Would It Scare You to Send the First Page of Your Book?

In the past, the agents who scared me the most were those who requested a query and 2 or 3 pages, no  more, of the book.  A year ago I spotted an agent's demand for the first page alone.  Now, other agents also scared me with requests for 10, 20, 30 or up to 50 pages--by which time I'd have just finished clearing my throat and be moseying along to the Good Part. starting to tie things together, etc.  Part of me could see their point...but 1-3 pages?  How could even the best of those agents spy the epic grandeur of my work, its marvelous complexity, from a sample that small?

My thinking has changed on this matter.  High time, too, I might add.  After all, when I go to a bookstore and a new novel's cover has captured my eye, what do I do every time?  Flip through a couple of pages.  I'm not necessarily looking for an action-packed opening set piece.  But in the books I choose to buy, some magical something has spoken to me:  something in the prose or authoritative tone has led me to know that I'll be in good hands--even though I may not know where the heck the book is going.

Luckily, my thinking had also changed on the writing itself.  Though I took my time unraveling the new book's central mystery, I'd come to feel that certain things should happen at definite stages if I were to draw readers in.  And my beta readers had also saved me a couple of pages of lard at the start.  Result:  for the first time in my career, I felt as confident in sending out a few pages as I did fifty. 

A little later on, I plan to post a detailed chronicle of my querying process for this book.  For now, my advice is this:  if you're fearful of showing small bits of your work, the writing's on the wall:  Rewrite!