# of queries read this week: 106
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
Reasons why you have not gotten a reply to your query:
* I haven’t yet received it.
* I received it but have not yet read it (2-3 weeks response time starts on the date of receipt).
* It wasn’t in English.
* Your staple bit me, I bled out, and I’m awaiting a transfusion. (That one’s a joke, even if staples still make the O.S. scream.)
* You sent it via snailmail but did not include an SASE.
* You mailed it to an address at which we no longer do business.
* You sent it via snailmail and the post awful crunched it up in a machine.
* You sent it via email but your spam filter is set to “high.”
* You sent it via email and it got lost on the internets.
* Gremlins.
Et in arcaedia, ego. 
STAPLES!
::: waves fists in air :::
Curse you, God of Office Supplies!
Gremlins, it’s always gremlins!
How do you…
…handle reading so many queries that, for whatever reason, aren’t right for you? I think I’d go nuts. Thank you for doing this job.
New to your site via Kristen Nelson’s—looking forward to perusing the posts.
her gremlins are scary, man. they drink straight from the bottle and stub out their cigarettes in the O.S.’s lunch….
“…and stub out their cigarettes in the O.S.’s lunch….”
The smoking lamp it ou—oh wait, we did that one already. 😉
And on the post office sorting machines:
OMG! What is that lately? I actually got an empty envelope back at work the other day in a Post Office baggie that is preprinted with a blanket apology for mishandling “your/your business’ mail”. But the worst part? It was a window envelope and the contents were no longer intact. I may never figure out who didn’t get their membership card.
I had that happen with a query a couple weeks ago, but it was luckily not a window envelope so I had the address of the sender. I sent them a letter asking them to resubmit their query and explaining why….
Out of the queries you read in a given week, how many of them are ridiculous for whatever reason? Misspelled, grammatically incorrect, for non-fiction, omitted contact information, etc.
In other words, how many can you rule out before even considering the project?
I’m just curious. 🙂
Heather
# of queries read this week: 106
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
*ouch*
Query drinking game anyone?
But if we only drink when more material is requested, we’ll die of thirst!
Oh, wait, I get it. Only drink when it’s an outright refusal. That will make everything after the first fifty a lot easier to get through.
You sent it via email but your spam filter is set to “high.”
Just out of curiosity… do you send responses with the same address in the From line that you expect to receive queries? I ask because one of the very common user agent Junk mail filters I know about bypasses all other processing if it recognizes the From address as a previous recipient.
I cannot wait to begin querying. These edits are driving me nuts…lol.
~Tyhitia
http://obfuscationofreality.blogspot.com/
Stinkin’ Gremlins.