What exactly does it mean when an agent says "No unsolicited queries accepted" and how can you get around that?
Solicited Queries
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"No unsolicited queries" is a whole different animal than "no unsolicited submissions." This generally means that they ONLY want to talk to those people with an "in". Your ways around it are:
1) Be introducted to the agent via an author already repped by the company.
2) Be asked to submit based on a meeting/chance encounter at a conference, pitch session or heck -- in the grocery check-out line!
Those are the only two I'm aware of to get around a "no queries" rule.
1) Be introducted to the agent via an author already repped by the company.
2) Be asked to submit based on a meeting/chance encounter at a conference, pitch session or heck -- in the grocery check-out line!
Those are the only two I'm aware of to get around a "no queries" rule.
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I got round this by sitting at the right place at dinner in a conference. The woman opposite me happened to be an agent who avoids publicising the fact because she doesn't have the time to look at piles of submissions. We got talking, I ended up submitting stuff, which she rejected, but later contacted me about commission work. Once I took that on, she came back to me about the rejected stuff in more detail.
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Send it anyways! What's the worse they can do . . . say no? I have queried two agents who, within a day or two after sending them, declared they were no longer accepting unsolicited queries. I got requests from both of them. You have nothing to lose!!
Queries
"No unsolicited queries" means just what it says. Do not send anyway. It wastes everyone's time, it's irritating as heck, and they can do more than say no. They can remember your name.
Look for another place to submit your work to. That one is closed unless you're an agent. Sometimes that's just how things are. You can't make a publisher read your query, and when a place says no unsolicited queries, they aren't going to read it. Find an agent.
"No unsolicited queries" means just what it says. Do not send anyway. It wastes everyone's time, it's irritating as heck, and they can do more than say no. They can remember your name.
Look for another place to submit your work to. That one is closed unless you're an agent. Sometimes that's just how things are. You can't make a publisher read your query, and when a place says no unsolicited queries, they aren't going to read it. Find an agent.