Inbox crickets

StellaArgentum · Aug 21, 2013

So perhaps I chose the worst two weeks of the year to query, but I've heard absolutely nothing from 11 agents I queried this week and last week. I know a week is no time at all in agent land, but the people I sent queries to are active on Twitter, announcing new signed clients, and generally going about their agent-y business. And yet ... no replies. (I know, I know -- queries are the last thing on a million-item-long list of agent priorities.)

I want to send another batch of queries next Wednesday, but I'm burning through my agent list really quickly.

Is anyone else who's querying at this time encountering total silence? It seems like people who sent out queries at the beginning of August had a good response rate.

Impatient cow saysMOOOOOOO.

stormie · Aug 21, 2013

Take a deep breath.

Wait until you hear back from at least one agent. If it's a request for more--great! If not, check it off and *send the query out to another agent. *

You want to see if your queries are getting positive responses first. If after say, five queries, no one bites, revisit the query. And make sure you are targeting agents who rep what you write.

Now, exhale. And wait.

*I just realized you said you sent out 11 queries. Wait until you get five responses before sending out more queries. Patience is hard, but a good thing.

StellaArgentum · Aug 21, 2013

Thanks, stormie. Patience is not one of my strong suits!

I just needed to vent after silently freaking out for 10 days. It's just been me and my inbox in this horrible, quiet staring contest.

I do have a full request, and a lot of the agents I've queried requested pages from me on my previous book, so I was able to mention that in their individual letters. I do hope to hear from most of them (ideally with good news!), it's just taking so much longer than I want.

stormie · Aug 21, 2013

StellaArgentum said:
Thanks, stormie. Patience is not one of my strong suits! I just needed to vent after silently freaking out for 10 days. It's just been me and my inbox in this horrible, quiet staring contest.

I do have a full request, and a lot of the agents I've queried requested pages from me on my previous book, so I was able to mention that in their individual letters. I do hope to hear from most of them (ideally with good news!), it's just taking so much longer than I want.

Yep, as I said in my rep to you, with a response to a full, that could take 3 months.

I noticed with my short stories that I sent out in the winter and spring, I received a lot of responses in the beginning of August, as if the editors were cleaning out their inboxes before vacation. So, yeah, it might take a few more weeks to get responses to your agent queries.

Good luck!

ChocolateChipCookie · Aug 21, 2013

Stella, I share your impatience. There are so many agents I've queried who've never responded that it gets frustrating. I want to go to agentland and make an echoing shout, "HELLO! CAN YOU READ MY QUERY?"

My biggest complaint: the agents who say they will only respond if interested. Meanwhile, we're hanging onto the query cliff by our fingers. Well? Well?

*crickets*

Argh!

StellaArgentum · Aug 21, 2013

stormie said:
I noticed with my short stories that I sent out in the winter and spring, I received a lot of responses in the beginning of August, as if the editors were cleaning out their inboxes before vacation. So, yeah, it might take a few more weeks to get responses to your agent queries.

That's what I was worried about, that I really did pick the worst two weeks of the year to query.

But the book was ready when it was ready, and I guess the agents will check their query queues eventually.

StellaArgentum · Aug 21, 2013

ChocolateChipCookie said:
Stella, I share your impatience. There are so many agents I've queried who've never responded that it gets frustrating. I want to go to agentland and make an echoing shout, "HELLO! CAN YOU READ MY QUERY?"

My biggest complaint: the agents who say they will only respond if interested. Meanwhile, we're hanging onto the query cliff by our fingers. Well? Well?

*crickets*

Argh!

Good luck! Waiting is the worst, but it's the thing we seem to do the most of in this industry. Here's hoping for good news for us both.

Phaeal · Aug 21, 2013

Here's why the querying process is so long: agents and editors are in an ultimately benevolent conspiracy to harden writers for all the looooooooong waits AFTER you get rep. And AFTER you get an offer. And AFTER the book goes into the production line.

For me and many, the only cure is to query according to a schedule until it becomes totally routine, while putting all your passion into writing the next book, not staring at the inbox.

As for the so-called August doldrums. Last year (on MY vacation), I was dealing with studying and signing a contract. This year (on MY vacation), the copy editor is poised to send me an MS for review and input. So plenty of publishing people do stay busy this infamous month.

It's the psychiatrists that are all on Martha's Vineyard.

stormie · Aug 21, 2013

Phaeal said:
For me and many, the only cure is to query according to a schedule until it becomes totally routine, while putting all your passion into writing the next book, not staring at the inbox.

My bold.

Years ago, in the ancient times of snail mail, I used to watch for the mail carrier. Poor guy. As soon as I saw him, I'd swing the door open and grab the mail out of his hand. The wailing and gnashing of teeth happened after I shut the door and ran into the bathroom.

Thirteen years (and counting) and I haven't accosted a mail carrier in awhile.

And it's been a whole fourteen minutes since I checked my Inbox.

