Contact Information

Two friendly reminders about contact information…

1. It seems silly, I know, but please put your contact information (including your email address) in the body of your email. Down at the bottom after your signature is a fine place.

Sometimes when some email programs forward messages, or sometimes when some email programs print messages, the “from:” line gets changed, or cut off.

2. It seems even sillier, I know, but please make sure that your contact information, as given, actually works.

A rejection letter isn’t good news, but at least it’s closure. I feel bad when one bounces back to me. I feel even worse when my request to see more of a manuscript bounces back. And I just feel frustrated when someone’s apparently got their mail sending through a defunct address, so that they can write to me multiple times (sometimes with escalating animosity) but my replies don’t get back to them.

(3. As a side note, it’s a matter of personal taste as to whether an electronic query needs to contain your physical mailing address. Some require it, some don’t. I find the information interesting from a demographics-collecting perspective, but unnecessary at the query stage since I’m not going to mail out a physical reply letter. I don’t “need” it until there’s a contract being signed.)

Tagged as: query letter, submission guidelines