Is no answer or a form rejection final?

iwannabepublished

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I've been sending out queries for a while, getting only no response or a form rejection, so I stopped.
For the past several months I have completely rewritten my query letter and synopsis. I've also done a lot of polishing on my manuscript. Is it dumb to try some of the same agents again? Some of the queries I've sent were more than a year ago.
 

amyashley

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I read somewhere recently-- I don't know if it was GLA or an agent blog, but if I find the link I will post--that if you have revised everything it doesn;t hurt to requery ONCE.

Actually, one of the agents on my list, Nancy Coffey Literary, recently changed their submissions guidelines to state they welcomed this.

You can make a note of it in your query. The worst thing that can happen is getting a second rejection. I wouldn't advise doing it more than twice.
 

Susan Coffin

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I've been sending out queries for a while, getting only no response or a form rejection, so I stopped.
For the past several months I have completely rewritten my query letter and synopsis. I've also done a lot of polishing on my manuscript. Is it dumb to try some of the same agents again? Some of the queries I've sent were more than a year ago.

I wouldn't, because it's the same novel and no means no.

However, I've heard there is an exception to this rule: you can query same agents if the novel has been so reconstructed that it would not be recognizable as the last novel.
 

Becca C.

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I'd say yes, if an adequate period of time has elapsed since the rejection (say six months), and your manuscript has been extensively revised.
 

waylander

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It will be a different intern screening the submissions this year so I would try again
 

Jamesaritchie

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Generally, yes, either is a final and certain no. This doesn't mean you absolutely can't query again, if you're upfront and completely honest about saying that it is a re-query, but agents do keep track, interns never, ever make real decisions, and , in any case, are usually instructed to automatically reject anything that has come in before.

There are many agents out there. Go at them one or two or three at a time, and you don't have to worry about no being final. Go at them in large groups, querying dozens or more at a time, and you've probably lost the chance to land a good agent, even if the rewrite helps tremendously.
 

iwannabepublished

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Thanks for your feedback. At least six months will have passed by the time I complete all of my rewrites. Since I make every effort to query people that claim to be interested in the genre of my story (thriller), the list of agents is not tremendous. I also attempt to find agents claiming a willingness to work with new authors, another limiting factor. I am a little uncomfortable with the idea of being up front and telling the agent they rejected my work but that I have done a major rewrite so please have another look. I guess this is the proper thing to do with an agent that actually e-mailed back a form rejections. For those that never responded in the first place, I'm not sure if I should remind them of that in my new query.
 

amyashley

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I think this is a situation in which every single detail doesn;t need to be divulged.

Go with a line like: "Since I queried you in October, my novel has been revised extensively for maximum impact. I wanted to offer another chance at a great opportunity."
 
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sgf

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This might be a dumb question, but if an agent doesn't respond or sends a reject based on just a query letter, why would it matter if the novel has been revised at all? The agent never looked at it in the first place, and the problem might have been just an ineffective query letter.

Of course, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to mention that the novel has been revised, just to break the ice in resubmitting a query.
 

kaitie

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I'd send to everyone who lists thriller, whether they state a willingness to work with first time authors or not. The only exception to this, in my book, is when they specifically state the opposite--"Only taking on previously published authors." I've come across that a time or two.

Most agents are willing to work with debut authors, even if they don't state it. If you've got a great book, it doesn't matter so much who you are. Did you run your query letter through Hell here?

I just read an agent's blog entry today that dealt with this specific topic and she actually suggested mentioning it. Something like "I previously sent you a version of this which you passed on, but I have since made significant changes to the manuscript." They're probably more likely to say no, but she said it's better to be up front about it. I definitely wouldn't mention "I never heard from you," however. That's just me. It almost sounds accusatory. I'd just send the new query with a line stating that you'd revised the manuscript and would they mind taking another look.

I've got a question concerning this topic, too, though. My boyfriend asked me the other day if I couldn't send a revised version of a prior manuscript out to agents again. It was a long shot to begin with, partially due to word count. Over the course of querying, I revised considerably, including cutting the word count by a significant amount. It still runs long, but not nearly as long. I cut tons of scenes and rewrote the beginning completely. I'm still toying with another revision, but I actually have an opening right now that I like.

I just figured it for a loss, but many of my top-choice agents passed on the earliest version. One of them had even expressed interest, but passed after seeing pages. I hadn't even thought of requerying until he asked, and I, too, have been wondering what the standards are for this. The main story is the same, but the actual opening chapters have been completely rewritten and spliced together in new ways, and the POV has been switched.
 

kaitie

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This might be a dumb question, but if an agent doesn't respond or sends a reject based on just a query letter, why would it matter if the novel has been revised at all? The agent never looked at it in the first place, and the problem might have been just an ineffective query letter.

Of course, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to mention that the novel has been revised, just to break the ice in resubmitting a query.

See, and in my mind this would be the best time to resubmit. I've seen a lot of query letters people thought were wonderful, but once we went through them in QLH, it became apparent that no one could understand the plot or who the main characters were, or the stakes, etc. And unfortunately those had already been sent to a hundred and fifty agents.

I'd seriously be tempted to try it again if the new query letter fixed all those issues. It could be that the agent passed because someone just made a newbie error and now has a bit more savvy.

Thoughts? I might be completely wrong on that. Granted, I'm not certain I'd do it. Okay, I probably would. I'm a bit more ambitious now than I once was. I'd try to be up front about it, though.
 

sgf

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See, and in my mind this would be the best time to resubmit. I've seen a lot of query letters people thought were wonderful, but once we went through them in QLH, it became apparent that no one could understand the plot or who the main characters were, or the stakes, etc. And unfortunately those had already been sent to a hundred and fifty agents.


