Re-submitting to agents

AlanaHarbison · Feb 25, 2013

I have sent out queries to some reputable agents and, upon reflection, have realised my query letter and synopsis leave a lot to be desired. I am quite certain the agents would not have read past the query and I am afraid I may have ruled out some good oportunities by simple ignorance of the industry. So my question is, if I leave it few months and revamp my letter and synopsis is it still bad form to resubmit to these agents???

Kerosene · Feb 25, 2013

Correct me if I'm wrong. The standard is waiting a year, right? And that's after rejection.

AlanaHarbison · Feb 25, 2013

I have no idea, it's my first novel... that's why I'm asking! =/

quicklime · Feb 25, 2013

i think will was asking in case someone else wanted to chime in. And a year seems to be standard....in part so they are likely to have forgotten--there isn't any good way to come back in three months and say "hey, sorry, me again, I just learned how badly I was doing a few months ago, but this is all better now..."

the waiting may suck, but as another thought, you have thirteen posts: I will bet you good money your query needs work. Spend that time actually critiquing queries here, participating in threads, and getting enough posts to sub your query and see what folks have to say here. I doubt it will be time wasted.

KateJJ · Feb 25, 2013

Like quicklime said: spend your cooling off period commenting on other people's query letters, then post yours. But beware. There are quite a few people - like me - whose time in Query Letter Hell showed us that our stories needed as much revision as our queries.

I'm coming up on the end of my one year cooling off period myself with a massively improved query and a novel to match. A year was not too long.

And if you think the book is ready, but you still have to wait - go write another book and query that in the meantime!

JimHeskett · Feb 25, 2013

Spend that year writing, writing, writing. It's the main way to improve

mayqueen · Feb 25, 2013

I was under the impression that you only get one chance to query on a given project unless there have been major changes to the manuscript itself. Is that not correct?

quicklime · Feb 25, 2013

mayqueen said:
I was under the impression that you only get one chance to query on a given project unless there have been major changes to the manuscript itself. Is that not correct?

it is ideal...people don't always follow the ideal, and if someone did a horrible, horrible query pitch ("I am Valtomir, Sixth Sage of Dragonwyck, and I am a witch hunter. Rest in the sleep of the righteous, glad you shall never taste my blade, but fear me nontheless...") but they later fix their book to where they truly believe it has promise, I wouldn't suggest they never, ever give it another go. A lot depends on how "misleadingly bad" that initial pitch may have been....

AlanaHarbison · Feb 25, 2013

Thanks for the feedback guys... and hey, I didn't mean to sound rude, I was just confused. =)

Siri Kirpal · Feb 25, 2013

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

No worries, you didn't sound rude.

Also, once you're at 50 posts, you can post parts of the book in the relevant sections of Share Your Work. You can critique in there now. The password is "vista."

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

JoNightshade · Feb 25, 2013

I'm going to disagree here. It's likely standard advice from agents not to query again with the same project, not to do it again unless there are changes to the manuscript, or not to do it again for a year.

Frankly, most agents do not remember and do not keep records. If your first attempt was just god-awful, it's likely they hit delete within a few sentences.

I wouldn't recommend re-querying more than once - so make sure your next attempt is GOOD - but I'd give it maybe 3 to 6 months. For best results, use a different email address, but it's not necessary. Here's what will happen:

- You will get a couple of slightly pissed-off emails from agents (or more likely agent's assistants) who don't delete all their emails. No, they are not going to share your name with all the other agents and black-list you or something.

- If your query is any good, you will get a second look from everyone else.

- If it's really good, you'll get a bunch of requests for more.

How do I know this? Because this is what I did. I currently have a very good agent whom I re-queried with the same email address after 6 months. I went from terrible query to very good query. He never even mentioned it.

Of course, this is all contingent upon your query being top notch and your sample being very good. So take some time and make sure both are up to snuff.

quicklime · Feb 25, 2013

JoNightshade said:
I'm going to disagree here. It's likely standard advice from agents not to query again with the same project, not to do it again unless there are changes to the manuscript, or not to do it again for a year.

Frankly, most agents do not remember and do not keep records. If your first attempt was just god-awful, it's likely they hit delete within a few sentences.

