Paste or Attach?

Procrastinista

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I queried an agent by e-mail and he responded, asking to see a sample chapter. Do you think I should send the chapter as an attachment or just paste the chapter into an e-mail?

I know I should use an attachment for a partial of multiple chapters or a full ms, but I'm not sure for a single chapter.
 

thothguard51

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If you paste, send a copy to yourself first so you can see any formatting issues and adjust as necessary before you send to the agent. They more than likely understand there will be formatting issues, but the more you can resolve the easier it will be for them to read, and makes you look like you know what you are doing...
 

Bartholomew

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ATTACH. DO NOT PASTE.

E-mail likes to garble text and make it unreadable. Or to add random paragraph breaks. Your sample chapter needs to be a .doc or a .rtf in standard manuscript formatting. You have no idea what browser or OS he reads, and you very likely have no idea if your e-mail system uses the same system to display text.

You can safely assume that your agents and editors have a word processor that can open the single most common document extension in the English speaking world.

You can also safely assume that they've taken the precautions that prevent macros (the way viruses actually launch from within an MS office program) from launching within a document.

The professional route here is to prove that you know what a document needs to look like. Pasting it into an e-mail will make you look like an amateur.
 

Procrastinista

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Are you sending the first chapter? You are sending the first chapter, right?

yes.

And thanks, Bart, I've decided to attach. Even though one chapter is short, it's still a partial, which writers usually attach. I think I'm past the point where the agent would be worried about a virus.