Small bit of advice for using sites such as webook

[Dakota388]

I have been experimenting with webook lately and found something that can be frustrating. I felt I'd share it here for anyone contemplating using the site. For those who don't know, webook is a site that screens your query for major errors and sends it to agents who have signed on to use their service. Overall, I have enjoyed using this site. I started because an agent I desperately wanted to query used that site exclusively for her query consideration. The problem with the site is this: You are asked to provide an opening sentence or two as your hook. (I suppose you could skip that which is what I plan to do if I use the site again). I have sent 4 queries with this site. I have researched each agent, wrote my query specifically for that agent, and submitted according to their preferences. The nice thing about the site is that it shows what part of your package the agent has looked at. But this is also where my frustration sets in. Out of the 4 agents I've queried, 1 hasn't yet opened his email, 1 rejected me without looking at the sample pages (perfectly understandable), and 2 never bothered to open the query before giving a form rejection. That is where I have a problem. How do they know that I wasn't recommended by their best friend, or that one of their represented authors loved my work, or whatever? They rejected me on an opening sentence. Now I understand that maybe it wasn't what they were currently seeking (though the genre was), but I spent hours researching them and putting together a query just for them and they didn't even open it. So keep that in mind if you use that site. A tag line gives the agent one more thing that could turn them off to your work.
I only posted this to help anyone thinking of submitting via webook (and to vent a little in the process). From what I've learned, I won't be using tag lines in my submission anymore. Food for thought.

[Holly]

Thanks for your post. I've never used webook (I'm not ready to query yet), but will hold that in mind.

Have you posted the query -- with the tagline -- on this site so we can give feedback?