OK, what do I do now?

[David McAfee]

I sent a query to an agent, and he emailed me back the next day stating that he did not represent the genre (the website I got the info from stated that he did, otherwise I'd not have queried him), but he wished me well. I emailed him back apologizing for the mistake, and he replied by saying it was only him in the company that did not represent my genre, and suggested I try another agent in his company. He even supplied me with the email address. So, I emailed this other agent, and have not heard from him. It has been over two weeks, and I am tempted to contact the original agent just to ask him if they only respond to queries they are interested in (I know some agencies do this). I don't want to risk coming off as pushy, nor do I want to alienate the man. I had thought to get some sort of reply by now, whether positive or negative, especially since the first agent in the same company wrote me back the very next day. Am I overthinking this?
There are no guidelines for when to expect a reply on their website.

Given the above, would it be best to:

A) Write to the original agent to learn if they reply to all queries, or just the ones they like

B) Write to the agent I queried the second time to ensure that he received it, seeing as how some queries seem to get lost in cyberspace, or

C) Keep waiting. I know two weeks is not a long time in the publishing world. I guess I just expected an answer sooner due to the rapidity of the first agent's reply.

[Kasey Mackenzie]

Personally, I would probably wait another week or two and then politely email the agent you queried (not the original agent) simply inquiring whether he received the query since things DO get lost in the cyber world. I've read that many agents don't mind simply responding about whether they received the email or not. (And of course I'm operating under the assumption email queries are kosher with this agency, which would seem to be the case if the original agent didn't tell you otherwise!)

[Katiba]

You might try sending a copy of the query by snail mail with a SASE. If he doesn't respond to that either - well, I don't think you'd want an agent who doesn't respond to e-mail or snail mail.

[mschannon]

Welcome to agent hell. First, understand that agents get dozens of queries a day, often more & they want to respond to all but can't. A two week wait is, alas, not that long. The problem is that if you e-mail agent #2 again, there's no guarantee he or she will remember your first e-mail...in fact, it's more likely not.

I'm unpublished, but I finally got an agent & I've done a lot of research, so take this advice for what it's worth. I'd wait a week & resubmit the query, apologizing for submitting it a second time. (Of course your query was in the body of the e-mail, right. Agents won't open attachments for fear of viruses.)

More important, I got enamored of e-queries because they're so easy, but e-mails are just as easy to erase. So I went back to snail mail queries, and I've had better luck getting responses. If you get organized, you can do quite a few a day. It's just a pain.

If you go the snail mail route, invest in good-quality paper, make sure you know the "rules." (Either check out agent web sites or Larsen's "How to Write a Book proposal" although that's most useful for non-fiction. And proof, proof, proof. One typo & you're toast. And, remember the SASE--otherwise you'll never hear from them.

Finally, be prepared to send out 20, 30, 40+ queries and send them out as fast as you can, making sure you note in your query you're sending out multiple submissions. Don't get discouraged. You'll get lots of rejections and lots will never respond. Just shrug & keep going.

[tjwriter]

I vote for giving it a little more time. It's the end of summer and for all you know the agent could be on vacation right now or recently returned from one with a backlog of email to sort through. If you don't hear anything within the next few weeks, you might politely ask if the agent received the email or not. I know it must be hard to wait, but patience has its rewards.

[David McAfee]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Yes, Kasey, the agency accepts (seems to prefer?) e-queries. Mschannon, yes, it was pasted into the email, I'd never send it as an attachment... who'd open it?

I think I will take a little more time, a week or two, and then email agent#2 again to ask if he received the query. In the meantime I will take mschannon's advice and send out a batch of snail queries. :)