Thursday, February 18, 2010 Question of the day: When you talk about sending in your manuscripts in to different lit agents, do you send them as a pdf file, or a hard copy? If it's hard copy, where would you suggest printing off the manuscript to send it in?
First, just to be clear, never, ever send your manuscript to an agent unless he or she has requested it. That's one of the surest ways to get your email dumped into the trash pile, not to mention look really unprofessional. But assuming the agent has requested your manuscript, I always just sent it via Word file when he or she asked for it electronically, and yes, when the agent requested a hard copy, I sent off, well, a hard copy. My poor printer. In those cases, I printed out one version, then took the rest to the copy store.
But that was years ago, I do think that increasingly, agents are relaying solely on electronic submissions - I know mine can now download those Word documents to her kindle - so hopefully, the hard copies are things of the past. This is also one of the reasons that I opted to only pitch agents who (at the time) accepted queries via email. I'm of the mindset that there are efficient - and not so efficient ways - to run your business, and even though it might sound irrational, I didn't want to be repped by an agent who didn't rely on her email as much as I did. (Again, this was years ago, so it may be that almost all agents do take e-queries by now, but four or five years ago, they didn't.) Just one way that I actively narrowed down my search for an agent who really would be perfect for me. I got lucky and found her. But this is another reminder to consider your agent search wisely: there are a lot of great agents out there, but not all might be great for you.
Follow up question of the day: I am going to be sending out queries - mostly for short FOB- type articles - and I was wondering, do you send the query itself in the body of the email, or do you attach it as a word doc and use the email itself as an introduction?
You know how you sometimes get funky looking emails with attachments, and you always delete them because you worry they might be a virus? Yeah, that's how editors view your own queries with attachments. Never attach them, unless specifically told. Not only might editors think they're viruses, but you're asking them to take one extra step - an extra time from their day - to open it, and I can guarantee you that they won't. Instead, include your pitch in the body of the email. The end.
Reader Comments (3)
I had never really thought of using an agent's submission process (electronic versus not) as a way to understand how they might work, and thus, how good of a fit we might be together. I am not quite of the generation who resigns from a job with a text message, but I am close; so I would (if that day ever comes!) definitely need an agent who is tech savvy.
I remember those days too! When I queried my first novel in 2007 I also sent out many hard copies. Oh, the sound of pages rolling off my printer. Oh the sound of my credit card being dinged for more toner. When I quered in late 2008, like you, I only queried agents who took email submissions. So much more civilized.
I'm about to send my second hard copy of my manuscript to a prospective agent (the others have been electronic) and I'll be honest, it annoys me. Not only is it much more time, paper and ink consuming, but there's cost incurred with sending many pages in the mail. I realize that the agent doesn't want to incur the cost of printing out all the pages, which is why they ask for hard copy.
As of yet, I've only queried via email.
I can't imagine working with an agent that isn't tech savvy.
That's assuming that one of my mss requests actually results in signing with an agent.
Yep, that's a little bit of the query blues.