Snail Mail

I have put the snail mail agents on the back burner. For one thing, I do not currently have a printer installed. I moved into more cramped environs a year and a half ago and I don't have room to set up either of my two printers. Printers are probably overused anyway. When I absolutely have to have something printed out, I email myself at work and use their printer. That is a rare event.

If all of the email friendly agents reject me, I will then go the snail mail route. When I tried shopping around my first novel I went broke on postage and materials and print cartridges. And oh, was it time consuming. There had to be an easier way to compile a stack of rejection letters.

So if push comes to shove, I will contact the snail mail agents. Some people believe the inconvenience of email helps weed out dilettantes. The real writers will persevere and devote their lives trudging back and forth to the Post Office. Maybe. But they also weed out people who are currently employed. Submitting queries by snail mail is a part-time job. Hell, it's a part-time job when done electronically. But email is decidedly cheaper.

My silly prejudices come to the surface. A staid agent who insists on using the wondrously fast and secure US Postal Service will probably seek fiction with characters named Holden or Finny or perhaps Portnoy. They will address their acquaintances as "Old Sport" and scan queries for references to their alma maters. They perhaps have grown accustomed to that post-modern slush provided that the author informs them ahead 0of time that he holds a post-modern perspective and he is not simply challenged by the rudiments of structure. And yes, they might recognize writers with street cred if their work can be presented in an Oprah kind of way. But I doubt is most snail mail agents would appreciate a stories about redneck small-time criminals exploring the boundless possibilities of biochemical terrorism.

So for now, it is email only.