Author/agent question: Time

I recently had an agent email me, "Love your writing, want to talk. What's a good time?" I emailed back some suggestions. Haven't heard back yet (several days later). What should I do, if anything? Needless to say, this is causing some suffering.

Was it me?

This kind of thing happens to me more than either of us wish.

It's not that I don't care, or I'm not interested. It's that things just pile up, and good intentions, much like my flask, get buried under incoming stuff.

Today for example, I had a list of 16 things to do. I got through eight of them because six NEW things popped up that were both urgent and important.***

So, yes, I didn't get to an email to schedule a phone call with a potential client (important but not urgent.)

I wish I had, but I didn't.

Here's what that means for you: Keep querying! Don't assume This Is It. And ping Miss TardyPants once a week (not Monday) to express your continued interest in talking to her. Unless it's Barbara Poelle. If it is La Slitherina, email me and we'll conference her in on a call and do an a cappella version of this to motivate her:





Also, make sure you check your spam filter. I'm not sure why but my spam filter is unusually voracious this week. (Probably cause she's unhappy to be back from vacation.)








The four categories, drawn from The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People (one of the best book titles EVER) are:
1. Important and Urgent
2. Not important but Urgent
3. Important but not urgent
4. Not important and not urgent (renewing your passport that doesn't expire for a year for example) 

Query Question: who needs glaciers when you've got waiting time?

I've been querying a non-fiction project that I am working on with another writer. We've been accumulating our share of rejections and so were really excited when an agent we queried asked for the full proposal. (This is an agent I have gotten rave reviews on from a fellow writer)

Of course now my mental illness springs into action as it's already been more than 3 months since she's had our proposal. We emailed her (briefly and courteously, natch) after she had had it for 6 wreks, and got a reply from her assistant that she was indeed reading it. More time passed and now at the 3+ months mark with no word, I learned that she had switched agencies. I emailed her again at her new agency, but it's been a week (4) and I haven't heard a peep (or a beep).

I understand that her current clients come first, but if she is not interested it would be nice to know so that we can move on. (5)

So I guess I have several questions:
1: what is a reasonable legnth of time to consider a full non fiction proposal?
2: If a full has been requested, would the " rejection by no response" rule still apply, or do they owe me a "no" even if it is a form "not for me" rejection?
3: Is there summer camp on Carkoon and what kind of cake does it serve?

(1) I generally ask for 30 days after receipt of a proposal. Right now I'm running about 90. I'm not proud of that fact, and I'm working pretty hard to get stuff read, but as you say, clients come first, and silly me, I've been selling stuff left and right and as soon as one contract is finished, another one rolls in. I do try to reply to pings but even with good intentions, I'm not always as responsive as I wish.

(2) You know my feelings about no response means no.  (It's here if by some chance you didn't hear that rant.) Generally however, no response means no applies at the query stage. Yes, I've heard about vast silence on requested fulls and proposals but I'm really hoping it's not the norm.

(3) I do not know the details of what goes at at Carkoon. Much like Her Majesty Queen Victoria and the penal colony in Australia, I just transport people there, I don't visit.


Now, let's talk about what you're going to do with this information.

(4) Since this agent has moved agencies she's barely figured out where to get her morning coffee, and buy her lunch at this new office. Let alone where the best watering hole is.  In other words, she's busy adjusting to the new office and her new colleagues.  You need to give her at least a month here before pinging at all.


(5) And by "move on" what do you mean? Stop pinging her with reminders? Or start querying other agents?  Because you should be querying until you have an offer. Reading a proposal is NOT an offer. Don't wait around hoping this agent will sign you. Seize the initiative and query widely.  NOTHING moves a dawdly agent faster than "I've got an offer from one of your more nimble competitiors, slackerpaws."

Waiting is the pits. I know it first hand (you think editors respond instantly?? oh please, would that it were so.)

But I also know that the best way to deal with waiting is to keep moving. Keep sending your query out. Keep building your platform. Keep reading books in your field that can be comparable titles.

