I'm on a roll here, so forgive me.
This was emailed to me:
Dear Ms. Perkins,
I recently sent your agency a query letter and it was returned to me. I was wondering if I had the correct address or not. The one I used is:
16 W. 36th Street
New York, NY 10018
as I saw it in the 2006 Writer's Market, Deluxe Edition. If it has changed can you please E-mail me the correct address.
I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time."
So this author emails me to ask for a snail mail address when it clearly states in the 2006 Writer's Market that I take email queries, which is how she got my email address in the first place.
On top of that, she should have googled me for the new address.
This, of course, is also why you should always use up-to-date guidebooks when you are submitting your work. The 2006 guidebook was compiled in 2005.
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6 comments:
Back in the late 80's, when I first began querying agents and editors with work, there was no internet and all you could rely upon were books like Writers Market or mags like Writers Digest. Very often the addresses would change, even with an up-to-date copy, and several times I called the agency simply to confirm an address. But nowadays there's simply no excuse when all the information is at the end of your fingertips. At the very least you can google; but if you don't subscribe to something like writersmarket.com (or one of the others) you are handicapped. Back when, you didn't even know how to pigeonhole an agency correctly to see if your work would be compatible with what they represented, but now all you have to do is read their list and you know at once. Maybe it's all too easy?
It's possible she may have thought that, like many agents who accept email queries, you might only reply if interested (we know that's not true, but she might not). With a snail query, responses, while slower, are almost always given, even for a rejection.
Waiting on replies to equeries that are never going to come is a pain in the U-No-What.
I agree that she should have done a little more research, though.
"I'm on a role here..."
That made me role on the floor with laughter.
:D
Ah, how the small enjoy the stumbles of the great! It's our only pleasure.
:D
Thanks.
It proves early morning posts are not the smartest way to go.
It's been corrected.
I want my paper rejections, darn it! How can I wallpaper my room - a la F. Scott Fitzgerald - unless I snail query and get that nice "no thanks" back in the mail? (Printing out emails just isn't the same!)
I understand your frustration; however you should know there are several s-mail addresses and phone numbers for you on the internet.
As a newbie, it took a while to hear the Writer's Market even existed.
I'm beginning to realize just how irritating it must be for agents to deal with all of us writers stumbling about blindly.
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