I had a one-on-one session with the visiting agent. She said she liked the pages I showed her and asked to see more, once they were written. This will take a month or so. In the meantime, should I write a brief thank-you note, mentioning the project and thanking her for her time? Or don’t agents and editors like to use their valuable time reading thank-you notes?
Personally, I like a very expensive box of dark, chewy chocolates and a dozen roses.
Seriously, on the one hand, it’s nice to make a personal connection and treat agents as if they were real people, in which case, Miss Manners would suggest that a short thank you note would be in order here. On the other hand, let’s say this agent saw 50 people over the space of a conference, that’s 50 thank you notes she’ll have to open and read—and if she’s really, really busy…
I’m assuming you gave her a gracious thank you during your session so I’d say wait and include a brief thank you as the first paragraph of your cover letter when you send your manuscript, along the lines of “Dear Ms. Whosit, Thank you so much for visiting with me in a one-on-one session at the LDStorymakers conference in March 2008. I made the changes you suggested and enclosed are the additional pages you requested I send. . .” Or something like that.
This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.