Query/Proposal question

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 21, 2007

My apologies if this has been asked before...

When an agent's information says that she accepts full proposals by mail or queries only by e-mail, with no indication of which is her preference, is there a route that is traditionally better to take?

And my next question... If an agent accepts full proposals by e-mail, do you just cut & paste your entire proposal into the body of the e-mail? That seems pretty long to me, but I know attachments aren't allowed.

johnrobison · Oct 21, 2007

Who says attachments are not allowed?

sgunelius · Oct 22, 2007

Unless an agent says no attachments allowed specifically, then you should be safe to send an attachment. In terms of sending a proposal through regular mail or a query through email, I'd go with the regular mail route because it gives you the opportunity upfront to get your proposal in front of him or her. A query letter only tells a small part of your story, if he or she will accept your proposal upfront, I'd send it even if that means doing so through regular mail.

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 22, 2007

Wonderful! Thank you so much for the repsonse.

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 22, 2007

johnrobison said:
Who says attachments are not allowed?

I was under the impression that attachments were a big "no" due to the possibility of them being deleted because of virus fears. But I could be wrong!

johnrobison · Oct 22, 2007

I send everything to my agent and editor as word attachments.

I'm sure that's normal. No agent wants to reformat some huge email text

ColoradoGuy · Oct 22, 2007

WriterGirl2007 said:
I was under the impression that attachments were a big "no" due to the possibility of them being deleted because of virus fears. But I could be wrong!

When I was querying nonfiction agents, all of them who allowed online queries specified "no attachments" out of fear of viruses. That made sense--they didn't know me. I went with snail mail, though--it just looked more professional and easier to read than 20-30 pages on the screen. Susan Rabiner has a good book about all this, one I found the most helpful of all the how-to-query nonfiction books.

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 23, 2007

ColoradoGuy said:
When I was querying nonfiction agents, all of them who allowed online queries specified "no attachments" out of fear of viruses. That made sense--they didn't know me. I went with snail mail, though--it just looked more professional and easier to read than 20-30 pages on the screen. Susan Rabiner has a good book about all this, one I found the most helpful of all the how-to-query nonfiction books.

Thanks for the input! I'm about to snail mail some queries and proposals today.

aka eraser · Oct 24, 2007

The "no attachments" rule is a general one for initial contacts with agents and/or pubs. Once you've established a relationship though, attachments are usually fine.

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 24, 2007

aka eraser said:
The "no attachments" rule is a general one for initial contacts with agents and/or pubs. Once you've established a relationship though, attachments are usually fine.

Makes sense! Thanks for the inputl

Talia · Oct 26, 2007

I think it depends on your location. As I'm in NZ if I was querying a US agent I would send an initial approach by email. Sending the paper copy is time consuming and expensive.

As for the attachments I agree with aka_eraser attachments aren't a good idea until you have established contact with an agent

WriterGirl2007 · Oct 26, 2007

Talia said:
I think it depends on your location. As I'm in NZ if I was querying a US agent I would send an initial approach by email. Sending the paper copy is time consuming and expensive.

Ah, very good point.

Btw Talia, I like your location! (On the run from the FBI...)

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