Attachment or in the main body of the email?

[UKHorrorwriter]

Hi
this has probably been discussed before, but I'm still unclear.

Obviously some agents specifically ask for the first three chapters etc. to be included in the main body of the email.

But if they don't:

Do I include my first three chapters (and synopsis) as an attachment? Or do I simply paste it into the main body of the email?

I have done some internet research on this. Obviously there's the 'spam' and 'phishing' problem: agents don't really want emails from strangers with attachments. And they want to get reading immedialy. On the other hand, some people argue that without formatting etc. it looks kind of unprofessional?

What do we all think? I would particularly be interested in hearing from published authors and actual agents as to what they think.

Thanks!

[Lanita]

I would never send an attachment unless asked by the agent. Chances are you'll get a form rejection and your pages will never be read. Attachments are too risky.

When you copy and paste your chapters into an email, just choose keep source formatting and the formatting won't be off.

[UKHorrorwriter]

Thanks