If waiting time is a glacier, your only job is to hang in there and keep moving.

Query Question: Relationship between time on submission/offers of representation

Is there some sort of unspoken (or spoken, and I've just been oblivious) truth that when an agent requests a manuscript, the likelihood of their offering to rep decreases as time goes on?
In the past few months I've had as many as 14 fulls/partials out at once. I currently have 9 fulls and 3 partials out. The most recent have been out for 3-4 weeks; most are in the 3-4 month range. Some I've nudged, only as per their guidelines, sometimes with updated versions; they've responded they would happily read the newer version, and were sorry for being behind. One has had the manuscript (in one form or another) for over a year. And one has had a partial since January.

I'm constantly seeing Tweets like, "OMG SQUEEEEE! My How-I-Got-My-Agent story, on my blog!" and inevitably when I read it, their timeline indicates the person queried, got the full request within days, and then got the offer, again, within days.

Query Tracker seems to suggest similar. I can't find a single instance of a writer sending a requested manuscript, then hearing back with an offer 3-6 months later.

I'm afraid I'm sitting on a pile of rejections (or on-responses) because they've not offered rep within the first 72 hours. For the record, until I started seeing more and more of these "how I got my agent" stories and QT stats, I never would've expected to hear anything (good or bad) for at least 2 months. If an agent's going to offer rep, is it always on a project they're so excited about they put their entire jam-packed schedule aside to read the whole thing in two nights? (1)  If it's something they aren't wild about, do they stick it in a pile for mass-rejection months down the road?(2)

It's hard to give up hope when I've had so much interest, but because no one's sent me an offer within hours/days of receiving it, based on Twitter/agented writer blogs/Query Tracker, I'm starting to feel down about the whole situation. (And yes, I'm working on other projects, but I can't get these floating fulls out of my head).

P.S. I detest the "word" SQUEEEE.

I've never signed a client that fast. Not ever.

Not even the amazing Patrick Lee whose query and pages were so enticing, I called him (rather than wait to email) to request the full and waited at my keyboard for him to send.   I emailed him when I had finished reading the book, and it still took a week to sign him. I'm almost positive that's the fastest I ever signed anyone, and his query sat here for at least a couple weeks before I got to it.

Those stories about how fast someone got signed are due in large part to the enormous increase in the number of agents pursuing projects, rather than everyone reading faster and offering quicker.

The stats at QueryTracker aren't scientific. No one is required to report; those that do aren't required to report accurately.  Twitter is just blather most of the time, not even as reliable as a news crawler.

In my experience, agents are actually reading slower.  My colleague Brooks Sherman just signed a client who had been in the incoming submissions for a year. I've got GOOD manuscripts pending that have been here six months and longer (a fact of which I am not proud, but is indeed the stark truth.)


To answer your actual questions:
(1)No
(2)No

To answer the question you didn't ask:
No, you aren't even close to any kind of freshness date expiration on your submissions. 

I've signed several clients after lengthy waiting periods. I'm currently working with a prospective client that's been on my radar since 2008. I fully expect to sign her as a client and sell her work when the novel is polished and ready to go. 



There are all sorts of ways to drive yourself completely bonkers while your work is on submission. This is one of them.  Don't let yourself get caught up in this kind of faux statistics game.  Have confidence in your work, and have confidence in the process.

Publishing is a long game. You're learning that the way we all did: the hard way.

Query question: should I not query during Book Fairs?

I’ve been told by one agent that writers should know to hold back any queries immediately before and during International Book Fairs. She particularly mentioned three: Budapest (April 23-26, 2015), London (April 14-16, 2015) and Frankfurt (Oct 14.18, 2015). Is this common practice, and, if so, how does a writer figure what other book fairs and conferences we need to avoid?

In this case, I avoided the month of April for sending out queries and sent them out in May but not have to remember to do the same in October and maybe other months.

I see this kind of advice on discussion boards all the time and it's utter bunk.

For starters, agents receive queries electronically these days and if they're busy at the London Book Fair, or Malice Domestic, or hosing out the caves on Carkoon, they just let the queries stack up till they have some free time.

