Email or snail mail

newshirt · Sep 10, 2007

Which has the higher success rate, email queries or paper?

Some agents do not accept email queries, but I prefer email communications. Should I exhaust all the agents who do, and then move on to paper? Or, vise versa?

I assume I'll never have to send out a paper-based query, but is that naive thinking?

--ray

joyce · Sep 10, 2007

Don't know if it helps or not, but I had two requests off email, one partial, one full. I then had a request for a partial off a snail mail request. I do try to use email only because it saves money. I've also read on various agents web pages that if you send them a snail mail query they will give you a personal response. I think it's easier to get rejected off email without any explanation, but then I've received alot of form rejections in the mail. I think email is easier, but if someone is interested in your work I think they will let you know whether by snail mail or email. I guess it's all up to what the agent desires in their submission requirements.

ORION · Sep 11, 2007

I vote for email.

DeadlyAccurate · Sep 11, 2007

I had a higher success rate regarding the number of requests with email, but also a higher no-acknowledgment rate. My agent only took snail mail when I queried her (though she takes email queries now) for the query, but the partial/full requests were through email. I, too, vote for email if the agent gives the choice.

JamieFord · Sep 11, 2007

Second what Orion said. Email is the way to go.

ORION · Sep 11, 2007

yr just being nice jamie...

kristie911 · Sep 11, 2007

I still go with snail mail, unless e-mail is the only option. I just think it's so much easier to look professional. I'm a bit of a paper freak though...I love the thick envelopes, the nice paper, the labels, nice stamps. I tell you, it brings a tear to my eye.

NiennaC · Sep 11, 2007

Don't know myself (haven't submitted snail yet, working on it), but I've heard people claim they've gotten better responses with snail mail....

talps · Sep 11, 2007

Just basing my answer on sheer personal statistics... Requests for partials or fulls from my recent query assault were at about 10% for snail and just shy of 20% for email. Then again, the caveat to the e-query is the maddening no-reply-at-all. If you're OK with sending a query into the universe and having it sail outta sight for good, I'd also vote for the email route.

This of course is subject to change when my next MS will probably get the exact opposite response rate. And I do have an affinity for genuine business lookin' letters.

In conclusion, it was my pleasure to pretty much give you no help at all!

Though I might suggest that you not go the route of exhausting e-query agents and then moving on to snail query only agents. Pick the agent first, query in accord. Otherwise you will miss some mighty outstanding possible advocates.

ORION · Sep 11, 2007

yup I'm with talps.
The question is not really which is more effective but which did I personally find effective. All my partials and full requests were from email and my offer of representation came from an emailed request. Kristie I sympathize that snail mail does indeed look trick...however I used the same business letter format for my email and I pasted the first five pages at the end of my query. In USA today Ann Oldenburg got a quote from my agent about my query.
If your submission is well written and your premise compelling then you will get a request whether it be snail or e...

Stijn Hommes · Sep 12, 2007

You'll get a better response with the method the agent/publisher prefers. Some prefer email, some prefer paper. If you take the time to find out what they like best, your changes multiply significantly.

lkp · Sep 12, 2007

I was curious, so I checked my stats.

I'm running about even on requests for partials and fulls from Snail vs e-mail. I have waaaay more "no replies" from e-mail, and I find this very annoying. I always pick snail mail when the agent is equivocal about preference.

You can check the agent you are querying on the "agent turn around times" livejournal page to see which kinds of queries individual agents respond to more quickly, no matter what they say on their web pages.

Orion, your story is a great one, but I thought I remembered your agent saying in the USA Today article that it was just chance that she read your e-mail query; that she doesn't usually read e-mail queries (by which I assumed she meant that an intern does, not that she throws them away, so the outcome could have been the same).

talps · Sep 12, 2007

Oh wow - A newbie like me gets his opinion backed up by one of the year's coolest publishing success stories! Thanks, Orion, I'm honored! And I also back your final thought - It's not the medium, it's the message. A stellar query will raise eyebrows whether it's on a monitor or piece of paper.

lkp brings up a good resource - the "livejournal" page... I'm also wildly addicted to the stats on http://querytracker.net, which offers up average response times for email/snail, as well as their slowest & fastest responses. Though still new, the rapid growth of the site has started revealing some solid numbers.

newshirt · Sep 12, 2007

talps said:
Just basing my answer on sheer personal statistics... Requests for partials or fulls from my recent query assault were at about 10% for snail and just shy of 20% for email. Then again, the caveat to the e-query is the maddening no-reply-at-all. If you're OK with sending a query into the universe and having it sail outta sight for good, I'd also vote for the email route.

