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First post, so please forgive mistakes.
I've had some encouraging responses to e-mailed query letters and short book proposals but most agents ask me to e-mail a partial only. Requests range from one sample chapter to 40 pages or 50 pages. A 50 page double-spaced Word file runs 150 to 160k. My full 112,000 manuscript in the same Word format runs 850k.
It is easy to understand the purpose of a partial when one is printing and mailing sample chapters (costs of printing or copying, extra postage, piles of papers in agent's office, etc.), but none of this applies to e-mailed partials. A full MS at 850k takes up less digital space than a color photo! If the e-mailed MS is read on a computer, it is never printed out. Etc.
I am tempted to always send the full MS by e-mail and to suggest the agent delete or ignore anything he or she does not wish to read. Is this a breach of etiquette or somehow wrong?
Thanks for any advice on this subject.
I've had some encouraging responses to e-mailed query letters and short book proposals but most agents ask me to e-mail a partial only. Requests range from one sample chapter to 40 pages or 50 pages. A 50 page double-spaced Word file runs 150 to 160k. My full 112,000 manuscript in the same Word format runs 850k.
It is easy to understand the purpose of a partial when one is printing and mailing sample chapters (costs of printing or copying, extra postage, piles of papers in agent's office, etc.), but none of this applies to e-mailed partials. A full MS at 850k takes up less digital space than a color photo! If the e-mailed MS is read on a computer, it is never printed out. Etc.
I am tempted to always send the full MS by e-mail and to suggest the agent delete or ignore anything he or she does not wish to read. Is this a breach of etiquette or somehow wrong?
Thanks for any advice on this subject.