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Oops!
By SonnyLong in The Write Stuff
May 6, 2009

I think most of us would agree that technology is a wonderful thing. For aspiring writers trying to land an agent, being able to submit query letters, proposals and manuscripts via e-mail is time saving as well as cost saving. No more springing for envelopes and postage to those that accept electronic submissions. But there are still pitfalls. Here are a couple of recent examples that happened to me, of course both my mistakes. The first one happened when I made a cardinal mistake. I put the address to the recipient in the TO field before I finished my e-mail. One fat finger mistake later, I must have hit the Enter button, the unfinished e-mail was sent. My rule has always been to wait until the correspondence is finished to put the name in the TO field. So, I had to apologize in another e-mail for the unfinished e-mail. Believe it or not, this is the kind of mistake that a persnickety agent will use to discount your project, no matter how good it might be. Another thing that happened, working on a wireless connection, I couldn't tell that an e-mail sent. I never got a confirmation that it had been sent. I know I hit SEND at least once more, but when the agent wrote me back she complained that she received it multiple times. Did she read my query letter? Very doubtful. So use technology wisely. Make it work for you, but also be aware there are pit falls, too.