StellaArgentum · Aug 21, 2013

Phaeal said:
Here's why the querying process is so long: agents and editors are in an ultimately benevolent conspiracy to harden writers for all the looooooooong waits AFTER you get rep. And AFTER you get an offer. And AFTER the book goes into the production line.

For me and many, the only cure is to query according to a schedule until it becomes totally routine, while putting all your passion into writing the next book, not staring at the inbox.

As for the so-called August doldrums. Last year (on MY vacation), I was dealing with studying and signing a contract. This year (on MY vacation), the copy editor is poised to send me an MS for review and input. So plenty of publishing people do stay busy this infamous month.

It's the psychiatrists that are all on Martha's Vineyard.

Darn those psychiatrists! Gone just when we need their help the most!!

It's good to know there's some activity in August. And I am keeping busy researching my next book, but I have that 2-second attention span issue where I keep stopping whatever I'm doing to check my inbox. (It doesn't help that I'm stuck in front of a computer for work M-F).

I think you're spot on about the waiting game. It's conditioning for the rest of a writing career. Sigh!

WendyN · Aug 21, 2013

I'm pretty sure the crickets have taken up permanent residence in my inbox. It's absolutely agonizing. I'm hoping things will pick up after Labor Day. (fingers crossed)

itsmary · Aug 21, 2013

I can empathize. I sent out queries in March 2011 (for a project that has since been trunked) and almost all of them got responses. Mostly negative responses, of course, but still responses. Now that I'm querying another project, it seems like all I'm hearing this time around is crickets. But when I look at my querytracker stats, they list a lot more responses than I realized. So I guess it's just me getting impatient.

StellaArgentum · Aug 22, 2013

Good point about Labor Day, WKlein. I think I'll wait to send out my next batch of queries until the Tuesday after.

itsmary, I have to stop checking QueryTracker, because many of the agents I've queried show really fast average response times, and that's not helping me feel less crazy!

I did get a few automated confirmation emails, so I know the queries went through.

I'm so ready for the weekend. Two more days of crickets is going to be rough.

Witch_turtle · Aug 22, 2013

At least crickets are cute...kind of

itsmary · Aug 22, 2013

StellaArgentum said:
itsmary, I have to stop checking QueryTracker, because many of the agents I've queried show really fast average response times, and that's not helping me feel less crazy! I did get a few automated confirmation emails, so I know the queries went through.

I should probably stop checking QueryTracker too. It's definitely not helping.

I did just get a form rejection this morning, though. Guess I made it happen by talking about it? haha

mayqueen · Aug 22, 2013

You know I understand! I think what I find the hardest to wrap my brain around is not knowing if this is a "no response means no" kind of thing or a "my email is being eaten by internet gremlins" kind of thing. I haven't even been getting responses to snail-mail queries.

Upside? I'm really dealing with my spam email issues. Every time I get an email from a listserv or company that I don't care about, I go full-throttle on unsubscribing and filtering their email (instead of simply deleting).

Hang in there! I believe it will happen.

ETA: QT. Oh god. We have a love-hate relationship.

StellaArgentum · Aug 22, 2013

mayqueen said:
You know I understand! I think what I find the hardest to wrap my brain around is not knowing if this is a "no response means no" kind of thing or a "my email is being eaten by internet gremlins" kind of thing. I haven't even been getting responses to snail-mail queries.

Upside? I'm really dealing with my spam email issues. Every time I get an email from a listserv or company that I don't care about, I go full-throttle on unsubscribing and filtering their email (instead of simply deleting).

Hang in there! I believe it will happen.

ETA: QT. Oh god. We have a love-hate relationship.

I love that you found a silver lining to obsessing over your inbox.

I will have to do the same!

The thing about QT is that it's so vague. I don't have a paid subscription, so I just see the average response times, and nothing to compare the last month or so. Which isn't helping me answer the question of "is it just me, or is it just when I queried?"

I'm hoping for good news for both of us (and sooner rather than later!).

mayqueen · Aug 22, 2013

The paid subscription is only so helpful. You can kind of see if people who queried around the same time as you have gotten responses or not, but since agents read out of order, it's never a guarantee.

StellaArgentum · Aug 22, 2013

mayqueen said:
The paid subscription is only so helpful. You can kind of see if people who queried around the same time as you have gotten responses or not, but since agents read out of order, it's never a guarantee.

Oh, that's not helpful. Ugh. To the whiskey!

StellaArgentum · Aug 22, 2013

I just got a rejection! I am absurdly happy to have gotten any email at all. Maybe this means agents are reading through their queries again??

WendyN · Aug 22, 2013

StellaArgentum said:
I just got a rejection! I am absurdly happy to have gotten any email at all. Maybe this means agents are reading through their queries again??

Ha! Same thing just happened to me, and I had the exact same reaction!

StellaArgentum · Aug 22, 2013

WKlein said:
Ha! Same thing just happened to me, and I had the exact same reaction!

Looks like itsmary did, too!

So! Now that we've got the Rs out of the way, let's get some full requests!!

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