Querying Another Agent In Nonresponder's Firm?

Some of my queries have been outstanding for months and so I think I can safely assume the recipients aren't that into me. Without an official rejection, though, is it acceptable to query another agent at the firm of someone who has ignored me? (This assumes it isn't an agency that says that a rejection by one is a rejection by all or that you can assume a rejection if you don't hear within a stated period of time.)

If so, how long should I wait?

At some firms, it was difficult to choose a particular agent, so I would like to take a shot at others if possible.

Ryan_Sullivan said:

4-6 weeks should be fine. Nonresponders almost always state a specific time frame.

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Actually, I have a number of nonresponders who haven't Or they say it is usually a certain amount of time, but they sometimes get swamped so it can take an unspecified longer amount of time.

I've also had people who say that they always answer everyone, but haven't responded to me. I guess I'm special ... or I've just queried lots and so have ran into about everything.

I've looked at querytracker for everyone, but some people don't have much of a track record or they have responses over a wide range of time.

So far for me, the longest before a nibble from a query has been two months. Maybe that is a good rule of thumb absent some indication that I should wait a bit longer.

Thanks for the advice, both of you. It makes me feel more comfortable in doing what I wanted to do

Yes, I've gotten rejected twice as well, but with the same form letter each time, both in response to one query. OK, I get it

I can do three months (or four) before I start. I have one data base search to finish, and then I can go back to the firms I queried in the beginning. There are also some agents I passed the first time through because they wanted some customized, longer query letter, a process I thought I'd skip if I could. By the time I get to those places that I queried two months ago, more time will have passed.

Or, who knows, maybe I'll have representation by that time. I do have people looking at my book. I just like to keep busy while they do so, rather than obsessively check my inbox!

However, I don't know that I would get an "assistant sorts and sees the same query" problem, because I have largely emailed. My older queries were also before I responded to some comments by agents and shortened my book, changed the query, and even changed the name of the book.

(I've kicked around the idea of requerying folks who have rejected me, or not responded after months, with my new query, but I don't know if that would accomplish anything. I've only requeried those that gave me some indication that my rewrite might change their mind. I picked up a couple who are willing to look at my writing again so I guess that wasn't wasted effort.)

I guess I shouldn't have joked about being rejected twice by the same agent. I accidentally queried the same agent twice, but months apart and with two different query letters. I do keep a list but for some reason I didn't see her name until I was checking later for someone else. Too embarassing to email and say, "Never mind ..."

Ryan_Sullivan said:

Double submission happens. I queried my agent's assistant, then queried him a few months later. She rejected me, and he requested a full (and the e-mail came from her). I wouldn't have ever queried him if I had known she was still his assistant. Mistakes happen. Sometimes they can play to your benefit.

And, interestingly enough, Tina Wexler just said in a Q&A at Literary Rambles (caseylmccormick.blogspot.com) that it's okay to query months apart with the same project/new letter. So, agents are different.

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Cool ... maybe I'll resubmit. What's the worst that can happen? Do you think I should mention that my book is different now than the one previously queried about -- or not even mention the previous query?

I'll have to think some more about whether the query has changed drastically. My hook is the same, but everything else is better (at least in my opinion ). The biggest difference to agents, though, might be my reported word count.

Some who passed on the first go round could have seen the writing, actually, since this is a nonfiction work and some agents want you to submit your book proposal (which has sample chapters). The other parts of my book proposal have also been rewritten quite a bit.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Perhaps I will resubmit to those who received the proposal, mentioning the changes. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow ... In any event, I still have new people I can query at this point.