Couple Query Questions

I'd go the email query route first. You'll often get a response quicker and you won't be killing trees of wasting money on postage. I don't think there's a qualitative distinction between email and snail mail.

I don't know what--or if--there's a rule, but I write out the genre, I don't abbreviate.

When given the choice I always use email. You may get a quicker response, it eliminates a lot of hassles, and I think agents are more attuned to them, and agents can get emails to read no matter where they are.

YA seems to be the current identifier for the genre. I've even heard folks (authors and agents both) call it "why-ay" instead of saying "young adult." So I'd go with YA.

E-queries are definitely faster and kill fewer trees. While there may be some agents who don't view them the same as paper queries (and some agents who still don't accept e-queries), the majority of agents seem to treat them the same as paper. It's a lot easier to download a hundred queries to a Kindle than to carry a hundred paper letters home to read.

Zipotes said:

1.) Should I put YA or 'young adult' in front of my genre?

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If this is in a query mail, then young adult is good.

2.) When you have the choice of sending an email query or a letter query, should you choose the letter one instead? I heard some agents don't take emailed queries as seriously. Any thoughts?

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Agents take ALL queries seriously. Any one of them could be a shiny new bestseller, doesn't matter which form they prefer.

But most important -- FOLLOW THEIR GUIDELINES.

This is their first clue as to how professional you are. If you are unable to follow the most basic directions, it's a strike against you.

ALWAYS include a SASE in snail queries. It's a Professional Thing and shows courtesy. It's only a 44-cent stamp! Go ahead, splash out!

Do not attach a signature confirmation to your snail query. You do not want the agent to have to leave her desk, baby on hip, slogging through a rain storm to get to the post office to pick up your signature before delivery query, because she wasn't home the first time to sign for it. (An agent complained about this on the Net and the story stuck with me. The writer didn't make a sale, either.)

If you want to know if the agent got the snail query just buy a simple delivery confirmation. It's only about 55 cents.

Otherwise, a SASPostcard she can toss in the out box is cheaper. It can read:

"Dear Your Name, Your query has arrived at the Their Name Agency."