Which is the most reliable e-mail provider for querying?

I use a Gmail address for querying. The only other thing I've ever used that email address for is job-hunting. I never give out that address for registrations on forums, or shopping, or anything else that might end up sending me tons of spam.

However, I don't use the Gmail interface to prepare my queries. I have the full version of MS Outlook and I create all of my queries in there. Well, actually, I create the document in Word and then copy and paste to Outlook. I did the same thing for all of my professional correspondence when I was searching for a new job. I feel like the Outlook interface gives me a professional-looking document where the web versions of most programs are somewhat limited in their capabilities.

I used Hotmail, then was forced into Outlook. Neither have given me any problems, as far as I can tell, when it comes to queries.

Gmail works fine for me for all my business emails. Draft in Word and then just copy/paste into the Gmail box when done and hit send.

I use Gmail which I love because you can file things a lot better, and give them special marks. I had two Yahoo accts in the past that both got corrupted.

I did read , don't know where , that people using Gmail receive more respect than hot-mail users .

Hotmail got a bad reputation for spam at one point. Of course if I was really fancy I'd figure out how to link my mail account to my domain name, but... yeah.

I use a custom domain for the actual e-mails but Google Apps for the swish GMail web interface and filing systems.

I have linked up a custom domain to my gmail account.

I used Gmail when querying and didn't have any issues. I was very faithful about making my header read "QUERY: Fantastic Book Title <Agent Name if going to a general agency email addy>" though.

I use gmail and like it, but I have had a few emails take a wrong turn into spam-landia.

I also use gmail. I have a dedicated querying e-mail that is just [email protected]. I also set my personal inboxes to "manually retrieve" on my cell phone and set my query inbox to "update every 15 minutes." This prevents me from checking my e-mail 5,000 times a day. If I get a response, my phone will go off.

Though I think it's also worth noting for other AWers that at least one agent I've seen has mentioned having issues with hotmail and their spam filter. I've had some problems in the past with gmail, but I believe it had something to do with the content of the last novel I was querying.

spork said:

I also use gmail. I have a dedicated querying e-mail that is just [email protected]. I also set my personal inboxes to "manually retrieve" on my cell phone and set my query inbox to "update every 15 minutes." This prevents me from checking my e-mail 5,000 times a day. If I get a response, my phone will go off.

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This is wise. I don't usually have a dedicated query account -- my short-sighted view was always been that eh, I won't be querying for long, and it would be awkward to tell an agent 'please use this address now'. But after years of query-trenching I'm really wishing I had that separation.

Gmail for querying and submitting

Yahoo for friends and family

Hotmail for everything else

I use Gmail. Not many complaints, but depending where you send your query (laptop or tablet device), the spacing can mess up. For example, double-spacing can turn to single if viewing on an iPad and vice-versa. Sometimes it squashes together and looks awful. To avoid this, write your query on Microsoft Word, save it as .txt and then paste it into the body of the email.

Apart from that, Gmail's pretty cool.

As far as professional-sounding usernames, I think [email protected] will suffice. If it's not available, a few numbers at the end won't be a deal-breaker, either.

EMaree said:

This is wise. I don't usually have a dedicated query account -- my short-sighted view was always been that eh, I won't be querying for long, and it would be awkward to tell an agent 'please use this address now'. But after years of query-trenching I'm really wishing I had that separation.

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I would recommend setting one up. Not only does it discourage you from going completely bonkers, it also helps to track submissions, responses, and agent correspondence. I don't have to dig through ninety Bath & Body Works coupon e-mails to check the date on something. It also means that only agencies have my e-mail address. I don't have any spam (jinx jinx jinx) and that makes it easy to see if something accidentally got filtered into the junk box.

spork said:

I would recommend setting one up. Not only does it discourage you from going completely bonkers, it also helps to track submissions, responses, and agent correspondence. I don't have to dig through ninety Bath & Body Works coupon e-mails to check the date on something. It also means that only agencies have my e-mail address. I don't have any spam (jinx jinx jinx) and that makes it easy to see if something accidentally got filtered into the junk box.

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This