In a world where, “I follow you on Twitter,” does not indicate a stalker, where agents and editors can be “friended” on Facebook and MySpace and where everyone in the world can be “Googled,” it may seem as though there are no boundaries.  We’re all just one big happy family, and you can dash an e-mail off to the pros just like you can your BFF.  Not so!  There is still an etiquette, there are still boundaries and procedures, and while doing your research means you’ll be targeting the right people with your work, it should not get to the point where you feel you know them so well you can bypass those procedures.  Remember, they don’t necessarily know you.  Just as you wouldn’t send a resume to a potential employer’s personal e-mail address or home, you shouldn’t send a query to an agent or editor’s non-business account or even their direct business account if their guidelines say there’s a separate address that should be used for queries.  It’s very possible that contact made in the wrong way is deleted unread or even automatically by the pro’s spam filter.

You wouldn’t say to a potential employer, “You dude, I’m a hard worker.  Pick me!”  Likewise, your query letter shouldn’t be so informal.  (No, I’m not suggesting that agents or editors are employers, but you are trying to establish a business relationship and should be professional in your approach.)  I’ve posted dos and don’ts on my blog before (here), but here are a few more:

-don’t call the agent or editor by his or her first name unless you’re truly on a first name basis

-spend at least as much time on your query letter as you would on a cover letter to go along with your resume

-spell check and proof read

-make sure you’re following guidelines and do not direct the pros to a separate website to view your work; everything we need to make a decision should be included with your query

-be sure the pro can respond to the e-mail address you’ve used if sending an electronic query (Note: this seems obvious, but I’ve had responses bounce because the address is no reply or because there’s an anti-spam process I’m not going to take the time to complete.)

There’s been a lot of good advice given this week (discovered via Twitter).  Here are some of the links:

Lauren Dane – how authors should respond to rejection 

Jennifer Jackson (arcaedia ) – on queries 

Richelle Gardner – how not to get an agent