I haven't sent out any queries to agents in over a year now. (Took a break to have a baby...)
I decided I was ready to query agents once again... but the computer which had the spreadsheet DIED. It was a sudden and dramatic - an excellent computer death. Anyway, I had all my writing backed up, so I didn't lose any of that... but for some reason I didn't back up this spreadsheet. Nooooooo!!!
So, where do I go from here? I remember the names of some of the agents... especially the ones that I had some back-and-forth correspondence with. But, otherwise, it has been about a year and I honestly don't remember who I queried.
What is the best way to go about this? Obviously, I don't want to include an apology in a query (PS- if you already received this, I'm a dumbass and I apologize). Would I risk getting put on some blacklist if I queried the same agent twice in a year for the exact same novel? Or is it highly unlikely that they'd keep records of queries and much less compare those records to look for repeat offenders?
There are some agents I am pretty sure I didn't query yet... but the vast majority fall into the "I'm not sure" category. Should I just stick to the ones I know I didn't query so I don't risk ticking off anyone I already did query? I hate to limit myself, and most the one's I'm pretty sure I didn't query are on the "probably didn't query" list for a reason. Either their sales are less than impressive, or I'm borderline on whether my book would fit in with their current list.
I'm trying to convince myself that agents recieve thousands of queries a week. It seems like there is basically NO way they would remember me. Even if someone did remember me, their assistant reading the queries would likely just send a form rejection and not put much thought into it. I feel bad wasting their time with a double query... but, I don't want to not query hundreds of agents because they are on my "not sure if I already queried them" list.
I've got to win some sort of award of shame for this. Thanks for your opinions on the matter.
I decided I was ready to query agents once again... but the computer which had the spreadsheet DIED. It was a sudden and dramatic - an excellent computer death. Anyway, I had all my writing backed up, so I didn't lose any of that... but for some reason I didn't back up this spreadsheet. Nooooooo!!!
So, where do I go from here? I remember the names of some of the agents... especially the ones that I had some back-and-forth correspondence with. But, otherwise, it has been about a year and I honestly don't remember who I queried.
What is the best way to go about this? Obviously, I don't want to include an apology in a query (PS- if you already received this, I'm a dumbass and I apologize). Would I risk getting put on some blacklist if I queried the same agent twice in a year for the exact same novel? Or is it highly unlikely that they'd keep records of queries and much less compare those records to look for repeat offenders?
There are some agents I am pretty sure I didn't query yet... but the vast majority fall into the "I'm not sure" category. Should I just stick to the ones I know I didn't query so I don't risk ticking off anyone I already did query? I hate to limit myself, and most the one's I'm pretty sure I didn't query are on the "probably didn't query" list for a reason. Either their sales are less than impressive, or I'm borderline on whether my book would fit in with their current list.
I'm trying to convince myself that agents recieve thousands of queries a week. It seems like there is basically NO way they would remember me. Even if someone did remember me, their assistant reading the queries would likely just send a form rejection and not put much thought into it. I feel bad wasting their time with a double query... but, I don't want to not query hundreds of agents because they are on my "not sure if I already queried them" list.
I've got to win some sort of award of shame for this. Thanks for your opinions on the matter.