Query Bloopers/Mishaps

ABekah · Apr 9, 2009

Anyone else ever accidently do something wrong when querying an agent?

I just got finished e-querying an agent, careful to include the synopsis as per their guidelines, personalizing the query, etc... And somehow in all the cutting and pasting, the font for half the email turned dark purple. Folks, that was not intentional, and I didn't notice it until after I hit send. I'm usually much more careful proofreading before I hit send. Sigh.

Now the query looks as if I were trying to be cute or something.

Not what I was going for.

Anyone else have an oops to share, so I don't feel so bad?

mscelina · Apr 9, 2009

I misspelled my own name once.

*sigh*

spike · Apr 9, 2009

One time I changed the name of my ms in the query letter, but not on the ms.

Don't feel bad, I misspelled my name on Facebook.

blacbird · Apr 9, 2009

ABekah said:
Anyone else ever accidently do something wrong when querying an agent?

Yeah. I put it in the mail.

caw

firedrake · Apr 9, 2009

Copied and pasted letter into e-mail, forgot to put agent's name after "dear". Needless to say, no response received.

Had some issues with my copying and pasting, made three attempts, finally managed. Sent email. A few days later, was checking back through queries sent and clicked on that one, noticed that, infact, the copy and paste had worked, three times. So agent got three letters in same email for price of one.

stormie · Apr 9, 2009

Okay I:

misspelled the name of the publishing house (for a children's PB)

forgot the salutation ("Dear....") but the ms. was accepted (essay)

misspelled "response" as "responce." The agent returned the letter, with the word circled in red.

A query I sent out came back with a response, but my query was in teeny-tiny font. No idea how or why that happened.

WendyNYC · Apr 9, 2009

I sent the wrong version of a requested partial. One with notes in it like (add more here!) and (add a beat to this dialogue!)

I re-sent, and she was really nice about it.

Still.

Ken · Apr 9, 2009

... worst I once did was refer to a he as a she by addressing them as 'Ms.'
They mailed back my query with the Ms circled and Mr written above in marker.
No offer, needless to say ;-)

blacbird · Apr 9, 2009

WendyNYC said:
I resent, and she was really nice about it.

Good thing she didn't resent your resentment.

caw

Madison · Apr 9, 2009

One time I sent out three or four queries with the synopsis of one of my projects and the title/word count of another. I have NO idea what happened... but it was embarrassing. And it got rejected.

Kaylee · Apr 9, 2009

My e-mail said failure to send. I sent another to find out the first one had went out.

Matera the Mad · Apr 9, 2009

I submitted a MS with one chapter pasted in twice

C.M. Daniels · Apr 10, 2009

I misspelled my email address on some queries I sent out, only to have an agent's office assistant point it out to me. Oops.

jclarkdawe · Apr 10, 2009

I started a thread about my whoops: Over-obsessing submission quality. this agent is now representing me.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Prozyan · Apr 10, 2009

I usually keep a general template of my query and edit the blanks/general areas to individualize it. During a particularly rough time, I changed the "Dear Agent" part to "Dear Soulless Bastards" on the template, just to make myself feel a bit better.

Guess which part I forgot to change before sending it off the next time.

KCathy · Apr 10, 2009

I'm ridiculously obsessive about getting everything perfectly right in queries. I mean, I'll proof them three times, wait an hour for just a hint of distance, read them two more times, change one word, and then hit send.

The dumbest thing I've ever done is that I copied and pasted the first three paragraphs from an earlier email to another agent (Ms. G****), added my usual paragraph drawing parallels between my book and the agent's interests, copied and pasted the final paragraph, proofread it a mere half-dozen times, and sent it to agent B****.

The agent wrote back:

"Catherine: I'd be happy to take a look at a proposal, but I don't think the book is going to work if it's 200,000 words long--it needs to be about half that length. Is that possible?

"--B****
"(P.S. Who is Ms. G****?)"

Oops. I had never done that before, in the fifty-plus queries I'd sent out over 18 months for that project. I've never done it since because she ended up agreeing to rep me. How crazy is that?

Wayne K · Apr 10, 2009

I put "Query for me memoir" in subject line. He requested a full.

Exir · Apr 11, 2009

I put "Query for me memoir" in subject line. He requested a full.

Wow, that's nice, in me opinion!

aadams73 · Apr 11, 2009

I misspelled "public". You can guess what I wrote instead. I got several requests for more material before I noticed.

maestrowork · Apr 11, 2009

I had a typo in mine but didn't catch it until I'd sent out a few. Otherwise, I was a bit OCD about my queries.

Little Bird · Apr 11, 2009

I don't work during meals, but my daughter is uniquely talented at dawdling and, if left to her own devices, could drag one meal out until it's time for the next. So, when everyone else was finished eating, I brought my laptop to the table to send out some queries. I had a draft saved, partials, etc ready to include for those who wanted them, and I was cutting and pasting and sending e-mails while occasionally glancing up at her and saying, "Eat!"

I realized as soon as I hit "send" that I'd failed to change the name of the agent.

I immediately fired off an apology, explaining that I'd made the mistake of trying to work while coercing a five-year-old to eat salad, and expressing my mortification.

I never heard back.

WendyNYC · Apr 11, 2009

Prozyan said:
I usually keep a general template of my query and edit the blanks/general areas to individualize it. During a particularly rough time, I changed the "Dear Agent" part to "Dear Soulless Bastards" on the template, just to make myself feel a bit better.

Guess which part I forgot to change before sending it off the next time.

That one was probably passed around!

Wayne K · Apr 11, 2009

I did that once with "Dear super cool agent person," Oh God I felt like an ass.

Kathleen42 · Apr 11, 2009

Wayne K said:
I put "Query for me memoir" in subject line. He requested a full.

Maybe he thought you were from Atlantic Canada. It is a charming accent

stormie · Apr 11, 2009

These are really funny! But please--put "coffee alert" the next time?! I now am cleaning off my keyboard.

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