Can Foreigners Get Stamps for SASE’s?

Q. Help! Please. I am in need of an agent. I know exactly who I want. He has been recommended to me by one of his former clients, who happens…

Q. Help! Please. I am in need of an agent. I know exactly who I want. He has been recommended to me by one of his former clients, who happens to be a very established writer. However, I am not sure that I will ever be able to query this agent. His submissions guidelines state that queries that do not contain the coveted SASE [self-addressed , stamped envelope] will be recycled upon receipt. I'm not lazy or cheap. I'd gladly include one, but being Canadian that is much more difficult than you would think. USPS is no longer shipping stamps to foreign locations. Can I climb out of the slush with a sticky note saying, "recycle if rejected"? I know this agent likes to represent Canadians, but the truth is, now we'll only be able to e-query or have American friends smuggle us stamps like we once smuggled them Cuban cigars. I've been looking for answers around the blog scene, but as of yet, haven't received any. This dilemma really does extend past me missing out on my dream agent. The doors to many agents and publishing houses have now been closed to foreigners.
- Christy

A. Very interesting about the USPS and the limited availability of stamps. Anyone else have an experience with this? It's news to me. What about International Reply Coupons?
Yeah, and my first suggestion was to simply e-query. It's easier anyway. Do you just like sending in snail mail submissions or does this agent not take e-queries?
If I were you, I would send in the submission like normal. At the bottom of the query, include a note about why you have no SASE and apologize for not following his specific guidelines. Hopefully he will be pleased that you had done some research on him.

Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.