PS I'm a mammal!

Why query letter writers waste precious space, particularly the first few lines, with information I already know or don't need perplexes me.

Here are some examples from recent queries:

1. Query writer's address.  
When you query electronically, you put your contact information UNDER YOUR NAME. At the bottom, not the top.  This is not how they taught you to write a business letter at Katherine Gibbs, I know. It's a new century. Get with it.

2. MY address.
I know where I work. Honest. I may not know what year it is day to day, but I know my address.


3. The querier's name: "Hi my name is Felix Buttonweazer and I wrote a novel." 
You sign the letter at the bottom with your name. That's the ONLY place your name goes.

4.  "I found you at Publishers Marketplace" and the link to my page there.  
I know I have a page there. I know what it says. I wrote it. And updated it. Saturday.  If you found me there, ok, but for goodness sakes leave out the hyperlink!

5. "I found your page at the FPLM site" and the link to my page there.
Again, I know I have a page there. I know what it says. I wrote it.


In other words do not waste precious space and time with obvious stuff. Start with what I don't know: what your book is about.  Or "Dear Snookums" if you insist on a salutation.

Anything else is just useless drivel.  And if you write useless drivel in your query, the chances you write it in  your novel are higher than what I like to take chances reading.

PS You also don't need to mention you're a writer, human, a mammal or you breathe air.   I assume you are not an alien life form contacting Earth for the first time.  I know how that will happen.