You absolutely can not wait for "the right time" to query, because the right time to query me, and every other agent in this universe, was yesterday.

Trying to time your queries means only one thing: you're not sending your query when it's ready.

That's the ONLY standard by which to time a query: is it ready to go? If so, hit send.

If not, don't.

The ONLY exception to this is if an agent is closed to queries. Most agents who are closed to queries simply discard any that arrive and start with an empty inbox when they re-open. You'll notice most of these closures are triggered by workload, query volume, impending maternity leave. Nothing to do with LBF, BEA or any other industry event.

Not even Christmas.
 

Query Question: I think I have an agent but she's not responding

Over my couple of years querying (had one agent I left because she never sent out my book as promised until I nudged and then never passed along the editor response until I nudged--four months apart) I have seen agent behavior deteriorating. I have had probably six agents recently who never responded to a full request, even to polite follow-up nudges. This used to seem shocking, now it's rapidly becoming standard.

And now--this agent offered rep, we talked, I accepted (no contract yet) and she has blown off two follow-up calls. I mean saying are you available tomorrow afternoon and then not calling or sending a note to cancel. This leaves me in a very uncomfortable spot. I am a consultant who always follows up with clients. I understand busy, also being a workaholic who has multiple projects at one time. If I'm in the middle of something, I send a note to let someone know.

My instinct is to pull the plug but not having a full understanding of "agent" protocol, wonder if I am alarmist and maybe she just has an extremely casual approach. I mean, if my daughter did that I wouldn't think she didn't like me or something or was a flake. But this woman supposedly wants me as a client. Not a good impression. I feel as important to her as sidewalk debris. Not a nice feeling!! 

Five years ago you would have gotten a good rant out of me about unresponsive agents and how disrespectful not answering emails etc is.

Now, not so much.

Here's the thing it's helpful for authors to remember, and it was one of the hardest things for me to learn AND figure out how to accommodate: no matter what I plan to do today, something will come up that knocks that plan into a cocked hat.

It can be that a description of a client's book on Amazon reveals too much of the plot. I need to get in touch with the editor, make sure they get new copy written and put into the system and most important, that I have a calender item that says to follow up in a week or ten days.

I sometimes think my entire job is writing notes on my date book about things to follow up on.

It can be the arrival of a batch of royalty statements, all of which need to be scrutinized. I know I'll be writing at least one or two emails for every five pages of royalty statement I receive. Some of my clients have 35 page royalty statements. And that's just for ONE of their series.

And right now it can be clients calling with questions on their 1099 tax forms. Those questions go to the head of the line, trumping even royalty statements.



You wrote that you have "multiple projects at one time" which means you're busy I'm sure. Do you have 36 projects going not just at one time, but all the time? That's my workload. And that's just authors. Most authors have multiple books, and multiple deals for each book (translation, audio, film.)  That puts my number of multiple projects just north of 100. And that doesn't count queries, answering questions on the blog or what most other agents try to do: have a life.

Some people are better at balancing this kind of deluge than others. You might have queried an agent who isn't. It doesn't mean she's not a good agent, or will be scattered in her business dealings. It just means that when her inbox tops 100, she's not writing the kinds of "hey, I haven't forgotten you emails" that would ease your mind.

Sure, we all wish she would. But, before you pull the plug on an agent you think is a good fit, give her some time to get caught up. Continued polite nudging is OK.  Don't read more into it than she's got a lot going on.

And one of the main reasons people (not just agents) don't reply to nudging emails: it generates MORE email.  On the days I send status reports to clients or queriers I know my inbox will flood. If you're trying to get your head above water, that's daunting.


Right now, you should be querying since you don't have a contract and the agent hasn't said why that is.  You query until you have an agent, and right now, you don't.

Agent question: Is she just not that in to me?

I’m a historian with several academic books on my CV; I also write for some well-known mainstream magazines and blogs. A couple of years ago, I was contacted by an agent who had seen my journalism and was interested in representing me if I ever wanted to do a more commercial nonfiction book (which I did).