Right, and even a great query letter is going to work for some agents and not work for others. And it's difficult to know who will like it and who won't. So what if your dream agent passes on your query (based on just the query letter), and you've written a new one, coming from a completely different angle (but still true to your novel) that you think the dream agent would like?

If an agent requests a synopsis and a few pages with a query, then I think major revisions would be necessary before ever thinking to re-query that agent. I'm not sure I would ever re-query an agent in any case, but the whole process of getting partial requests and rejects based on just a query letter seems a bit whimsical to me. Maybe that's just my inexperience talking though.
 

Kristoff

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You should also bear in mind that "no reply" doesn't necessarily mean you got rejected. They just might not have got the query. So I'd definitely query those agents again, at least.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Go with a line like: "Since I queried you in October, my novel has been revised extensively for maximum impact. I wanted to offer another chance at a great opportunity."

That's just the kind of line that will make most agents and editors run screaming from the room.
 

amyashley

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That's just the kind of line that will make most agents and editors run screaming from the room.

Aw, c'mon James! They only really run, when you tell them the special spirits have delivered this novel to you via dreams, and it's THEIR MISSION to get it published.


Oh wait, that's when they laugh.
 

CaoPaux

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Seriously, though ... if circumstances warrant mention it's a re-query, then state it simply as "this is a re-query"; preferably at the bottom of the letter, which is of course so improved the agent won't care it's a re-query by the time they get to it. :cool:
 

amyashley

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Kaitie, I think since the opening 30-50 pages is what most read in a partial and you have changed POV (which is a significant change) that's another case where it can't hurt to try.

Maybe the wording I suggested was off, but at any rate I would be honest about the fact the it IS a requery, and that you've made some major revisions. I think honesty is a good policy. I also think that any agent would rather have the chance to take a look rather than miss out if it really is good work.

Rejection sucks, but you really don't have much to lose if you are e-mailing. I'd still be searching for more agents to query. I would not, as I said query anyone more than twice.
 

OneWriter

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"Since I queried you in October, my novel has been revised extensively for maximum impact. I wanted to offer another chance at a great opportunity."

The rest is fine. Add: "I was hoping you wouldn't mind taking a second look." I did it (ten months later) and it worked. I also admitted that when I queried the first time my novel wasn't ready and I didn't know better. They know that's the most frequent mistake new writers make.

Look, as long as you're polite and professional, it doesn't hurt to ask.
 

iwannabepublished

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You should also bear in mind that "no reply" doesn't necessarily mean you got rejected. They just might not have got the query. So I'd definitely query those agents again, at least.

That's an awfully chilling thought.

In fact, I got involved with a thread here a few weeks ago on just this issue.

In the dark, dim past, when agents did not yet accept e-mail queries, I sent mine via US priority mail. In doing this, I was able to track and confirm delivery of my query package.

In today's world, where agents accept and in some cases will only read e-mail queries, there is obviously no way to confirm the query reached them. Although I have seldom heard of an e-mail losing it's way and even occasionally receive an automated message indicating I had used an incrorrect e-mail address.

It would be nice to be able to know for sure that my e-mail query packaged reached the agent, or at least the intern screening submissions. On the thread here that discussed if it was acceptable to request a delivery receipt or a read receipt, the overwhelming response was not to.

The reasons given for this included the fact that many e-mail services are not set to automatically send a receive receipt to begin with. Another point that was made was that lots of people simply ignore read receipt confirmations requests.

Personally, I use MS Outlook and have no idea how other e-mails services work in terms of read receipts. In outlook, if someone requests a read receipt, a panel pops up that you can quickly respond to or simply cancel out. It's quick and easy and I don't understand why people suggest not doing it.

In any event, my plan is that, once I've completed my manuscript and synopsis revisions, I'm going to throw all those agents that never responded back in the pool and try them again - without mentioning they did not respond the first time around.

Oh, and by the way, yes I have been running my query through QLH. I think it's getting much better, but I haven't decided I have a final version yet.
 

Kristoff

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In any event, my plan is that, once I've completed my manuscript and synopsis revisions, I'm going to throw all those agents that never responded back in the pool and try them again - without mentioning they did not respond the first time around.

Good plan imo. At least two agents I queried (including the one I signed with) never received my first e-query. I followed up every "no reply" with a snail mail query. If I hadn't done that, I would have the kick-ass agent I do now.

"No reply" doesn't always mean "no".

GL! :)
 

BrooklynLee

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I recently read an agent's take on this, and I thought you might find it helpful:

http://kidlit.com/2010/12/10/do-agents-remember-submissions/

For what it's worth though, I had an agent reply to me personally during my agent search process who said that she was sure she'd seen my query/ms before, and was this the second time I had submitted? And frankly, it wasn't. By the point I got that email I already had an agent, but I did have a freakout moment where I thought that maybe someone else was querying a book so similar to mine that an agent confused the two...

Anyway, while I think the post I linked to has a lot of merit, I can say from personal experience that it's not always correct.
 

amyashley

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Thanks BrooklynLee! That was the article I remembered reading. The point I got was that it wasn't so bad to resubmit, but you do need to be up front about it.


Agents are not ogres, they are just people. They aren't going to incinerate you or ruin your career if you break one rule. If you're a persistent pain in the butt, well word might get around.
 

iwannabepublished

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Good plan imo. At least two agents I queried (including the one I signed with) never received my first e-query. I followed up every "no reply" with a snail mail query. If I hadn't done that, I would have the kick-ass agent I do now.

"No reply" doesn't always mean "no".

GL! :)

That's really interesting. How long did you wait until you sent the 'snail mail?"

Were your submission packages the same?

I don't plan on resubmitting until I've finished revising all the items in my package.