Giving up on a particular agent

Taylor

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How many times would you query an agent on different projects before you give up on that particular agent? I mean if you just get form rejections or no response from them.

After two, I'm thinking they're just not into my style and maybe I should stop querying them altogether—but is two too few or what?
 

Siri Kirpal

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If the two books were the same sort of project, then yes, I'd remove them from your target list.

But if they were notably different, then no.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Chasing the Horizon

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Unless they were rude or unprofessional or stopped accepting your genre all together, why would you ever give up? They might form reject your first five ideas and offer a contract on the sixth. What do you have to lose by querying them?
 

Phaeal

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Yeah, only bad behavior or abandonment of genre or death would have made me leave a particular agent alone. Why should he or she escape the general torture?

:D
 

Undercover

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Or you had a bad experience and learned they aren't good to submit to anyway. Otherwise, never give up.
 

Ferret

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I've gotten requests from agents who had rejected two or three earlier projects. It was probably partially because my writing had improved, but it also may have been because the agents were looking for different things at different times. You never know which ideas will pique an agent's interest.

I agree with the responses you've already gotten. As long as the agent is professional and accepts your genre, there's no reason not to continue submitting.
 

wampuscat

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Never, as long as I thought that agent would be a good fit for my current work. I just saw an agent tweet that she has signed authors on second, third, etc. books after passing on previous queries. You never know if they passed because they saw too many of the same type of book, if a client had a similar book, if the voice wasn't right for them, etc.
 

Coupland

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Keep trying them with knew things if they are an agent you would like to work with. It's not like they will remember you queried before out of the 100s of rejections they likely send out each week.