Sign of the economy?

Just think of it this way: those agents are too busy with their current clients to do your work any justice.

Probably part of it. Also, with the current editorial (or whatever) focus on the next big thing and their apparent unwillingness to take on unknown writers, a lot of submission policies have been tightened.

Would be my guess, anyway.

I seem to be getting a lot of very quick, very form query rejections lately. Could be related to the red circle proliferation. I wouldn't have noticed except that the pace of rejection has really sped up, as if queries are being returned pretty much unread.

Or I could just be paranoid. Or I could just suck mightily. Let's not dismiss those possibilities out of hand.

Meh, I can't control the red circles. Onward, wearing down the rocks to make a Grand Canyon, one drop at a time. Chinese water torture works the same way, come to think.

(Actually, a lot of agents have had the "no unsolicited subs" policy for quite a while. I have pages and pages of them listed in my research notes. Could QT have changed its system of marking them? Wouldn't know -- I'm an AgentQuery girl.)

Karen Junker said:

Just think of it this way: those agents are too busy with their current clients to do your work any justice.

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LOL, and thinking this is supposed to make me feel better? I want my mommy...

On another forum, people were talking about screenplays and treatments in much the same manner. Apparently the economic crunch is making development money very tight, so very few treatments are being bought, as well as fewer scripts. The commonality here may be that editors and their time are a cost, as is putting out a wide variety of books that may not be big sellers, and in an economic pinch, publishing houses may simply not want to take as many chances on new talent or the cost of developing new authors and their products.

The economic crunch has negatively affected just about every business, including the publishing industry: fewer retail outlets exist than even one year ago, less books are being sold at retail, library budgets have been slashed and libraries are buying fewer new books (the same for schools and schools systems), many publishers have closed their doors or merged, most of those publishers still in business need and buy fewer new mid-market sale books, agencies have closed and/or merged, most agencies have fewer slots open to sign new writers, and spend more of their time concentrating on the writers they rep who have turned a profit in the past, as well as on queries they formerly received that show promise, and it goes on and on. The only exception is a new, potential blockbuster manuscript received by an agent.

Shadow_Ferret said:

. . . "This agent does NOT accept unsolicited queries.". . .

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WTF? How do they know from whom to solicit a query? Do they find out via ESP? How would this work? "Hi, please query me about a novel!"

--Ken

ResearchGuy said:

WTF? How do they know from whom to solicit a query?

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Referrals from current clients.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Well, I do find it odd. I mean, the agent is supposed to be the gatekeeper for the publishers who do NOT accept unsolicited queries,

But now if agents don't take unsolicited queries, who becomes the gatekeeper for the gatekeeper?

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See post # 9.

Maybe that's what literary scouts are for. I've read about them existing but I really don't know what they do -- could they be the new gatekeepers for agents? Or does anyone know what role they play or how they get paid?

Shadow_Ferret said:

Ah. So I should submit to Jim Butcher if I want his agent? Cool.

I would have assumed he was too busy for that.

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Nah...you can just submit to his agent. She's listed as accepting queries.

So, given this situation, how exactly does the unpublished writer "break in"?

caw

blacbird said:

So, given this situation, how exactly does the unpublished writer "break in"?

caw

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Lock picks. Glass cutters. Ninja suit.

Just my unprofessional advice.

I submitted to one agent at an agency with a general query e-mail and my query was picked up by the assistant of a different, red circled agent. Still talking to that particular agent about revisions, too.

So referrals are one way, but there are others.

blacbird said:

So, given this situation, how exactly does the unpublished writer "break in"?

caw

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Never underestimate the power of networking in the bar at writers' conferences.

... probably true about the economy having some effect on agencies policies with queries. Depends a lot too on how the book industry as a whole is doing. Any recent measures of this?

Let us not go overboard. It sucks right now for authors yes, both submitting to agents, or for those of us who are agented, submitting to editors.

BUT. While many agents had a red line through their name, not all did.

And while many editors aren't acquiring new books, there still are some who are.

This isn't an all or nothing situation of, "Well what do I do now, now that all agents are only accepting queries on recommendations?" Just last week a friend of mine had a request for a full with an unsolicited query.

Yes, it is harder now, it is harder all round in every profession, but it isn't impossible, and Shadow, it isn't as bleak as you are making it sound like. But here's a suggestion, you're in the UK right? You were complaining about conferences 1000 miles away. There's the book festival at Hay ever May (the website even lists other such events). I know my agent is always there. There might not be as many conferences where you are, but there's that festival near you that you might want to check out. If for any other reason that I hear it's awesome (also don't forget about the Edinburgh Book Festival).

An agent that does not take unsolicited queries may have other methods of hearing about new talent. I've been solicited twice by such agents based on my short stories out there on the internet. (Nothing came of either, dammit. Well, one got a request to revise and resubmit.)

I'm guessing these agents are pretty busy or otherwise want a break from slush. They're likely not completely closed to new submissions, but are taking them from agent-friends or conferences or roaming the internets.

They roam the internet?

Wayne K said:

They roam the internet?

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Some do. Some don't.

Network, my friends. Network.

Also, I started querying agents in early September, and yes, I saw a lot who weren't accepting unsolicited queries. But I found about fifty who were, and that's just in my genre. I've already had a full request that turned into a request for a revision and resubmission, from an unsolicited query to an agent at a major agency. Sure, it took me about two weeks of research to put together my list of agents. It took a lot of searching to find a bunch who liked my genre, made good sales, and were taking unsolicited queries. But I found them. If I can, anybody can.