Opening Emails - the first challenge

5 requests out of 20 queries is GREAT!

(and yes, no response generally means "no". Too many agents get overwhelmed and don't have the time to read, others get tired of being cursed out and vilified because they respond with a "no" even when it's a professional response.)

Yes, no response is generally the new no. But have you checked the guidelines from the various agents? Some have response times posted on their websites, etc. Some say flat out that no response is their policy.

LorelieBrown said:

Yes, no response is generally the new no. But have you checked the guidelines from the various agents? Some have response times posted on their websites, etc. Some say flat out that no response is their policy.

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Ditto this. Check guidelines. Agencies vary with response times.

With referrals, agents take them seriously and they are rarely given unless the referrer is confident the referred agent will be interested in the material. Or the referred agent trusts the taste of the referrer. I've never heard of a "courtesy request." Agents have enough material on their desk without requesting books they don't really want to consider.

But as others have said, your request ratio is great.

ChaosTitan said:

With referrals, agents take them seriously and they are rarely given unless the referrer is confident the referred agent will be interested in the material. Or the referred agent trusts the taste of the referrer.

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Check response times. But I'm also inclined to suggest you head up to Query Letter Hell. A referral may be more inclined for the above reason. Seeing how you've gotten no responses at all from the other 20 agents...my gut says get thee to QLH. Good luck with those fulls.

I'm sure there are courtesy referrals in publishing. They exist in a lot of industries. But they are rare, and if you've got five friends who are willing to sacrifice an agent for you, you're a lucky person.

Bottom line with queries certain lines can be very effective and get a lot of readership:

• I have a proposed contract with Penquin for my book, GREAT NOVEL, and I'm looking for an agent to represent me.
• My last book sold 100,000 copies and this time I think it would be a good idea for an agent to represent me.
• I'm very famous person and I want to write a book.

With those lines, the rest of the query can be gibberish and still work.

Another of the great lines would be "Stephen King, in the enclosed letter, says I'm the best writer he's ever seen and the attached manuscript will make him look like a hack." Again, the rest of the query can be gibberish and most agents would look at it.

Referrals are incredibly powerful in any industry. Judgment by other people that are respected are convincing enough to gamble on.

I'd say that your query probably isn't that good, but when addressing agents with referrals, was good enough.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Also remember that some agents take a while to respond, and responses have been slow over the last month or so because it was Spring conference season. I've had agents respond after 9 months of query. Just today, I got a partial request from an April query.

Usually with snail mail queries the agent almost ALWAYS responds. I've tried to do all of my queries snail mail lately because I simply hate the "No news=rejection" policy. It drives me INSANE.

Epiphany said:

Usually with snail mail queries the agent almost ALWAYS responds. I've tried to do all of my queries snail mail lately because I simply hate the "No news=rejection" policy. It drives me INSANE.

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Usually they respond on snail mail. However, I have a couple out there over 5 months old that haven't responded and I enclosed a SASE. Of course, there's the possibility the mail got lost in either direction!