Making it to 100+ Queries

I'm not the best source for this type of question (I'm not sure If I ever see myself going for a traditional publishing deal), but perhaps those who have 100+ Queries have submitted multiple manuscripts?

It may depend on how old you are and how many books you have sent out. I believe people who send out 100+ queries try everything, after a while, agents, editors, anyone they can get to. And why not? Some people are successful after all of that, as you say. Good luck and may your road be shorter and less painful!

To my understanding, the 100+ queries is for the same book. I'm not too sure how they do it, either. You might want to try using different search criteria. For a previous project, when I searched for "contemporary" and got a totally different set of about 40 agents than the 50 I got for searching under "mainstream." I use Query Tracker, by the way.

For my current project, I get about 200 agents listed for the search criteria I'm using, but I sort by agency then go to their website and query whichever agent I think has the best chance of liking my work. I'm at about 30 queries sent out, and I can see the end of the agency lists, so I'm going to be in your boat eventually. Some agencies will tell you "querying one queries us all" or "do not requery within six months," but most don't. I'm interested in hearing what more experienced people here say about requerying a different agent in the same agency.

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

I wouldn't be able to find 100 agents for my current sub-genre (spiritual memoir) either. But it's possible to find well over 100 agents who rep commercial fiction, romance, YA, etc.

There are several places to hunt: Agent Query, querytracker, Writers Digest, aar-online.org, and the blogs for writers conferences.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

I have a list of over 170 agents that I've been querying for The Steampunk Novel. It includes anyone who lists SF or Fantasy among the genres they rep AND some who only list Commercial Fiction, but have clients that write SF/F.

Of that 170, I've queried just over 130, but I haven't gotten over 100 rejections yet, because I'm querying on a rolling basis (so a little less than half of those I've queried haven't gotten around to sending a rejection or a request for more material).

It is important to look for related genres - Mystery, Thriller, Suspense may all describe the same book but one agent may list Thrillers, while another lists Suspense. The best thing to do is A) put them on your query list and B) check out who they rep to see if they seem like they take things similar to what you're querying. (Also, Literary Fiction sometimes includes more genre based work depending on how it's written.)

No one likes hearing "No, thanks," and I'm certainly not in a rush to collect a drawerful of rejections but I would rather query and hear "Not for me" than not query and realize later that I should have.

It's definitely possible. I think people with 100+ rejections though are counting the non-responses for sure. I sent out 77 queries last time and only got 38 rejections. But for that book, I had over 150 agencies and almost 200 total agents on my list.

I'm skeptical that there are fewer than 100 agents available for the genre you're writing. Perhaps if you're in a very specific niche, but there are a ton of agents who represent "commercial fiction," which basically means "anything but literary." Doing a simple search on QueryTracker for Commercial Fiction produces 480 agents. Now, certainly, some of those will say things like "I represent commercial fiction except for Fantasy," etc., but that's still a lot. I know for a fact there are more than 100 agents who represent Fantasy and Science Fiction, but if you're writing mystery erotica, you might not be as lucky.

orion_mk3 said:

It's not so much that I was asserting there are fewer than 100 agents. It's more like "I have only been able to find X number of agents and this seems rather low, so tell me what I am doing wrong."

And you guys have delivered! Lots of great tips. I had no idea that commercial fiction was such a catchall, and people suggested some resources that I have not used as yet. Thank you, and keep them coming!

Click to expand...

Yeah. I've noticed lately that people are getting confused about the idea that Genre Fiction is somehow not Commercial. But Commercial is kind of the super-umbrella, with specific genres sitting underneath, then the sub-genres. Literary, of course, is an umbrella by itself. Except for when it is considered Commercial or Genre.

Aggy, mostly just writes and puts labels on after the fact

Aggy B. said:

Yeah. I've noticed lately that people are getting confused about the idea that Genre Fiction is somehow not Commercial. But Commercial is kind of the super-umbrella, with specific genres sitting underneath, then the sub-genres. Literary, of course, is an umbrella by itself. Except for when it is considered Commercial or Genre.

Aggy, mostly just writes and puts labels on after the fact

Click to expand...

I'm a little bit confused now. Even if genre fiction may be commercial that wouldn't mean I would query my fantasy to an agent who reps commercial (and doesn't specify no fantasy). Or are you saying I would?

I'm confused. Someone hold my hand and guide me to the light.

AshleyEpidemic said:

I'm a little bit confused now. Even if genre fiction may be commercial that wouldn't mean I would query my fantasy to an agent who reps commercial (and doesn't specify no fantasy). Or are you saying I would?

