What to send?

sprunty

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I've heard two different schools of thought and wanted to get opinions. When querying, one side says to send the exact submission requirements of the agent while the other says to add pages if asked for or not.

What do you think? Have you had success with sending pages even when they weren't in the submission guidelines? Thanks!
 

Drachen Jager

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Unless the submission requirements specifically ask that you do not send pages it is usually a good idea to send a short bit of your work. I believe the standard most people use is five pages.
 

JSSchley

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Yep. If you hunt on AW, you'll see this advice echoed by the agents-in-residence. Unless the agency says "no sample," send 5 pages.

There are some agencies which are very upfront about "no sample" (Nelson Lit. comes to mind), and most will say query + 5, but if you don't have a clear answer either way, send query + 5. It's like a chef giving someone an amuse bouche--it's more effective than just saying, "My restaurant is good."
 

sprunty

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Yep. If you hunt on AW, you'll see this advice echoed by the agents-in-residence. Unless the agency says "no sample," send 5 pages.

There are some agencies which are very upfront about "no sample" (Nelson Lit. comes to mind), and most will say query + 5, but if you don't have a clear answer either way, send query + 5. It's like a chef giving someone an amuse bouche--it's more effective than just saying, "My restaurant is good."

Thank you for the info. I tried to look through previous posts because I was sure someone would've asked this question before. I appreciate you taking the time.
 

sprunty

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I know I'm answering my own questions, but Holly Root tweeted this today: "If the agent's query guidelines say you can include pages, DO IT. Always. Those pages are your best shot at going from a maybe to a yes."
 

heyjude

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ITA. Always send pages (unless they are super-specific about not doing it).
 

quicklime

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I've heard two different schools of thought and wanted to get opinions. When querying, one side says to send the exact submission requirements of the agent while the other says to add pages if asked for or not.

What do you think? Have you had success with sending pages even when they weren't in the submission guidelines? Thanks!

minus specific wording not to, I would send 5 pages....they are easy to ignore if they choose to, but if they are at all on the fence, you have some work there for them to see.