At the time, she was new to agenting but had solid publishing credentials and worked for a reputable agency. We met and chatted, and a few months later I sent her a query and sample pages based on some new research. She liked the project and made useful suggestions, but ultimately felt the subject was too specialized to appeal to a mainstream publisher.

I should point out that it took weeks if not months for her to respond to my emails about the project, which were by no means frequent or pushy. But we kept in touch and a few months ago I sent her a second, much more commercial idea which she seemed really excited about.

Again, we went back and forth (sloooowly) for a couple of months with her giving feedback on sample pages and me fine-tuning, and finally she said she wanted to represent it and I should send her a formal proposal, which I did.

No response. I sent a follow-up email after two weeks, to confirm that she received the proposal and ask if she had any suggestions for improvements, or if perhaps she was having second thoughts about its mainstream appeal.

Again, crickets. Now it’s been a month and I still haven’t heard anything.

Is this normal, or is she just not that into me?

Having spent two years building a friendly relationship with a real live agent, I don’t want to burn that bridge, but I'm passionate about this project and I would like to move on and query other agents if this is going nowhere.

If you had asked me this question even just a year ago, I would have said something like "hang in there, agents are often behind, her lack of reply doesn't mean lack of interest."

However.

In the last three months I've had three specific instances of agents basically dropping the ball and leaving clients (let alone queriers) high and dry.

I posted about one agent who was essentially forced out of a job which is not quite what you're talking about here, and there are two other instances where I'd helped writers connect with agents other than me, and had those agents drop the ball.

Now my advice is this: you're not running your railroad on Agent Time. If she's dawdling, you start querying. She has not offered you a contract, and you have not agreed to work with her. It's not only fair to query other agents, it's smart.

I've gotten off the rails with clients before, and I will again. It's part of the time management problem of balancing the important with the urgent. However, when I'm wooing a client to work with me, I'm generally trying to put my best foot forward and NOT behind too much. And I've learned (which this agent clearly has not) that keeping queriers informed is the ONLY way to assauge their fears while their work is under consideration.  I tell queriers who have full manuscripts with me that they can check in any time they need to.  And I do reply. It's often "haven't gotten to it yet, but I'm not dead, and I am working."

Query widely. Just because you've spent some time talking to this one agent does NOT mean she's the right agent for you.

Query Queston: other agents if first agent does not respond

An agent has my full and disappeared. I sent nudges timed appropriately and haven't received any response. They're not a no-response-means-no agent, either (supposedly.)

I haven't pinned hope on this one agent, and have other fulls out. However, there are others at this agent's agency who I think would be interested. The main reason I queried the first agent before the others is because I was given a referral. How long should I wait before querying others at their agency? Can I not query them if this agent just never responds to me? 

 Oh lord referrals. They are troublesome things they are. The good ones are when an agent has read your manuscript, knows it's not for her/him for X reason, and says "query so and so at AgencyAuctionLLC"

In fact, I'm now cackling with glee reading the reviews of a book where that exact thing happened. I read the manuscript, loved it, knew it needed what I didn't have, sent the author to one of my favorite competitors; they had a fistfight in the office over who got it pounced on it with glee. The rest is happy publishing all around.

The other kind of referrals are the ones that start "Such and Such said this was your kind of novel" and I've not spoken to Such for five years. Such hasn't read your novel and is just trying to get you off her query pile and onto mine.


It's hard for you the querier to know which one you have, of course, but my guess is you've got the second one based on the agent's behavior.  She's "disappeared" which means she's probably trying to figure out what to say other than  form rejection. (It feels awkward to form reject a referral which is why you guys are so hot for them of course.)

Here's what to do:

Step one: withdraw the manuscript from Agent Absent. Politely of course.  I'm sure you know how to do this.  If you don't I know I've posted wording previously.

Step two: submit the manuscript to Agent BetterChoice.  At this point, there's no need to mention Agent Absent. Absent has dropped the ball here and you should NOT let that have an impact on you.

