QueryManager vs email submissions
- QueryManager is a form-based submission system many agents now require.
- Forms enforce field limits, so a long personalization or bio may be truncated.
- Email submissions preserve your formatting and leave a record in your sent folder.
- QueryManager provides a confirmation and sometimes a status page you can check.
- The agent chooses the method; the writer's job is to prepare for both.
QueryManager is a structured form many agents now require instead of email. It enforces field limits and gives you a submission confirmation. Email gives you formatting control and a record you own. You do not choose between them, the agent does, so keep your query in plain text that survives pasting into either.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Writers lose requests to formatting. A query written in a word processor with smart quotes, italics, and indented paragraphs pastes into QueryManager as a wall of mangled text. Preparing a clean plain-text version once, and checking character counts against typical field limits, removes an entire class of avoidable damage.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A plain-text master version with no smart quotes or special characters.
- Character counts for the query, the short pitch, and the bio.
- Sample pages formatted for both paste-in fields and file attachment.
- A screenshot or saved copy of what you submitted, since forms leave no sent folder.
- The confirmation email or reference number, logged against the agent.
- Italics handled as plain markers where the form strips formatting.
Chapter iii·Example
A writer pasted a query with curly apostrophes into QueryManager and the agent received a letter dotted with question marks. She rebuilt the master in plain text and never had the problem again across 60 more submissions.
Chapter iv·Related questions
In WriteLoom
Stop running your query on a spreadsheet
WriteLoom keeps a clean master query with character counts, so pasting into any agent's form takes seconds instead of a rewrite.
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