Sub to your top choice or last?

CuriousandCuriouser · Jun 26, 2012

I was just wondering ... When you are ready to send out queries.. do you all send to your very top choice first? Or to a lower level agent to see if there are any nibbles on your query first?

Thanx u wonderful writers u

quicklime · Jun 26, 2012

CuriousandCuriouser said:
I was just wondering ... When you are ready to send out queries.. do you all send to your very top choice first? Or to a lower level agent to see if there are any nibbles on your query first?

Thanx u wonderful writers u

what would you propose doing, if you got a bite? Sending them a note saying you wanted to know if a sub-par agent liked it enough, but now they should wait while you see if anyone better wants it?

send to the top first.

Beachgirl · Jun 26, 2012

quicklime said:
what would you propose doing, if you got a bite? Sending them a note saying you wanted to know if a sub-par agent liked it enough, but now they should wait while you see if anyone better wants it?

send to the top first.

^^This. Always.

heyjude · Jun 26, 2012

You should have a number of agents you'd be interested in working with (and already know that they're not scammers, that they rep what you write, etc). Send Qs in batches of 5-10 and see how it's going. Don't send to all your favorites right at first in case you find that your Q or the ms itself needs tweaking.

MKrys · Jun 26, 2012

Beachgirl said:
^^This. Always.

Going to second (third?) this.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 26, 2012

What quicklime said. I see no purpose in starting at the bottom unless, when a bottom tier agent accepts it, you go, "Neener Neener! You can't have it!"

If you did that enough I would think you end up with a rep as a head case and the top tier probably wouldn't want anything to do with you.

CuriousandCuriouser · Jun 26, 2012

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Quick- I guess I should have clarified more but I had posted this quickly. Of course I would take any bites, any nibbles even a sniff

But I was just wondering if anyone had sent queries out to see if it would get a positive response from other agents they were interested in before sending to their very very top choice. I guess I was thinking if you didn't get a good response a request for a partial or full from a few "lower agents" on your list that would let you know you had some tweaking to do before you sent it to your favey favorites. I dunno I was just mulling the idea around.
I would never ever ever sub to someone I did not truly want to work with though and I could never bring myself to "neener neener" an agent lol. I'd probably give them my first born just for a peek.
But I think heyj 's idea of splitting my faves up is great, that way it would give me time to fix anything that needs fixing. Thank you all very much!

Deleted member 42 · Jun 26, 2012

Always start at the top.

Fae11 · Jun 26, 2012

CuriousandCuriouser: I did exactly what you're mulling over in combination with what others have suggested. I sent out a few queries at a time, and did a mix of top agents and agents who were less high on my list. In the end, I got an offer from an agent lower on the ladder, but because of that offer, another offer followed from an agent higher on my list. I have come to believe that it isn't a good idea to try all of one's favorites first. My query definitely changed as I went along and got better with each pass. Good luck with your search!

Sub to your top choice or last?

CuriousandCuriouser

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

Beachgirl

Not easily managed

heyjude

Making my own sunshine

MKrys

Quietly obsessing

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

CuriousandCuriouser

Deleted member 42

Fae11