I'm confused. Someone hold my hand and guide me to the light.

Click to expand...

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

Take a look at the agent's client list. If one of those clients writes some brand of fantasy, you could try it. Or if they say, "really anything as long as it's well written," go ahead and query them.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

QueryTracker has a pretty large database. It's not all inclusive, but if you haven't been there, I would definitely have a look.

Here are some of the resources I've found.

QueryTracker
AgentQuery
Publisher's Marketplace
The AAR website
The SFWA has a great Agent resource as well, with links to other resources and a really good rundown on what to look for, and more importantly what to watch out for. Some of it applies only to SF/F, but most of it is general advice that applies to all writers. I highly recommend anyone starting an agent search read through this page and follow most of the links before sending any queries out.

Aggy B. said:

I have a list of over 170 agents that I've been querying for The Steampunk Novel. It includes anyone who lists SF or Fantasy among the genres they rep AND some who only list Commercial Fiction, but have clients that write SF/F.

Of that 170, I've queried just over 130, but I haven't gotten over 100 rejections yet, because I'm querying on a rolling basis (so a little less than half of those I've queried haven't gotten around to sending a rejection or a request for more material).

It is important to look for related genres - Mystery, Thriller, Suspense may all describe the same book but one agent may list Thrillers, while another lists Suspense. The best thing to do is A) put them on your query list and B) check out who they rep to see if they seem like they take things similar to what you're querying. (Also, Literary Fiction sometimes includes more genre based work depending on how it's written.)

Click to expand...

Yeah, this seems to be the way things are going for me too. The agents' websites seem to be a lot more broad than I would believe from the drop-down menus in Query Tracker. That's why lately I've only been using it to identify agencies then looking within the agencies' guidelines for the best agents. Often the best agent in the house was not the one Query Tracker put at the top of the search.

Do people resubmit with a new query after X amount of time to the same people

Click to expand...

Not unless they're demented. Agents hate resubmissions for the same project (if Twitter is any indication - which it should be since we're talking agents talking about rewritten queries).

Ctairo said:

Not unless they're demented. Agents hate resubmissions for the same project (if Twitter is any indication - which it should be since we're talking agents talking about rewritten queries).

Click to expand...

Several agents have come out on AW and said it's fine to re-query them with a project, so long as you've spent some time (six months minimum) and significantly improved it. Not just an edit for grammar and touch-ups, but deep edits.

Can I just ask you what category/genre your MS is?

orion_mk3 said:

It is a historical adventure with science fiction elements, or historical science fiction with adventure elements. The combination of genres seems to have made the entire process of querying rather more tricky than if it were straight up one or the other.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't narrow it down to historical. What you're talking about should fit most agents who accept SF/F.

AshleyEpidemic said:

I'm a little bit confused now. Even if genre fiction may be commercial that wouldn't mean I would query my fantasy to an agent who reps commercial (and doesn't specify no fantasy). Or are you saying I would?

I'm confused. Someone hold my hand and guide me to the light.

Click to expand...

Basically, what Siri Kirpal said. Some agents don't specify any genre but simply say "Commercial Fiction". The best thing to do is try and check out who they rep to see if they seem like they'll rep Fantasy or Romance. Some will say "Commercial Fiction" and then say "I especially like a well-written thriller or smart women in sexy romances or whatever."

For instance, Inkwell Management says they represent all genres, but you really have to look closely at the individual bios to figure out who reps what.

Personally, I start with the agents that are clear about their preferences (i.e. the folks at Donald Maass) then work down through the less obvious ones (i.e. Catherine Drayton of InkWell).

I'm at 100+ queries; rejections about half of that, the others no response. That includes agents and independent publishers.

If you think figuring out the different types of fiction that agents rep is hard, puzzling out the varieties of nonfiction is a beast!

I racked up 281 subs, but I was sending to agents who accept YA, which is a lot of agents these days. As long as they didn't specify they excluded SFF, they probably got a query from me.

I'm with you, Orion. I can only find about 40 or 50 agents who want Fantasy. That is with querying multiple agents within an agency. When I look at agents who are requesting partials or fulls it's usually for Young Adult.

I think I may need to expand my horizon to agents who specify commercial

peanut said:

I'm with you, Orion. I can only find about 40 or 50 agents who want Fantasy. That is with querying multiple agents within an agency. When I look at agents who are requesting partials or fulls it's usually for Young Adult.

Click to expand...

There are definitely more than 40 or 50 fantasy agents. I have a list of 75 and that doesn't include anyone who doesn't accept web based queries. Even then, the list has been narrowed to only agents with sales in the last year and from what I deem a respectable agency.