This is your career. Even if Agent Beta calls you up at midnight to spew and splutter that you are RUDE RUDE RUDE to submit this manuscript, it won't kill you, and two, you have my permission to say "horsefeathers BetaBreath."

This querying process is starting to resemble elaborate rules of court in some crazed Balkan country. This must be done, that must be done. Double space this, and make sure your font doesn't frolic on the page...yikes!

A query is a business letter. If the person to whom you are proposing a business arrangement fails to respond to your overture, and three polite follow ups, then time to move on to the next person on the list.  As long as you're polite and observe the guidelines posted on the website, you're fine.  And even if you don't and you're not: There Are No Query Police!

Query question: querying over the holidays

 
I found the pointed advice that querying anywhere between Thanksgiving and mid-January is pointless, and everyone should stop. 

 Certainly, you’ve mentioned it’s not worthwhile making perishable offerings to agents during the holidays, but the advice seems to me counter to progress; even if I have to wait longer for a response (goes my way of thinking), surely it’s not actually *wrong* to query on right now, particularly if it’s possible and there’s motivation!

 
I’m an A-number-one slacker given the option, but it seems to me no aspirant should flat-out quit trying for six or eight weeks out of the year.
 
Is this agent just tired of the post-NaNo naïve query glut – if there is such a thing – or do some honestly just give winter a full on pass, so to speak, and queries during this period really will fall on deaf eyes? Subsidiary, selfish question: why wouldn’t they just go closed for queries, if this is the case?

 

Well, it's a real pain to close for queries let me tell you. I've done it a couple times, and getting the info to all the sites, and then getting it taken down again..well, it's a pain.

That blog post you mentioned is by Jessica Faust and I must tell you she's a terrific agent, and I watch what she does like a hawk.  If I could spy on her in her office wearing some sort of invisible suit like Patrick Lee has in The Breach, I'd be there right now. 

So, far be it from me to tell you not to pay attention to what she says.

However.

There really is no industry standard for this. It's not WRONG to query any time you want (unless the agent is closed of course.)  The question is whether it's effective.  And I don't think there's a way to measure that other than to try. And by trying, you're querying, so that's that.

For every agent who doesn't want queries during the holiday, there are at least a couple who will be reading their email on Christmas Day and wondering if they should reply, or wait till 12/26.



Here's the one thing you know after reading Jessica's blog post: Don't query her right now. Query me.

Query Question: revising after rejections and how long to wait

You've suggested revising submission material after receiving either no response or rejections from agents and I'm good with that. 

However, as so many agents invite queries with pages/chapters in the submission, I'm unsure which to revise when that time comes. How to know where the "no" happened?

 
As for no response, if an agent is reading the query and pages/chapters, but doesn't offer a response window in the submission guidelines, is it reasonable to wait longer before closing it out? 

I'm not sure when I advised revising during the query process, but I'd like to see the source, since I think this might be out of context.

I think it's out of context for just the reason you mention in paragraph two. You don't know why/when/where there's a problem. Absent concrete suggestions for revisions, you run the very real risk of revising BADLY.

By badly I mean you don't know if an agent rejected your work (or failed to respond, nowadays the more likely situation -grrrrrrrrr) for something that had nothing to do with the quality or caliber of your work.

Take a look at the Chum Bucket post from last week. Fully EIGHT of the queries were for good books but just not books right for me. 

Look at the Chum Bucket results before that:  it's 14 good projects.

That's a substantial portion of the queries I get, and normally those receive ONLY a form reply.

If you're not getting the results you're looking for in the query process, that's when you invest some of your hard-earned dough in an editor, or a conference.  Get your pages in front of brutal, critical eyeballs.

Don't assume something is wrong with you if you're not hearing back; find out first.

As for timing, here's the definitive time table on dealing with scallywag agents who fail to reply to queries:

1. Send query.

2 A: IF agent auto-responds that query is received, wait prescribed amount of time plus 50% of prescribed time. Thus if they say they respond in 30 days, you give them 45. If they say six weeks, you give them nine.

