I thought I'd share this with the rest of you here. I queried this agency nearly 2 years ago - yep, 2 years ago since I keep records. The query concerned my police mystery novel, "Cold Scheme" - and I just received (March 19, 2007) reply from someone at the agency named Miriam Kriss, declining interest in the novel. It's a generic rejection but it's NOT an auto-reply which makes me wonder who's doing "cleaning-up" at the agency and more important, why...?
Dear Author,
I dislike having to send you a standard form letter as much as I'm sure you
dislike receiving one. Unfortunately, the volume of unsolicited mail
prevents us from giving more individual responses.
We did review your proposal, and for some reason we don't feel we can represent it. Some of them come close, and yours may well be one of those, but we do have our reasons for declining.
We also appreciate the hard work and diligence needed to get in the door, and we applaud your efforts. Since this is a highly subjective business, you may well find success elsewhere, and we wish you all the best with your writing.
Sincerely,
Miriam Kriss
Now, this particular novel's gone to publish as an e-book about 1 year ago. So, as for agents not being courteous and replying - positive or negative - this agency takes courtesy very seriously...honestly, I'm still chuckling about it. I mean 2 years...? Why bother?