Two weeks ago I sent out a couple of e-mail queries. I know we need a hook at the beginning of the letter to rise in the slush pile. Mine was a wee tad different.

I read about this agent in an interview on Chuck Sambuchino’s blog. In the interview, the agent said she preferred to receive e-mail queries with the first chapter attached. I checked out the web site where I learned that the agency preferred snail mail, query and SASE only. There was an “if you must send e-mail. . . ” statement. So my query letter began with:

“I read your interview in Chuck Sambuchino’s blog today and am submitting a query to ask you to consider representing UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, a complete work of women’s fiction. While the agency web site states a preference for snail-mail queries, I am following what you said in the interview and am submitting an e-mail query, plus the first chapter.”

And the response from the agent:

“Thank you for being savvy enough to know to send an e-query–and for
bringing this to my attention. You make a good point: I’ll be sure to
fix that on our site.

Thank you for sending your query and sample chapter–I’ll take a look.”

At least it was a response. And I wait. . . .