Readied envelopes today with excerpts of The Last Track inside them. When dealing with unsolicited queries, literary agencies maintain their own requirements for tackling submissions. For now my focus involves contacting those that consider excerpts along with queries. The main caveat: among those that consider the first 5-30 pages cold, virtually all require a synopsis of the book, including the ending.

In the past, my hangups made the synopsis stipulation a sticking point. The notion of revealing the ending at the outset is anathema to my nature; however, I realized the obstacle is self-constructed and inhibiting. I don’t worry about being ripped off, because the odds are infinitesimal. Yeah, good luck reconstructing 400 pages working from a 10 page sample in any kind of timely fashion. No, I mourn losing a chance to earn a reader’s trust over the course of the story, then ripping the rug out from beneath them at the last minute. Never can the book deliver the same impact for someone who knows ending in advance. Ack.

But then, literary agents do not strike me as a lot who enjoy surprises. When picking clients, I rather imagine they hate surprises, in fact.

Thus, I enclosed the 2.5 page synopsis.

Now all I need are stamps.