"OH NO, I DIDN'T!"

So, I've been doing agent queries. I completed four - one form query and three emailed queries. Then about 2 AM this morning I sat straight up in bed and wailed, "OH NO, I DIDN'T!" On the three email queries, I forgot to include my contact information. (Pounding head on desk really hard). 

You see, I know better. That's a really, really amateur thing to do. Queries are a lot like magic spells - you forget one element, one word, the whole thing just goes 'ttthhbbbbbbttt!'  I mean, you know, if there really were magic spells. That's what they would do. 

Like a magic spell that flops, that's pretty much what a query letter with a mistake like that will do. It doesn't matter how much an agent likes your query if they don't have the information to contact you. Seems simple and common sense enough, doesn't it? However, at every agent presentation I have attended, every single one of them list this as a top mistake that people make. 

I can hope the agent might be dazzled by my brilliant concept and hit reply, but that's not the point. The reality is that queries are business letters. Your hopes and dreams may be tightly wound into that letter, but it is still a business letter. The cold, honest truth is that there are other brilliant concepts the agent will be dazzled by today by authors who will have remembered to include their contact information. 

So for me, it's back to researching agents. Dammit. Oh well, practice makes perfect. 

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