Submission Mistakes

I know we have talked about this before but in the last two weeks I have received submissions that fall into this category. Now maybe these people just like receiving rejection letters and are simply interested in cheap wall paper, but darn it, I am tired of writing rejections for things like this.

First of all, we all know that many of you use form letters for all of your agents and editors. O.K. I promise not to go off on the idea of how your letter needs to be personalized. I'll save that for later. The problem is to make sure that A) you change the address and letterhead; B) you still address the letter to the specific editor or agent and not simply "To Whom It May Concern"; and C) Don't just write one letter and cc it to us.

Now, I will give you one mistake if you typed the wrong name in. That happens, but when the whole package isn't addressed to me, uses the wrong address and the letter is addressed to someone else, that is a certainty for a rejection letter.

As for the cc'd message. That one I think was taken care of by another agent. When we all received this message, this person simply did a reply all and hinted that maybe they should try a bcc function. Yes, we get the hint that you are mass emailing it, but we don't end up finding out who we are also being considered with.

Now, here is the last problem. Same thing I have said before. DO YOUR RESEARCH! Greyhaus Literary Agency focuses only on romance and women's fiction. I don't do cookbooks, I don't do biographies and memoires (although Laura Bush, I know you are looking for an agent so swing on by!) and I don't do children's books. I also know other agents are also clear with what they look for.

Writing a response to you takes time! Save your self the postage. Save yourself the headache, and together, let's save a tree or two with all of the submission material. Be smart when submitting.

Scott