Two actual queries from today's inbox offerings to show you just how wrong people can get it:
I have a concept for a sci fi novel and I want somebody to write a five hundred word summary of that concept. I want to hire the highest quality ghostwriter. I don’t have any dialogue but I know how the plot develops. I want to post the summary on a crowd funding site to raise money to write the book. I also want a book cover designer for the sci fi book and somebody to think of a title to reflect the story that I have? Can you put me in contact with people who have these skills? Thanks.
No. It doesn't work this way.
While I was pondering a query to impress you, a friend in the local community theater made an audio clip of the first three and a half pages of the manuscript. Hopefully, you will find the description of the story and synopsis below interesting enough to listen to it. Thank you for your time and consideration.
I'm sure that sounds really awesome to a writer, but this is not how the industry works, and any writer querying should know better.
I used to engage with writers on these things, adding a little lesson in proper submission techniques to my response, but people got angry or argued or accused me of being narrow minded. Not all of them, but enough to make me stop.
It does indicate someone who hasn't done their research though, doesn't it? If you don't know why both of these are problematic, you're not ready to query. In the first case, the guy isn't even ready to start writing yet.
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