2 B: IF agent does NOT have auto-responder, wait prescribed amount of time, then RE-SEND if no reply.

3. IF you are querying me, and you do not hear back follow 2B.

4. IF you are querying me, and you do not hear back after #3, email me or tweet to me. I respond to ALL queries that follow the general guidelines (Query Letter Diagnostics can help with that)


If you've tried twice, and not heard back, time to move on.

I find that incredibly rude and condescending in most instances, but so far I have yet to change the adoption of this course of action by many otherwise quite nice and polite agents whom I call my friends.
(Scoundrels!!)

 

Query Question: Enthusiastic Silence

Is it wrong to expect an answer back from an agent who requests a full manuscript?

An agent enthusiastically requested my full almost eight months ago and emailed me when she received it, saying "I'm reviewing it now and will get back to you soon."

Twelve weeks later, after no word back, I sent a polite nudge. She immediately responded, apologizing for the delay and telling me she planned to get back to me "in the next couple of weeks."

I did not hear back. After another twelve weeks, I sent a short, polite nudge. This time she did not reply at all.

In the meantime, we tweeted back and forth twice about general topics (not my ms!). She's always been friendly.

In a last-ditch (probably ill-advised?) effort a month later, I sent one last nudge. I apologized if somehow my email had been lost in cyberspace, mentioned my new WIP and that I was excited to hear the head of her agency speak at an upcoming conference, and asked where my MS stood. This was 28 weeks after sending my full.

No response. I have to admit I'm embarrassed, mystified, angry, and disappointed at the same time. I would prefer a short "I'm no longer interested" over this complete radio silence. I'm starting to doubt myself, wondering if my three short, well-spaced (I thought) nudges over eight months have offended her in some way.

I know agents are swamped. But am I wrong to think it would be common courtesy to let me know where I stand? Or is "no response a no" when it comes to full manuscripts?

Note: I haven't stopped everything to wait for this agent. I've continued querying, have had a couple other requests (one still out) and am working on another novel in the meantime.

I read through your blog and didn't see anything addressing how long a writer should hold out hope in a situation like this. I apologize if I missed an entry that would help me!

My first thought on getting questions like this is to wonder if they're about me.  I have manuscripts in my requested full queue that have been there for quite some time. 

However.

One thing I've learned from doing this blog and from listening to writers at conferences is that agent's silence makes writers crazy.  It took me a while to realize that responding to nudges even with the very lame "sorry, I just haven't read it yet" is mortifying but better than silence.

Now when I request a full I specifically say it's ok to check in as needed, and it's ok to do so on the WRITER'S schedule. For anxiety prone folks that's once a month. For the calmer ones, it's less often.

And surprisingly, for MANY of the writers in my queue it's not at all. With permission to check in, they don't feel the need to.  Interesting isn't it?

And agents know this pain first hand. There are editors who don't reply. Don't reply to pitches, don't reply to submissions. We talk about those editors All The Time amongst ourselves. And share names.  And often, remove them from lists of editors we submit to.

So, yes, you deserve a reply.
Yes, it's rude of this agent to not reply.

But, what to do? Exactly what you have been: keep querying. Nudge every 90 days.  I've signed and sold manuscripts that languished for a year. (But the author did hear from me in that time, I must say.)

You might check in on AbsoluteWrite to see if other authors are experiencing this delay with this agent.

And bottom line: you know something now about how this agent conducts business.  How you treat the people you don't "have to" be polite to says a lot about character.

Query Question: Agents moving agencies mid query

Some months ago I received a full request from Agent A at the Good Literary Agency. A few weeks after that I received a full request from Agent B at the AlsoGood Literary Agency. No problem so far.

ThenAgent B left the AlsoGood Literary Agency and joined the Good Literary Agency. I believe she took her earlier full requests with her, which means two agents at the same agency now have my manuscript. I haven't alerted them to this fact because I don't want to jeopardize my chances with either one of them. Is it my responsibility to bring this up, or should I take a "wait and see" attitude?