I wouldn't recommend re-querying more than once - so make sure your next attempt is GOOD - but I'd give it maybe 3 to 6 months. For best results, use a different email address, but it's not necessary. Here's what will happen:

- You will get a couple of slightly pissed-off emails from agents (or more likely agent's assistants) who don't delete all their emails. No, they are not going to share your name with all the other agents and black-list you or something.

- If your query is any good, you will get a second look from everyone else.

- If it's really good, you'll get a bunch of requests for more.

How do I know this? Because this is what I did. I currently have a very good agent whom I re-queried with the same email address after 6 months. I went from terrible query to very good query. He never even mentioned it.

Of course, this is all contingent upon your query being top notch and your sample being very good. So take some time and make sure both are up to snuff.

wouldn't you presumably get all ob the second two, without the risk of the first one, by simply waiting like the agents asked in the first place?

You're sort of arguing "well, sure, you'll burn bridges, but hey, only SOME of them...."

RRK · Feb 25, 2013

I think it's Janet Reid who said there's no such thing as the query police (meaning there's no one waiting to arrest you if you violate query rules). If your query was so awful that the agents likely deleted it without a second glance and you're really impatient to try again, six months vs. a year probably isn't going to ruin your chances.

There are some agents who will likely reject you automatically for breaking their query rules. Others won't. In either case, you definitely want to make sure your new query is distinct enough from the old one that the agent won't read the first line and think, "I've seen this before."

Chumplet · Feb 25, 2013

I have accidentally requeried the same agent and got a response that I had already queried that book a year ago. Some agents keep records. Some don't. Some don't mind a fresh query on a reworked book that was previously rejected. Some get annoyed.

Play it by ear. If the agent's submission guidelines specifically state that you can or cannot requery the same project, be considerate and follow the guidelines.

If you decide to requery the same project, I'd advise being honest about it and explaining that it had been revamped. I don't recommend using any means to throw the agent off the scent.

JoNightshade · Feb 25, 2013

quicklime said:
You're sort of arguing "well, sure, you'll burn bridges, but hey, only SOME of them...."

This is true. But I played the whole thing as a numbers game, and if 3 out of 300 agents write me off, that's a price I was willing to pay for a gain of six months.

ETA: Incidentally, I didn't look up each agent's guidelines, either. I sent a query with the first 25 pages pasted on the bottom. That way nobody asked me for partials. Not a single person complained, and I didn't get any partial requests - just fulls.

AlanaHarbison · Feb 25, 2013

Thanks heaps everyone. These are all very useful comments. It's nice to be able to ask advice from those who have been through it, or are going through it, instead of flying blind.

Tearin · Feb 25, 2013

Speaking as someone who does read and reject queries (I'm an intern at an agency), you should be fine. Even if I do have some hazy memory of yours--if it's good, its good.

That, and it's amazing how convoluted a query from someone who doesn't know how to query can be--your plot and characters might seem so different that no one recognizes your story anyway.

I agree with the wait-a-while suggestion, though. Good advice.

Siri Kirpal · Feb 25, 2013

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Welcome, Tearin! Good to have an agent intern in these parts.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Tearin · Feb 26, 2013

Awww, thank you. I've been lurking for ages, but now that I've infiltrated the other side, might as well spread around as much intel as I can.

AlanaHarbison · Feb 26, 2013

Tearin said:
Speaking as someone who does read and reject queries (I'm an intern at an agency), you should be fine. Even if I do have some hazy memory of yours--if it's good, its good.

That, and it's amazing how convoluted a query from someone who doesn't know how to query can be--your plot and characters might seem so different that no one recognizes your story anyway.

I agree with the wait-a-while suggestion, though. Good advice.

Thank you for that. It is very reasuring to hear from someone on your side of the business that I haven't burnt any bridges, only bought myself some more time to make certain I get it right. And with all the awesome people on here, helping and advising, how can I go wrong?

Re-submitting to agents

AlanaHarbison

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

AlanaHarbison

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

KateJJ

coffee and pistols at dawn

JimHeskett

Writers gon write.

mayqueen

practical experience, FTW

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

AlanaHarbison

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

RRK

I named the dog Indiana

Chumplet

This hat is getting too hot

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

AlanaHarbison

Tearin

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

Tearin

AlanaHarbison