Equery Format

Hildegarde · Mar 13, 2009

Ok - not sure where to post this, so I will start here since this is where I normally lurk. (Sorry, but I'm tired and my eyeballs hurt).

Many agents are now accepting e-queries with guidelines to paste your synopsis and first draft into body of email.

Normally, I would convert everything to plain text before putting in email so as to avoid gnarly email formatting issues. However, this strips out double-spaces, etc. (to which agents seem to be particularly attached to

Anybody know the correct protocol for sending sample chapters etc, in body of email?

Copy straight from Word and damn the formatting issues?
Minimally formatted text and pray?
Plain text and let them re-format to ds themselves if they want to print?
Gah!

mlhernandez · Mar 13, 2009

I haven't had any problems with cutting and pasting from Word straight into my gmail address. I send it to different email addresses of mine (yahoo, etc) to see if the formatting follows through first.

Most agents want sample chapters pasted into the body of the email because they don't want to mess with attachments. A few specify attachments. Partials and fulls are different but the agent will let you know how they want them.

Hope this helps!

AllieB · Mar 16, 2009

Yeah, I've always just pasted straight from Word and never had a problem.

Kathleen42 · Mar 16, 2009

Hildegarde said:
Ok - not sure where to post this, so I will start here since this is where I normally lurk. (Sorry, but I'm tired and my eyeballs hurt).

Many agents are now accepting e-queries with guidelines to paste your synopsis and first draft into body of email.

Normally, I would convert everything to plain text before putting in email so as to avoid gnarly email formatting issues. However, this strips out double-spaces, etc. (to which agents seem to be particularly attached to

Anybody know the correct protocol for sending sample chapters etc, in body of email?

Copy straight from Word and damn the formatting issues?
Minimally formatted text and pray?
Plain text and let them re-format to ds themselves if they want to print?
Gah!

If it's an equery, I go with single spaced.

Cathy C · Mar 16, 2009

But make sure to double-space between paragraphs. It's really tough to read otherwise. And I agree that you should first send it to YOURSELF to make sure the formatting comes through. Sometimes, if you use the "special features" of Word, an email won't recognize quotation marks and such because it sees them as "symbols." So, save the .rtf as a separate document, do your formatting on that to turn it to single spaced with double returns and THEN cut and paste it in.

At least, that's what I do.

Hildegarde · Mar 16, 2009

Thanks.

The plain queries aren't a problem since they are short and ss with ds paragraph breaks. It's the partials (usually 3 chapters and synopsis) that I'm having trouble with. I think this needs to go double-spaced. I tried in g-mail, and cut and paste does seem to work. I HATE composing in g-mail, though, would rather use my local client than a web-mail. So far, all my tests have come back single-spaced (pounding head on desk).

Suppose I will suck it up and gmail. . . .

merchantseaman2 · Apr 2, 2009

When I cut and paste the 1st three chapters my header with the page numbers do not show up. Also when I paste my synopsis onto my query that I pasted into the body of the e-mail the font changes although both were Times New Roman 12 before. In effect, my e-mail is pretty ragged, especially when I paste on my sample chapters with no page numbers. Are agents lenient with this or will they suspect I am another computer illiterate idiot and automatically delete. I have never submitted electronically before, so I don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

Deb Kinnard · Apr 2, 2009

I don't think the agent will do either thing. They're well aware of the tendency of e-mail software to strip formatting. I'd do as recommended above, send the file first to yourself, tidy up any hinky formatting (as much as you can), then forward the e-mail to your agent of choice.

And don't sweat the page numbers. This isn't a full, after all, but only a proposal.

My take, after having done this more times than I can count.

Equery Format

Hildegarde

A newb in the fog

mlhernandez

AllieB

Kathleen42

crushing on fictional characters

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Hildegarde

A newb in the fog

merchantseaman2

Deb Kinnard