To the right of this screen is a lovely green poll I’m taking on whether or not to include sample pages with your query letters. As I said in my earlier post, I am really curious as to what the standing knowledge is on the issue.
Please participate! Tell your friends. Tell your agents.
You can pick more than one answer.
If you’d like to add to or argue with the choices listed, or give your reasoning for what you voted for, please comment here.
November 30th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
I can’t recommend this enough! Seriously, if your opening pages are good, send them. It will never work against you, unless the agent is adamant NOT to send sample pages. Otherwise go for it.
Why? Well, the main reason is that you will be more likely to get requests for fulls, and it will be based on a sample of your writing. So, you get to skip the partial stage, which never excited me anyway, because it just meant my query was good enough….it didn’t mean my writing was.
I tried this a while back as an experiment. I sent out a batch of queries and pasted in the first 20 pages into the body of the email, right below the query. That resulted only in requests for fulls, either 4 or 5 of them.
If I were to do it again though, I’d send somewhere between 5 and 10 pages. I think 20 was long, and it might not have made it past everyone’s email filters.
I can also speak from the other side, in reading submissions, that the writing is what I go to immediately, if the query is at all interesting. I don’t care about a synopsis at the query stage. I just like to see if people can write, and if the story draws me in.
However, if your opening pages are not strong and engaging, don’t do it!
November 30th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
If your opening pages aren’t strong and engaging, rewrite them! Honestly!
I think part of the reason why I disagree is that I am apparently one of the few really, really, REALLY picky people when it comes to agent searching. I have never submitted to more than…maybe 6 agents total, and many of them are extremely specific about what they want and vocal about how they want directions followed.
In general, though, I totally agree with the idea of hooking them with the WRITING and being accepted or rejected on those merits, and when you can, you should get the actual writing in front of someone.
November 30th, 2005 at 7:43 pm
So much depends on the kind of agent you want. Well, if they specifically say they don’t want pages of ms, then, of course, don’t send them.
But an agent who is so rigid that including something small, I’m not talking a 1000 p mas, in addition to the query letter, may not be your kind of agent…at least if you’re the kind of writer who thinks a little something extra can’t hurt.
Basic philosophical differences, n’est-ce pas? (Did I spell that right? It’s been way too long since college French.)
November 30th, 2005 at 8:02 pm
I was always careful to submit EXACTLY as the agency suggested. That said, I agree with Pam about the partials vs. fulls thing. When I sent in only queries, I usually got a request for a partial, which would then be rejected. In those cases, the agent could tell from the query that she liked my idea, but couldn’t tell anything about the writing without a sample.
But when I queried my agent, I sent in the first three chapters, as specified on the agency website. She read the chapters and knew she liked my writing, so she requested the full. Then she offered representation. Neither of us wasted the other’s time or postage with the whole “send me a partial” thing.
Although, I did actually send in a partial–just with the query.
December 1st, 2005 at 9:25 am
Rules, smules. I’m so tired of the cans and can’ts! I mean, okay, if an agent is specific, it’s only professional to adhere to their request, but if you feel strongly about sending a few pages, I don’t see what it would hurt. You’ve got to do what your gut tells you will give you the advantage.
And Natalie can’t be more right about those opening pages…if they aren’t strong, then rewrite! This business is too competitive to have a weak opening.