Red flags in the query hoard

Incoming query:

I might be an author trying to sell a book, but I also have other tasks on my plate.  I simply cannot take the time daily to spend writing agents and publishers. ***

Given that it is 2011 and technology is sophisticated, I have chosen to put my QUERY letter on a website.


If I queried editors with something like that I'd be fired 40+ times in a New York minute. 

If you don't have enough time to query well, you don't have enough time to be published well.

I know most of you would never dream of writing a query letter like that, but you might be looking at all the guidelines and thinking "crap, that's a lot."  Yup.  And it doesn't get any easier.

Querying is your first step in a new profession.  This kind of query is like handing the Human Resources department a thumbdrive instead of a resume.  It makes perfect sense to you but it wasn't what we asked for. And that pretty much tells us what we need to know.

***it doesn't help to see it posted here either as well as hearing from a dozen editor pals about it as well