Do agents reject more on a Monday?

Gynn · Oct 18, 2009

Mondays suck, you know. I figure they show up to the office around seven in the rainy morning, turn on the computer, scowl at the overflowing e-mail inbox and warm up that form rejection response as they dwell on all the work they have to do this week.

I guess that would make Thursday the best day to send that query! They'll (hopefully) get it on Friday morning, when they're in a great mood and ready for the weekend.

BigWords · Oct 18, 2009

Unless everyone else has the same idea and they get to your query first thing on Monday morning.

Smish · Oct 18, 2009

Gynn said:
Mondays suck, you know. I figure they show up to the office around seven in the rainy morning, turn on the computer, scowl at the overflowing e-mail inbox and warm up that form rejection response as they dwell on all the work they have to do this week.

I guess that would make Thursday the best day to send that query! They'll (hopefully) get it on Friday morning, when they're in a great mood and ready for the weekend.

I'm not an agent, but I feel my best on Mondays. I've had a chance to relax and recharge over the weekend, and I'm ready to tackle work again.

By mid-week, I'm tired again. Fridays are my worst day, probably, as I'm just itching to get to the end of the day.

All that said, my clients (again, I'm not agent) pretty much get the same level of service from me every day of the week. It's just that some days are harder for me than others.

I really doubt it matters at all what day of the week you send your query. A huge majority of the submissions are going to be rejected, whether it's a Monday or a Thursday.

Smish

Katrina S. Forest · Oct 18, 2009

I asked in an earlier topic about certain months being better than others for submitting to agents, but I've never heard anything about days of the week. The thing is, unless the agent in known for responding within 24 hours, you can't control what day your work is looked at. If your work is ready for submission, then go ahead and submit. (Well, I guess unless it's between Christmas and New Year's, then I could see a bit of a reason to hold off.)

jclarkdawe · Oct 18, 2009

Agents reject 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

I've been rejected at three in the morning, on Thanksgiving, Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, in less than a minute, and over a year.

Don't worry about it.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

mathewferguson · Oct 18, 2009

There is no magic publication formula like: IF you submit in October and IF it is a Wednesday and IF it is before lunch and IF the weather is nice and IF ...

The only thing I'm aware of is that if you were selling a gift book for a special day then you need to think about lead times. Count back almost a full year and submit then. If your submission is too late then you'll miss out and be waiting for ages. So I'd say if you were more than 6 months out from the special day ... hold onto it for a little longer.

Having said that ... publishers have different lead times. It is quite amazing how fast a book can come together ... so submit whenever.

aadams73 · Oct 19, 2009

Do they reject more on a Monday? No, they'll reject you any old time if they don't like your query.

the addster · Oct 19, 2009

I do find that requested partials and proposals seem to get rejected on Friday afternoons. I just kind of figure they are cleaning up the weeks work.

RJK · Oct 19, 2009

I've sent an email query on a Saturday afternoon and received a rejection an hour later. You can never tell when they'll read your letter.

Red-Green · Oct 19, 2009

Since I tracked all my queries in excel with the date, I was able to modify the date field to include day of the week. I've got data on three separate projects, 167 queries, including 42 non-responders.

Turns out, I sent the majority of my queries on Monday or Tuesday, but ... the day on which my rejections most commonly arrived was Thursday.

Danthia · Oct 19, 2009

I bet it might seem that way because they probably read a lot of queries over the weekend.

maestrowork · Oct 19, 2009

If I were an assistant, I'd make sure your query lands on the agent's in-box on Monday, preferably in the morning.

No thank-yous required.

(seriously, let's get real: they will reject you if the query sucks. If not, they will want to read more, whether it's Monday or Wednesday or Super Bouncy Tuesday)

The Lonely One · Oct 19, 2009

Especially if it's super bouncy tuesday.

BigWords · Oct 19, 2009

I think I have Super Bouncy Tuesday on DVD...

Gynn · Oct 19, 2009

The thread was a bit tongue-in-cheek...but every edge counts! :tongue

Do agents reject more on a Monday?

Gynn

Wandering worlds

BigWords

Geekzilla

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Katrina S. Forest

jclarkdawe

Feeling lucky, Query?

mathewferguson

aadams73

A Work in Progress

the addster

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!

Danthia

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

The Lonely One

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

BigWords

Geekzilla

Gynn

Wandering worlds