First, huzzahs for two requests for full manuscripts. Let's not forget that happy fact as you sort out what to do here.

This kind of thing happens a lot these days. Sometimes agents will email writers with updates on this, sometimes not. What we don't know here is whether B did take those full requests with her. That's NOT a given that she did.

Here's what you do: You email Agent B. You congratulate her on her new position. You mention that Agent A also requested the full and you want her to know to avoid any bumps in the road here at her new job.

You do NOT take a "wait and see" attitude here. Even if it means one of the agents has to drop out of consideration, you will have acted with honesty and integrity and that's going to serve you well in your entire career.

Query Question: Revising novel when on submission to agents

I received an encouraging revise and resend with some great feedback from one of my top agents. I realized reading it that she was completely bang on in identifying some of the flaws in my novel, and began revising right away.

A little later, I received a full request from agent #2, whom I had queried some time ago. It's been about a week now and I haven't sent said full to agent #2, and I don't really want to until I've finished addressing agent #1's critique. But I'm worried that if too much time passes, agent #2 will wonder what's up. My manuscript was fully edited and ready to go (or so I thought) when I queried her. Should I let her know that I'm revising my manuscript based on feedback from another agent, or just send the full when it's ready (probably in another week or two) without an explanation? Is knowing that another agent has asked for revisions to a manuscript a positive or a negative in most agents' eyes? 

Here's the absolute ironclad rule: always send your best work. If you're doing revisions to fix some flaws in your novel, it's in BOTH our interests to have you send the better version.

Here's how you do this: You email Agent #2  RIGHT NOW and say "yo, snooks, got your request. Little late to the party, but ok for now.  I'm revising right now (I thought the novel was done!) and I plan to have it finished on X date. I will send it then unless you tell me otherwise.  Thanks again for your interest. I look forward to sending you my novel." Of course you put this in your own deathless prose. Remember to keep it SHORT. No more than 30 words total.

The thing to avoid here is a long period of silence. If I request a full, I pretty much expect to hear back promptly. That's because mostly I DO hear back promptly, not because it's critical to the submission process.

If I don't hear back within a week or so, my assumption is  my email went astray, and I email again.  In fact, this past year, I ended up emailing the writer who had REFERRED the querier because I hadn't heard back after several pings.

My colleagues are generally NOT going to do this. They're going to request and if they don't hear from you they're going to move on.  They'll remember you but they generally aren't going to track you down. I wrote a blog post that showed that a while back.

Query Question: is August a good month to query?

I have the impression that August is a month during which the publishing industry if not shuts down, then at least ramps down.

Nonetheless, I sent out a query, just one, to my 'dream' agent. Being accepted is a long shot, but if I was to be refused, I wanted to get it out of the way.

 In the future, I'll send queries to multiple agents. After five years and many drafts, my manuscript is ready. I 'rested' it for several months, then re-read it, after which I gave it to several trusted readers. Even though it was August, I just couldn't wait any longer to get the process going.

Does August really affect response time? Should I not even start to fret until well into September?

 Also, the agent does not list a time frame by which she says she will reply. To me, a reasonable reply time is 4-6 weeks. It has only been 3 weeks, but seems like a year. Now I wonder: will she ever reply?

Maybe I should just have a stiff drink and focus on my next project.***

I'm always amused when people think publishing shuts down in August. Not anymore it doesn't, and we're all the poorer for it, I must confess.

A lot of higher-echelon decision makers take vacations in August and early September, so it's harder to get contracts signed, or deal memos ok'd but that has NOTHING to do with queries.

Frankly, agents are behind on answering queries (well, I'm not, everyone else is) all the time.

The normal wait time for a query is 30 days.  However, that means nothing to you because you will send queries out to agents starting now, and continuing until you get an offer.  You can follow up in 30 days with that first agent, but chances are unless she's committed to replying to every query, you won't hear back unless she's interested.  ( rant about "No response means no" here)

 [And don't get me started on why you should not set your hopes on a Dream Agent.  Oops...too late ]






*** that is always the correct course of action when querying