPit contest, I not only read 100 query letters, but I also read the first five pages of 100 submissions. That’s 150,000 words in opening pages in one week. And I’m not even an agent. Can you imagine the amount of words they read every week, every month? If you’ve been lucky enough to hook an agent through your query letter, then you know that a good query only opens the front door, but having opening pages that live up to it—or go beyond it—is the key to being invited in.

During my reading of 150,000 words in opening pages, I’ve come across a few patterns, a few ways to stand out, and a few reasons an agent may give an automatic no.