Agent Etiquette

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Shady Lane

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If an agent sends me an email rejection, is it okay to send back a quick "Thank you for your time" ?

I'd like to think they appreciate it, but I'm afraid they'll delete my response without looking and think I'm trying to protest their rejection.

Thoughts?

Shady
 

janetbellinger

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It's all a matter of your personal preference. I don't send thank you's because I know agents are already inundated with materials they are obligated to read and I'd just be adding to their burden. Also, I figure if they didn't like my writing enough to represent me why would they be interested in an email from me thanking them for replying? Besides, the idea of thanking somebody for rejecting me, no matter how kindly they did it, doesn't sit well with me. It would feel masochistic.
 

Will Lavender

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I wouldn't do that, SL. Unnecessary at best, and at worst it might be construed as desperation. Keep on sending out the query, and...

...best of luck to you. :)
 

Bartholomew

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I always send a thank you to rejections; people appreciate little niceties more than we tend to think, and a thank you takes zero time to read, and does not require any sort of reply.
 

rugcat

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I agree with Bartholomew. I've done that several times myself. My criteria was that if I received a personalized rejection of a partial or full, even by email, I always replied with a short "thanks for taking the time" note.

If it's a rejection of a query, however, I would say it's unnecessary and a bit much.
 

Will Lavender

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I always send a thank you to rejections; people appreciate little niceties more than we tend to think, and a thank you takes zero time to read, and does not require any sort of reply.

You're definitely right about that.

An example: when I interviewed at my MFA program a few years ago, my wife encouraged me to send thank-yous to the three writers who interviewed me.

I thought that was the stupidest thing in the world.

But I did it anyway.

And later, when I actually made it in and began studying, all three of those ladies mentioned that thank-you note.

So who knows.

I'd be interested to see what Miss Snark had to say on the subject.
 

Silver King

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You should have thanked the agent in your cover letter for taking the time to consider your work. Doing so again after the fact would seem redundant.
 

roach

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I'd be interested to see what Miss Snark had to say on the subject.
Ask and you shall receive. Although I think she's commenting on a rejection on a partial with a request to consider the agent in the future.

I got some thank you notes on rejections back in the day when I was on the other side of the desk and they sort of...well weirded me out. Mostly I never knew if I should then send a thank you for the thank you note.
 

stormie

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As Silver and roach said, it's redundant. "Thank you for your time and consideration of...." should be in the cover letter or query in the first place.

And most email rejections are just form rejections. The agent hits "send" and forgets about you. Especially if it's just a query they're rejecting.

Now I said "most." If you do get a truly personalized rejection on a partial or full (and believe me, you'll know if the agent read it. They'll mention different parts of the ms.), then maybe you'd want to send a thank you. And it's different from interviewing for a job, so you can't equate the two.
 

KCH

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Agents are people too. I suspect the very last thing on their list to get honked off about is courtesy.

Don't overthink it. If you feel a thank-you is in order, then send one. Short, to the point, void of any hint of self-serving agenda. If it's read, it's read. If not, so what? There's no Official Agent's Blacklist of Polite People.
 

Claudia Gray

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I agree with those who said a thank you is a good idea for a read of a partial or full, or even for a personalized rejection of a query. For a form rejection of a query, I don't think it's necessary.
 

chibeth

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I send thank yous for personal rejections, and always for fulls, whether the response was personal or form. I'll sometimes send a thank you for a query, but I usually just put the response in the title of the email so the person doesn't have to actually click and read if they don't want to.

Example: Re: Query: Title by me (Thanks for your response!)

I do it because I always appreciate it when someone sends a thank you to me. It shows the person is professional and gracious, and I do make note of their names in case they query me in the future.
 
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