Equery with synopsis and first three?

DecemberQuinn said:

I've seen a few agents list this preference lately, for equeries with synopsis and first three chapters.

What do you do? I paste my first five pages into a query, but it's impossible to paste even my one-page synopsis and the first forty or so pages of a ms into an email. But I don't want to send an attachment.

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Why not? Aren't people over the whole attachment-phobia now?

I don't think anyone wants you to send a 40+-page email. I'd paste the synopsis and include the chapters as an attachment.

I always send as an attachment in word and paginated

Almost every agent I researched emphatically stated that they did not want attachments with the query and that everything should be pasted in the email. I know a lot of agents who will automatically delete without reading (or responding to) anything that comes in with an attachment that they didn't request for fear that they might open an email only to find that the attachment was a virus.

I do think they almost always prefer you paste the chapters (and synopsis) in the body of the email and if they want more then they'll ask for an attachment or for you to snail mail the pages.

Carrie R. said:

Almost every agent I researched emphatically stated that they did not want attachments with the query and that everything should be pasted in the email. I know a lot of agents who will automatically delete without reading (or responding to) anything that comes in with an attachment that they didn't request for fear that they might open an email only to find that the attachment was a virus.

I do think they almost always prefer you paste the chapters (and synopsis) in the body of the email and if they want more then they'll ask for an attachment or for you to snail mail the pages.

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I'm sorry. I misunderstood. I thought we were talking about requested material. I don't send anything to anyon--except a query--until they specifically request more. Then I ask if I can send it as an attachment. Most agents are fine with that.

Carrie R. said:

Almost every agent I researched emphatically stated that they did not want attachments with the query and that everything should be pasted in the email.

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To be honest, I think I'd be uncomfortable working with an agent who was technophobic enough to prefer an 8,000-word email to an attachment.

But that's just me.

IceCreamEmpress said:

To be honest, I think I'd be uncomfortable working with an agent who was technophobic enough to prefer an 8,000-word email to an attachment.

But that's just me.

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Sorry, I might have misread the question... I think there's a difference between requested material and non-requested material. For all the agents I queried who asked for more material, they asked for it as an attachment. For those who I was querying and it was my first contact with them, they wanted everything pasted into the email. I don't think it's technophobia at all, but just another layer of protection against viruses. Many agents just have a policy against opening an unsolicited attachment.

Also, I think that most agents know by the end of the first chapter, if not the first few pages, whether they'll ask for more material from an initial submission. So if your email program won't allow you to paste that much material with your query, either snail mail or just paste what you can -- it will be enough for the agent to decide what they want to do next. My first three chapters were probably only 6k words and they fit in the email (gmail) and were enough for the agent to make a decision.