Agent auto-received msgs don't double down

Some folks set up the auto-response to reply to every email. Others set up to only send an auto-response the first time a particular email address is seen. So chances are for the second, it was a setting for the auto-reply rather than anything else.

As for what to do going forward? Slow down and be more careful. We all oopsie sometimes, and it sucks, but slowing down and triple-checking everything before you hit that send button will help. Sending in plain text will help get rid of some of the formatting funk, too. Do-overs in general are probably a bad idea--they just draw attention to the mistakes.

I agree with Amy. Slow down.

What I do to avoid oopsies like that is have a query letter template in my word file and copy and past it to the email and then personalize it. I also keep copies of ten pages, one chapter, and three chapters in my Word folder so that I can either attach to or copy in the email.

I don't forward anything I've sent out to any other agent because I'm bound to miss something.

And if you still make a mistake, just let it go. Do NOT re-send.

While agents get mildly annoyed by seeing the wrong salutation, they know it happens, because we're human and we're querying widely and we make mistakes. Whenever I've seen it discussed by agents, they mostly laugh it off. They seem less forgiving of duplicate submissions, though, where the second submission fixes a minor error in the first one, because that just wastes their time. They can ignore the wrong salutation, and it doesn't add to the workload. Dealing with a second submission, which may not be read immediately after the first one, so it takes a minute to realize it's a duplicate, and they've already dealt with the first one -- that does add to their workload. Also, that's not so much n understandable "mistake," where you hit send too fast, which happens to everyone; that's an intentional choice, and they seem to be less forgiving.

I sent out four or five queries last year before realizing I had an incredibly stupid typo in the first sentence, that made it look like I didn't know how to spell a key plot feature. I was embarrassed when I noticed it, and I fixed it for subsequent submissions, but I did NOT re-send the corrected one to the agents who'd gotten the query with the dreadful typo.

I would second the suggestion that you have a template with just the meat of the query, and then add in the personalization at the last minute. I did two such templates for the two basic requests that agents make: one that was for when I submitted naked queries (no pages attached) and one that was for when I attached pages. That way, I didn't end the query with, "pasted below are ..." when it was an agent who didn't accept pages, and there weren't actually pages attached below. For the agents who DID accept the pages, I included them in my template of the query, so it was all together.

Agree with what other have said. Let those mistakes go and move on to other agents. And you really do need to sloooooooooooow down. I do something similar to Susan.

I have an excel file with all the info I need to query each agent (agent's name, agency website, agent's email for querying, date sent, materials sent, auto response, date of response, response, etc.). On my desktop I have a copied doc of my query for each agent I want to send to so I can individualize accordingly (first 5 pages, first 10, first 30, synopsis, etc). When they are ready, I copy paste each letter into the body of an email, then put the subject, then check the email multiple times, and last I put the email address it's going to because I'm so afraid I'll accidentally hit send before it's ready. Once the letter is sent, that doc goes into a file called query letters sent.

There are many ways to organize how you do it, but it's good to have a system set in place to organize what you are doing and give you a chance to triple check everything before you hit send. Don't worry so much about the mistakes made. Move on. There are a lot more agents to get it right with.

GL!