Query etiquette question

wweisser

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Let's say there is a certain agent who swore up and down on multiple occasions he would get back to me with feedback about a partial I sent him, but over a year has passed and he never did. No idea if he ended up reading it or not but I got tired of asking and eventually just figured it was a lost cause and moved on. Now I am querying a new book and trying to figure out whether or how to approach him. Should I:


a) Write to his regular e-mail address and gently remind him he never got back to me last time.
b) Write to his regular e-mail address but don't mention the whole never getting back to me thing.
c) Write to his "query" e-mail address and gently remind him he never got back to me.
d) Write a regular query to his query address as if the whole thing never happened.
e) Skip him and spend the time on someone else.

My feeling is he was probably just bogged down at work and it slipped his mind (this is an agent we're talking about), in which case reminding him of it might make him feel guilty enough to give my new query an extra look. Conversely, reminding him of his fault might annoy him and cause him to drop it in the trash instantly. Or (probably less likely), maybe he did read it but hated it so much he didn't feel like replying even though he said he would. Anyway, what would you do in this situation and how would you word the relevant part of the message, if any?

Edit: just to clarify a couple things...all of this originally started because I met his colleague at a convention and was invited to query them there, which led to the partial request. The reason I have his regular e-mail address as opposed to his public "query" address is because that was what I was using to talk back and forth with him and eventually ask him if he had taken a look yet (the answer was always "not yet but soon").
 
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T Robinson

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What happened to the old one? Was he the only one you queried? What ever you decide, don't limit yourself to maybe's. I would probably go with "E."
 

CindyGirl

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You have nothing to lose by trying him. If you skip him, the answer is no, so your not really risking anything. I wouldn't mention the first book unless he either signs you, or you develop a rapport, in which case you could gently mention it.
 

wweisser

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What happened to the old one? Was he the only one you queried? What ever you decide, don't limit yourself to maybe's. I would probably go with "E."

Old one is still out on submission to some small presses. No, I queried a LOT of agents for that book. Way too many, IMO. Not sure what you mean by "don't limit yourself to maybe's."

You have nothing to lose by trying him. If you skip him, the answer is no, so your not really risking anything.

It's a drain on my time. Still, all things being equal it'd probably be worth querying him again, he represents a lot of books in my genre.
 
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Toothpaste

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I think there's another option and you don't have to mention him saying he'd send you feedback but you can still remind him he asked for a partial. Forget his forgetfulness or bad behaviour or whatever, play the innocent.

Hi Agent!

Last year you were gracious enough to request a partial from me on my previous manuscript, and as such I wanted to query you again with my latest work which I thought might be of interest to you. etc etc


Thank kind of thing.
 

wweisser

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I think there's another option and you don't have to mention him saying he'd send you feedback but you can still remind him he asked for a partial. Forget his forgetfulness or bad behaviour or whatever, play the innocent.

Hi Agent!

Last year you were gracious enough to request a partial from me on my previous manuscript, and as such I wanted to query you again with my latest work which I thought might be of interest to you. etc etc


Thank kind of thing.

That is a great idea. I definitely see the logic. Thanks so much!