Watch for The Shifter by Janice Hardy
I think perhaps the next best thing to getting published one's self is to watch a writer-buddy go from manuscript to publication... especially when, like me, you get to be one of the lucky beta-readers. Janice Hardy's marvellous YA Fantasy, The Shifter (originally, and in the UK, The Pain Merchants) is coming in October from Balzer & Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Query Letter she used is up on Pub Rants, her agent's blog. It's about a teenage war orphan named Nya who has the ability to draw pain from one person and shift it to another - and another strange power the dictator who has conquered her country mustn't find out about.
It's one of a trilogy (or maybe a series?), called The Healing Wars, but it definitely stands alone. It's worth reading when it comes out, even if, like me, you usually prefer not to start on a series until all the books are in place.