When to send Query?

DavidBrett said:

So I'm about 1/2 - 3/4 done with my ms, and I was wondering if it was worth taking the time to send queries?

May sound stupid, but hear me out... to get a better grasp of the current children's market I emailed one or two agents in that field with a short questions synopsisizing my book in one or two sentences and they BOTH asked for what little I'd written at the time. So... is that normal? Do you not strictly have to wait until your MS is complete before sending out queries? Or do agents only ask for the first few chapters anyway but expect you to have finished the full MS?

I'm all confuzzled...

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For US agents, for fiction, yes, you should to finish and polish the book first, before you query.

Some agents ask for partials to start, some ask for fulls. But the expectation is that the entire manuscript is done, polished and ready to be sent. So that even if they start with a partial, should they then ask for the full an hour, a day or week later, it will be ready to go.

You can very quickly make yourself look unprofessional and not very desireable as a client by querying an unfinished manuscript, and then not being able to send the full when requested.

If it's fiction, finish the book, polish the book, and then query.

ETA: You got very lucky with those test emails. Many US agents would have been highly irritated to get non-query, testing the water emails about an unfinished manuscript. I'd advise against doing that with many US agents.

~suki

It's normal to have the whole MS written, for the simple reason that it's very easy to start a book but very hard to finish one. An agent who accepted partials of unfinished books on a regular basis would have a very frustrating time when it came to requesting fulls!

Maybe you had an awesome premise or got lucky with your agents, but as a general rule, never query until you have your book done and polished.

(I think I had about half a chapter left to polish when I started querying agents, but that's like a couple hours' work at most, and I was getting impatient!)

I liked the following bit of advice from some agent's interview: you can start querying a book on Monday, if you are 100% sure you can present the complete book by Wednesday.

simple logic will tell you

If it's easy to finish, do so, then query

If it's hard to finish, then don't query until it's finished.

I assume you're just getting starting in writing. If you submit too early, send out a quickly edited manuscript, and get rejected, you've burned that book pretty much forever. You don't get a lot of second chances.

All logic leads to the same conclusion. Don't query early.

I've always heard wait until you're done writing and polishing so that you can provide a full.

This is one of those unbreakable rules: finish it, then query.

So I'm about 1/2 - 3/4 done with my ms, and I was wondering if it was worth taking the time to send queries?

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Nope. Never send a query out until your book is complete and in tip top shape. In fact, when you start sending out queries, you need to be working on something else.

May sound stupid, but hear me out... to get a better grasp of the current children's market I emailed one or two agents in that field with a short questions synopsisizing my book in one or two sentences and they BOTH asked for what little I'd written at the time. So... is that normal? Do you not strictly have to wait until your MS is complete before sending out queries? Or do agents only ask for the first few chapters anyway but expect you to have finished the full MS?

I'm all confuzzled

Click to expand...

I repeat my prior answer. I believe it might be the same no matter what country you are in, unless the agent guidelines or UK standards dictate otherwise.

If it's fiction you shouldn't query until you have a completed, edited, fully poished manuscript that if requested you can send to the agent immediately. This is basic advice for all fiction writers, but it's particularly important for a writer who is just starting out. The first thing the newbie should be out to prove is that s/he can complete a work in a form that's ready for submssion.

For nonfiction writers the consensus is that you don't need to complete the manuscript before submitting. That you can submit with a query letter, chapter outline, author bio, and the first 50 pages of the mauscript. Me, although I'm a published author who mostly writes nonfiction, I never submit until I've completed my manuscript. But that's me, and it's how I've always worked. I guess I like to be sure I can complete what I outline. But if you write nonfiction do what you think is best.

If they asked for it knowing it was unfinished then I see no issue with sending it. If they see enough potential they may work with you further but I wouldn't expect a ton out of it.

In the future don't send until you're finished. That is expected (unless you are already signed with an agent). It's just how it works.
When you are writing things change, and they change fast. The first few chapters you send out to those agents might change 10 times before your completely finished. I think that is where the biggest issue lies. Not, necessarily, what you "should" do (though following the "rules" in this industry is important)

Good luck.

I don't think it's so much a rule as very good advice to have completed the work before querying. The fear is what if an agent really is interested and asks you for a partial/full and you can't produce it in a timely manner. You'll come off as unprofessional and it will reduce the chances of the agent ever wanting to work with you again. Also, if you mention in your query that the work is incomplete an agent might be very skeptical of your work. After all, starting a novel is easy, finishing and polishing it is hard. Ideas are a dime a hundred nowadays.

That said, if you are confident that you absolutely, positively can produce a complete, edited, polished, as-perfect-as-can-be MS the moment the agent asks for it (which could be the same day ), then go ahead, query first.