Thursday, March 25, 2010

Web Form Form Rejection

I think this was one of those agency websites that asked me to fill out a web form rather than send in an email query. As you can see it completely screwed up my formatting. I would fix it but I'm too lazy and it makes a certain point.

The point being that now it looks like word vomit. Art (or lack thereof) imitating life, or was that the other way around?


Dear
> REDACTED,
>
> I am writing to
> you seeking representation for my young-adult
> fantasy-adventure/commercial fiction crossover novel
> which has the working title, Warrior-Monks, and is complete
> at approximately 475,000 words.
> The sequel, which is untitled, currently exists only
> in outline form. I am including
> a synopsis as well as the first ten pages of the book
> because that is specifically what The REDACTED Literary
> Agency website asks for.
>
>
> I love Eastern
> Cultures and the many art forms they incorporate such as
> – Martial Arts, Calligraphy, Japanese Swords, and the
> Tea Ceremony as well as all the traditions and high level of
> art that go into them. I also
> love Magic and Fantasy and Eastern Religions such as
> Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism.
> Warrior-Monks incorporates all of these themes in a
> fantastic way which has never been done in young adult
> fantasy to my knowledge.
>
>
> I have never been
> published but I am confident that many authors like
> Christopher Paolini and Brunonia Barry have proved that you
> do not have to be a highly experienced or best-selling
> author to write an incredibly entertaining book. I also do have some personal
> qualifications to write this story.
> For example my own mother died when I was eleven
> years old and I was then sent to live with a cruel aunt and
> uncle and eventually did end up at a reform school in
> Northern Idaho which although strange, was not nearly as
> fascinating as the place in which my characters find
> themselves within this book.
>
>
> Please feel free
> to reply to this email, or to call me on my mobile phone at
> any time at 206-555-1212, or even to write to me at
> home at:
>
> ADDRESS
>
> Thank you for your
> consideration of this proposal. I look forward to hearing
> from you soon.
>
> Sincerely,
> Matthew M.
> Rush
>

Okay, so this query is a little better than some in the past. At least it's shorter. At this level of quality shorter is certainly better.

Her reply:


Thank you very much for your query, which I have read with interest. Unfortunately the project does not seem right for me, and I am sorry I cannot offer to read your work.

I do wish you all the best on finding more suitable representation, and thank you again.

Sincerely,
REDACTED

For some reason her reply came through with normal formatting. Only my clumsy query got the funky carat lines and indentations. Kind of fitting if you ask me.

Can I just say I hate those web form queries? I'm sure they work great for the agents and probably save them time and effort and of course if it lands someone representation that's great, but I don't like them. They're awkward and difficult to keep track of when you're trying to remember who you've queried and when, or if, you should expect to hear back from them.

This rejection was form but polite, and nothing more or less than should have been expected.

11 comments:

JE said...

Word vomit? LoL That's a new word for me - I think I may start using it ;-)

~JD

Matthew MacNish said...

You may use away Justine, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Christi Goddard said...

Oh, I HATE the forms. I've filled out two of them then never even hear back from them.

FantasticFiction said...

Forms...I hate em as well...but at least you got a reply, just like Christi said lots of writers just get a no reply which leaves you wondering...Best of luck with querying other agents though!

Matthew MacNish said...

Christi and Fantastic, agreed! F@#k forms!

Anyway thanks for stopping by, commenting and following. I'm new at this and I really appreciate it.

Terry Towery said...

I've only sent out three queries so far, and none used the web-form format. I have seen a few agents who use them, but them seem sort of, I don't know, limiting.

Nice blog here, Matthew. Thanks for the invite!

Nick said...

I dunno, I don't mind forms very much. Though to be fair, I've only seen two, and both of them are pretty much the same thing as a query, just broken up into boxes. Haven't actually sent one yet cause I'm not querying, but there's hardly anything wrong with the form itself.

Josin L. McQuein said...

I hate those forms, too - mainly because there's nothing in my "sent" box to remind me I've submitted a query.

And your blog is worth following just because of the title ;-)

Matthew MacNish said...

Thanks Terry and Nick for stopping by and commenting! I'm really new at this and certainly do appreciate the visits.

You're welcome for the invites.

Josin, thanks for the compliment. Personally I find the title lies somewhere between hilarious, awesome and aggravating. Maybe it's supposed to be all three. I'm glad you like it though.

I will be adding links to all of your blogs on my Writer Blogs links section. As novice writers we ought to look out for each other. Please feel free but not obligated to do the same for me on your blog.

Unknown said...

I did a few form ones too. One was for an agent that a friend landed. Unfortunately, I goofed mine up too and he sent me a rejection about three months after I filled out the form.

I hate forms worse than I hate querying the usual way.

Alleged Author said...

Always a bummer when you work so hard on a query and get a form letter. Keep sending stuff out and someone great will find you!