Query letters

Facing a dilemma today—query letters. SFWA has a couple of samples provided by writers who have been published, which are a rather formal read. It’s what I’d expect in a business letter, & it initially made a lot of sense to me; be polite, concise, & make sure to thank the person you write to for their time.  

However, on reading a couple of agents’ blogs regarding queries, a totally informal approach is shown as having gotten the agents’ attention. I haven’t read that many blogs (yet), so don’t know if this is considered the industry standard in queries or not. If so, then the query I composed based on the samples I have already seen is completely wrong and will probably result in no reply, which will equal no interest in my work.

I am not sure what approach to use, perhaps something somewhere in the middle? I do know the lengthy synopsis I was advised to write is probably a bad idea, and I pared it down from the “required minimum of 500 words” to around 250, since in the electronic age, I know people tend to skim over or skip reading extra long posts.

If I find out which is preferred, I’ll be sure to update my blog!