Timing?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Alice Luther

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
69
Reaction score
3
Location
Northern MN
Website
www.writingwordbyword.com
I posted this question in the "Ask the Agent" forum, but I wasn't sure if that was the best place for it. So, it's here too. . . (mods?)

So, I've got my mss. finished, critiqued and commented on by 8 different beta readers, revised, finalized, and polished. And the same is true of my query letter. I'm ready to begin querying agents.

However, my question is this: Would it be better to wait until after the holiday season to set this process in motion? I know my own work-laden brain is ready to take a personal holiday come the end of November all the way through the New Year. I imagine I'm not alone. Thoughts on this? HELP.
 

suki

Opinionated
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2008
Messages
4,010
Reaction score
4,825
I posted this question in the "Ask the Agent" forum, but I wasn't sure if that was the best place for it. So, it's here too. . . (mods?)

So, I've got my mss. finished, critiqued and commented on by 8 different beta readers, revised, finalized, and polished. And the same is true of my query letter. I'm ready to begin querying agents.

However, my question is this: Would it be better to wait until after the holiday season to set this process in motion? I know my own work-laden brain is ready to take a personal holiday come the end of November all the way through the New Year. I imagine I'm not alone. Thoughts on this? HELP.


Generally, it's a bad idea to query between Christmas week and the first of the year, and then maybe during BEA and ALA. But seems silly to wait two months to query now.

Yeah, things may slow down a bit, but so what? So, you'll be in line.

I say query. And good luck.

~suki
 

blacbird

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
36,987
Reaction score
6,158
Location
The right earlobe of North America
I don't think there is a "good" time to query. Which is the same as saying I don't think there is a "bad" time to query. Some points in the year, as in the last two weeks of December, are periods during which responses may be delayed, or not happen at all. But as for sending queries, what difference does it make? Any agent worth querying will get to the query in proper order, I would think, regardless of when it is sent. I can't imagine any sensible agent rejecting or ignoring a query just because it was sent at some particular moment.
 

gothicangel

Toughen up.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
7,907
Reaction score
691
Location
North of the Wall
You might find it slower.

The same goes for the summer holidays. I had a partial with an agent for four months, when I did get the rejection she apologised for the delay as the office had been on holiday.

For me the biggest worry would be agents getting deluged by unedited NaNo manuscripts like last year. Expect very grumpy agents come December 1st.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
Waiting is ALWAYS a horrible idea. There is no bad time to query. The only thing waiting ever accomplishes is putting you at the back of the line, and being at the back of the line can cause a rejection when being at the front could mean an acceptance. Even if your query sits there for two months before an agent reads it, it will still get read a heck of a lot faster than the queries sent by writers who waited.

Other writers, a lot of them, are not going to wait, and agents can only take on so many new writers each year. Do you really want the agent of your choice to pick up all the writers she thinks she can handle before she even receives your query?



And bad queries do not cause good ones to be rejected, a NaNo flood or not. In fact, a bunch of bad queries just makes a good one look even better.
 

Miss Plum

Sockpuppet
Banned
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
1,570
Reaction score
187
It's always a bad time to query. Summer holidays, winter holidays, publishers conferences, flu season, you name it. Likewise, every day of the week is bad -- weekends, Wednesdays, Mondays, and all the rest. Go by YOUR schedule: when you finish something, launch it. Don't let industry waves (which may or may not even exist) affect your determined, uncompromising, no-stone-unturned journey to publication.
 

waylander

Who's going for a beer?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
8,279
Reaction score
1,567
Age
65
Location
London, UK
For every agent that shuts up shop in December there's another one who uses the time to catch up on their reading
 

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 3, 2006
Messages
2,809
Reaction score
899
Location
Sunny SoCal
Website
www.katethornton.net
Go for it - get in line now! Don't wait - so much can happen in a short time. Life is short and unpredictable, so don't let anything slide when you're ready to jump on it.

If you feel ready, start querying now.
And best of luck - hope you land a peachy contract!


.
 

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
9,232
Reaction score
1,897
Location
Providence, RI
Yeah, the only week I fear is the first week of December and that bursting dam of NaNo overenthusiasm. But I'll still send my usual quota of queries.
 

Susan Coffin

Tell it like it Is
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
8,049
Reaction score
770
Location
Clearlake Park, CA
Website
www.strokingthepen.com
I posted this question in the "Ask the Agent" forum, but I wasn't sure if that was the best place for it. So, it's here too. . . (mods?)

So, I've got my mss. finished, critiqued and commented on by 8 different beta readers, revised, finalized, and polished. And the same is true of my query letter. I'm ready to begin querying agents.

However, my question is this: Would it be better to wait until after the holiday season to set this process in motion? I know my own work-laden brain is ready to take a personal holiday come the end of November all the way through the New Year. I imagine I'm not alone. Thoughts on this? HELP.

Alice, if you're ready to query, you don't wait for anything. You just get them on out there!

Good luck!
 

aadams73

A Work in Progress
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
9,901
Reaction score
6,428
Location
Oregon
Add me to the "send it now" pile. I once received a request for a partial on Thanksgiving.

Good luck. :)
 

Soccer Mom

Crypto-fascist
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
18,604
Reaction score
8,039
Location
Under your couch
Add me to the "send it now" pile. I once received a request for a partial on Thanksgiving.

Good luck. :)

Yup. I'm another for "send it now." I once got a partial request on the 4th of July. Agent just happened to be working that night.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.