Query in December?

Lol - there's a great post about here somewhere detailing specific months and why you shouldn't query during that month.

It spans all twelve.

While it's a joke, the poster makes a good point: it's never a good or bad time to query. If your query catches attention, it will catch attention.

That said, there is some truth (I believe) to this being a slow time for agents. This coming from an agent I've spoken with a few times, and who blogs about the business. According to said agent, there are lots of parties and events and queries, while not ignored, can be put on back burner status. I've also read on AW that some agents will go through and just delete, delete, delete e-queries, because it's the end of the year and they're trying to clear their desks. I don't know if that's true, and I'm likely to think it's not. But meh. Who knows.

Sorry I couldn't actually provide any help with your question. I am unagented as of right now, but have two big agents considering. I queried one in September, and one in November. So I really don't have any experience to draw on with querying during the holidays.

See Generic Query Question:

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Admittedly this wasn't with an agent, it was a publisher, but I got a full request within five days of subbing this month.

There is always a reason not to query. Admittedly I've always found December pretty dead. But after that people are catching up FROM December, they're doing their taxes, they're recovering from doing their taxes, they're on summer vaction, it's convention season, they're catching up from convention season, it's thanksgiving...

I personally prefer to wait until after the first of the year but because... well, just because. But it's highly questionable that it makes any real difference.

Might as well query now and then again in January if they don't respond.

I haven't paid all that much attention to the time of year I send out query letters. For me it always involves two thnigs:
1. First, I have to be convinced that I have written an irrestible query.
2. I've rarely sent out queries in November or December, but that's for personal reasons. During these months it seems that I often have a lot of personal matters to attend to, and if possible I go away on vacation for a couple of weeks.

But it seems that most writers have their own take on this.

Roly. Here's the thing. An agent who is open to queries will read all the queries sent her way (barring something unforeseen happening, like it goes to spam or accidentally deleted etc). So what difference does it make when you send it? If you send it now and she goes off on holiday and gets to it when she comes back, that's when she gets to it. If you waited until Jan to send it, you'd still be waiting the same amount of time. Maybe she'll read it now, maybe not.

So I guess the question is, do you feel ready to query or would it be advantageous of you to take the holidays to really make your query shine for the new year? If you're ready to go, I say submit whenever the heck you feel like it. But if not, the holidays do afford you that extra little bit of time for that last polish.

Agents rush through queries 365 days a year. It's got 30 seconds to work, regardless of what day you send it on.

Some agents like the holidays as a chance to get caught up on their queries, others ignore them over the holidays. You're no more likely to fall through the cracks in December than any other month.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I don't know how it is for other agents, but . . .

I sent out a query to my number 1 agent last Sunday and got a request for a partial on Wednesday. But then I just read that agent's blog, which said they'd be closing for the holidays soon.

Yttar

Roly, if you really think that an agent would be so unprofessional as to just rush through your query to get to go on holiday, then you maybe shouldn't be sending them a query.

Even if an agent says, "I'm off on holiday tomorrow" it doesn't mean, "don't send queries". All it means is, "You can send me a query but I probably won't get it till January."

Send it now, send it later. If the agent is open to submissions, she'll read it. And if she's a good agent, and professional, she won't be less thorough in her reading of it because she's full or turkey, or Easter eggs, or Chanukah gelt, or . . . anything.

I know we want to control as many things as possible, I know we want to make sure we choose just the right day (should I send it Monday or Wednesday), make sure the stars are aligned just so, but in the end, they'll get to it when they get to it.

If you want my OPINION, just my opinion nothing more, I'd say wait. Not because it will give you any kind of advantage, but because it's very likely most agents won't get to your query until January, and you can take some time before then to do one last go over of your query. Post it here in the Share Your Work section, make sure it's just perfect.

But if you are just so sick of tweaking, send it now. You really can't lose out with this, seriously. Of all the things to worry about . . . not so much this.

I'm sick of tweaking and am sending as soon as possible, just because I actually am going to have some time and I want this off of my shoulders, if that means anything. I just figure it's best to go into it with the awareness that it might take a bit longer than usual to get a response.