While I didn't expect the request for partials or fulls to be so high, I am happy to see that email worked better for you. You must have a pretty good query letter. Thank you!

--ray

ORION · Sep 12, 2007

lkp -
Actually what she told Ann was that she was being anal that day reading all her email- Her assistants are almost ALL literary agents in training and they don't miss much. I've been to William Morris and talked during a lunch presentation to many of the literary agents in training there. Trust me. They read them and take them seriously but you can tell in those first few sentences whether there's a prayer in Hell. But I will say that Dorian is in agreement with most of them in that they all don't usually like email queries -- usually because they are so poorly written - there is something about email that causes people to be grossly informal--In my case I used a standard business letter format but ultimately it was the premise that hooked her.
I think what many people miss is that there's no guarantee either way- I probably had just as many snail mail queries ignored. My stats are just that- my own experience -

scarletpeaches · Sep 12, 2007

raywhite said:
Which has the higher success rate, email queries or paper?

The one with the best book you can write behind it.

ORION · Sep 12, 2007

What I think is really funny though -- I always put QUERY:RE LOTTERY in the subject line and found out later that many of those queries went straight into spam!!!!!
Lottery is a spam trigger- It might be good to put some thought into what is in that subject line...

newshirt · Sep 12, 2007

ORION said:
But I will say that Dorian is in agreement with most of them in that they all don't usually like email queries -- usually because they are so poorly written - there is something about email that causes people to be grossly informal

Yes, email makes people lazy - no punctuation and no capitalization. That's the "cool" way to write emails.

But, all things being equal, I wonder if email trumps paper. Gosh, why do agents accept paper queries at all? The cost to open, read, process, and respond must be terribly frustrating to the accountant.

--ray

newshirt · Sep 12, 2007

ORION said:
I always put QUERY:RE LOTTERY in the subject line and found out later that many of those queries went straight into spam!!!!!

Ha! That's a good one.

--ray

JoNightshade · Sep 12, 2007

According to my stats, I get way better results from snail mail.

Horseshoes · Sep 16, 2007

My experience:
1st agent: over a year of paper queries (about 140) to the rep offer
2nd agent: four and a half months, 95 % equeries, (still about 140 queries) to multiple offers
3rd: eight e queries.

I too have a paper fetish, Kristie, but results, time and money wise, I would not do it as a way to get my agent.

scarletpeaches · Sep 16, 2007

Maybe it was nothing to do with the method. Maybe your writing just improved over the course of those three books. Heck, if it didn't, I'd be worried.

Giant Baby · Sep 16, 2007

I have found one nice bonus about email queries (for the patience impaired). I currently have three partials out, and all three were requested within a day of sending my email query.

It's too soon to know how I'll do email:snail, but having a few immediate responses has helped to keep me from eating paint chips while I wait for responses.

Wait... crap. Now I'm waiting for responses to the partials, too. Hey that wall is starting to peel. Where's the peanut butter?

(Orion- any objections to my sending your agent a query entitled "Query: RE LOTTERY" for luck?)
:e2flowers

ORION · Sep 17, 2007

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

ILove2Write · Sep 17, 2007

So far I've only tried snail mail.

Email or snail mail

Almost competint

I'm really shy...

Sailed away years ago

Absolutely Fazed

giving resonant directions

Sailed away years ago

Happy to be here

It's all happening...

Sailed away years ago

Know what you write...

It's all happening...

Almost competint

Sailed away years ago

Sailed away years ago

Almost competint

Almost competint

has finally arrived

lisapreston.com

Oh, the humanity.

Sailed away years ago

Jaws has nightmares too