Of the eight agents I have submitted to, only two have been form letters, and two never responded. The other six were lengthly personal responces with areas they felt needed improvement.
I know josh said that a synopsis is optional, but I took that to mean that if you have one, feel free to send it in, but it is not required. I have one, which is where I have got suggestions and prods of support for the concept of the story from agents, so it seems that the synopsis is enough for some of the agents I have submitted to, to see potential and marketablity for it. Which is why I am planning to send it along with my query and five page sample, which I picked from Chapter Four - since he didnt say it had to be the beginning - as that section is the point in the book when my main character gets pulled into the action of the story, and makes her emotionally (and hopefully the readers also) invested.
I cut the part about how long I have worked on the series, which I had written to note my seriousness about persuing the book. I did keep the mention that this is the first book in a planned and outlined series to note that while I am seeking to sell the first book, that my eventual career goal is to write and publish the series in its entirty if possible.
I am going to in a few minutes be sitting down with a friend who is going to read through my synopsis and query to make sure that it is nice and polished, as I am of course biased about what I write, and its good to have someone else look things through with a fine tooth comb.
I hope to send this out tommarow, which was later then I had original intended. I didnt want to rush through it anyways, but better late and more polished then rushing it, and making a few mistakes that may be a turn off for josh.