Don't you just love it when you blow a query letter?

arhooley · Aug 9, 2012

I was snail-mailing.

I overlooked the "I have attached the first chapter," as I was copy/pasting the text of one of my e-mail queries (the wrong one), and I popped the letter into the mail without the actual promised chapter.

I did it three more times, to three more agents.

Why have only one head-desk concussion, when you can have four?

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ETA: I just realized I accidentally posted this in the wrong forum (Ask the Editor; meant to post it here). I think maybe I'd better step away from All Things Querying for the weekend.

JanetReid · Aug 9, 2012

Attachment disorder. We all get it. Don't worry. Resend WITH attachment.

katci13 · Aug 9, 2012

Oh my!
Thanks for sharing this. I'm getting ready to send stuff out and have made mistakes like that in the past. I'm making myself a note right now to do them one at a time and triple check everything.

WeaselFire · Aug 10, 2012

Ages ago I used a checklist to make sure I had everything in the query and the package. I once mailed the checklist with my query.

Jeff

EarlyBird · Aug 10, 2012

WeaselFire said:
Ages ago I used a checklist to make sure I had everything in the query and the package. I once mailed the checklist with my query.

I just spit my coffee onto my keyboard. Thanks.

MaraValderran · Aug 10, 2012

I did that with email. I used the same query letter (of course), so I was copying and pasting. The final line said something along the lines of "Blah, blah, blah, thank you for your time. Hope you found my query entertaining. Hope you find more entertainment in the ATTACHED MANUSCRIPT". No caps, but those are the key words that kinda made me look like an idiot on about a dozen queries that don't even request sample pages.

So I take your four head-desk concussions and raise you by eight!

Mac H. · Aug 10, 2012

If you are emailing then Gmail has a feature that checks for this.

If you use phrases like 'the attached' or 'in the attachment' etc and haven't attached anything then it gives you a warning.

I thought it was an utterly pointless joke of a feature until it saved me on numerous occasions. (Well - 'saved' is a bit of an overstatement. It's easy enough to follow up with an 'oops', but still ...)

Mac

DeaK · Aug 10, 2012

J.Reid said:
Attachment disorder. We all get it. Don't worry. Resend WITH attachment.

Can I just say, once again, how much I adore AW. I mean, to have J.Reid step in and give the best answer possible to this question?! (That deserves an interrobang, if anything does.) Writer, stop head-desking, and resend with attachment!

Ms. Reid, much respect and appreciation to you.

JSSchley · Aug 10, 2012

WeaselFire said:
Ages ago I used a checklist to make sure I had everything in the query and the package. I once mailed the checklist with my query.

Jeff

You know, I would look at that as a plus on the other end. "Wow, here's someone who is really organized and serious about getting it right."

qdsb · Aug 10, 2012

WeaselFire said:
Ages ago I used a checklist to make sure I had everything in the query and the package. I once mailed the checklist with my query.

Jeff

Hee hee! I think an agent would actually appreciate that! It shows you were very conscientious about putting the query together.

qdsb · Aug 10, 2012

Oh, and rhooley, as agent Janet Reid already posted, it probably isn't a big deal. It's not like poor grammar and other signs of weak writing...and I suspect a great, well-written story pitch eclipses mention of a non-existent attachment.

arhooley · Aug 10, 2012

qdsb said:
Oh, and rhooley, as agent Janet Reid already posted, it probably isn't a big deal. It's not like poor grammar and other signs of weak writing...and I suspect a great, well-written story pitch eclipses mention of a non-existent attachment.

Thank you very much for this. This is what I'm hoping.

And thank you all for your revelations.

I actually copy/pasted the wrong query letter; some agents want pages, some don't, and I had NOT intended to send pages.

I immediately started wondering how to undo the damage; resend the package with the pages anyway and a little explanation, or just leave it alone. In other words, which type of idiot should I look like: someone who forgets her attachment, or someone who sends the wrong letter? For now I'm going with the latter.

WeaselFire · Aug 10, 2012

JSSchley said:
You know, I would look at that as a plus on the other end. "Wow, here's someone who is really organized and serious about getting it right."

The magazine editor I sent the proposal to actually told me I should write an article for the writer's magazines on the checklist.

I didn't sell the article to them, but it's because they had a similar article slated for publication. I had the right idea but got beaten by a quicker writer.

Jeff

aruna · Aug 10, 2012

Mac H. said:
If you are emailing then Gmail has a feature that checks for this.

If you use phrases like 'the attached' or 'in the attachment' etc and haven't attached anything then it gives you a warning.

I thought it was an utterly pointless joke of a feature until it saved me on numerous occasions. (Well - 'saved' is a bit of an overstatement. It's easy enough to follow up with an 'oops', but still ...)

Mac

Where is this feature?

OTOH hand, Gmail has a very, very annoying feature which has got me into trouble one or twice. If you click on "forward", then revise thre query to suit a new agent with new details, all the edited stuff appears in PURPLE. And you don't even know until you recheck the mail in your "sent" folder. I took to editing such queries in Word, making sure they were all black, before sending them to a new agent. I have sent major agents purple-and-black queries. Very embarrassing.

Don't you just love it when you blow a query letter?

arhooley

JanetReid

katci13

creative genie

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

EarlyBird

Grinding it out

MaraValderran

Insert something clever here

Mac H.

Board Visitor

DeaK

JSSchley

Have Harp Will Travel

qdsb

Cynical Idealist

qdsb

Cynical Idealist

arhooley

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

aruna

On a wing and a prayer