Apr 8, 2013

Queries: E-mail versus Turtle Mail

I can't help myself, but when I query agents, those that accept e-mail/online submissions are at the top of my list.  It's easier to submit online as opposed to turtle mail (snail mail is overused, so I changed it to turtle mail.  Turtles are slow, too.).

Luckily, the agent I desperately want accepts e-mail queries, but I have some agents I have not queried yet because they only accept turtle mail.  I'm not too busy to query by turtle mail, but I try to avoid buying stamps or using turtle mail at all cost.

Wouldn't it be easier for agents to accept e-mail queries?  Or are agencies trying to support the USPS?

How do you prioritize your queries?

2 comments:

  1. I have not yet sent any submissions by turtle mail (I'll use your updated terminology). Mostly for the reasons you describe above.
    However by pure coincidence, I'm actually in the middle of writing a covering letter for a magazine that only accepts submissions by post.
    It is more inconvenient, and if I didn't think my piece was such a good fit for this magazine then I wouldn't bother.
    On the plus side, perhaps they may not get as many submissions as other publications that accept online queries, for the very reasons we have just mentioned.
    Who know's I may stand a better chance of being accepted.

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  2. Hi Jessica. I've had experience of submitting to agents who request both turtle mail (awesome term) and digital. My only guess is that perhaps some agents cling to turtle mail as a way to weed out those who are not committed enough to their work to buy the stamps and send it along. It's far easier to just upload an attachment and send it away. But then I've given up trying to find an agent right now!

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