When to query and agent blogs

angelscribe · Sep 26, 2007

Hey everyone. When the best time to query? At Agentquery.com's forum, one member said Labor Day is the busiest for agents, winter after thanksgiving and before New Year's is bad, but late January or early February work. I plan to query next year to 120 agents, hopefully. When's the best time to query then? Anyone with experience? (I couldn't find the thread.)

Here's a my first list of 20 agencies out of 120 I plan to query that I got from Writer's Market, AQ and GLA. Anyone with experience? I only find some on the agent blog thread, but not all, not through Google. If anyone knows the blog address, please let me know. I'll post more later this week. This list is in sequential order:

1. Avenue A-Jennifer Cayea
2. Jill Grinberg-Jill Grinberg
3. Barbara Zitwer-Barbara Zitwer
4. Fielding-Whitney Lee
5. Northern Lights-Sammie Justeson
6. Dunham-Jenny Dunham
7. Edward Armstrong-Edward Armstrong
8. Jabberwocky-Joshua Blimes
9. Bradford-Laura Bradford
10. Quicksilver-Robert Silverstein
11. Launchbooks-David Fugate
12. Gelfman Schneider-Deborah Schneider
13. Baker's Mark-Gretchen Stelter
14. Raines and Raines-Theron Raines
15. Whimsy-Jackie Meyer
16. Helen Rees-Helen Rees
17. Firebrand-Nadia Cornier (I got the blog from the thread)
18. Doe Coover-Colleen Mohyde
19. KT Public Relations-Kae Tienstra
20. Brandt and Hochman-Gail Hochman

Thanks!

C.bronco · Sep 26, 2007

Many good sources have said that you should query when your ms is ready, you've written a solid synopsis and your query letter has a good hook. Other than that, anytime, but responses are generally slower in the summer (and that I know to be true).

angelscribe · Sep 26, 2007

Thanks C Bronco. I was just curious if there's a bad time. I originally wanted to start on 1/1, depending if a get a novel done. But other than the summer, (I plan to stop if I get some nibbles or by the end of spring/early summer), it's good, other than holidays?

Carrie R. · Sep 26, 2007

I agree with C Bronco -- I'd query when your manuscript is ready and your query and synopsis are polished. Personally, I wouldn't send a query right before a big holiday or right after, just because you mind end up in a huge pile. But even that doesn't matter if you've got a good project.

I was a big over-thinker when I started querying, worrying about things like when the best time to submit was. Looking back on it, it's the writing that really matters, not the date on the query letter. So if you have a project ready to query, I'd say the best time to do it is today

angelscribe · Sep 26, 2007

Thanks Carrie. I just wanted to get it straightened out. I hope to get done in 12 weeks if possible, with one of my four mss ready for queries. Anyone have experience with my top 20 agencies listed before. Maybe 1/4/08 I'll start.

Harper K · Sep 26, 2007

I've heard that response times can be slower in January because a lot of people hold off on sending stuff over the holidays... and also because you get a lot of enthusiastic New Year's resolution people sending queries: "This is the year I'll publish my novel!" And so they shotgun 75 queries on January 2.

But if your material's good, then it should stand out at any time of the year. Honestly, I'll probably be querying early next year, too.

ORION · Sep 26, 2007

And I queried in the middle of summer and got representation in 3 weeks. My novel sold in the winter-
So yes there are slow times but I would not let that get in your way-
Query when you're ready but query in batches of 10 or less so you can gauge your response.

arkady · Sep 27, 2007

angelscribe said:
...winter after thanksgiving and before New Year's is bad...

Isn't that period also known as "December?"

As to your question, I think Carrie R. has the best advice. I'm a writer, not an agent, but my experience has been that there's no such thing as a good time to query.

angelscribe · Sep 27, 2007

Thanks for the response time. I'm glad I'm not alone querying next year. I guess whenever you're ready, spring or summer, it's the best time. Don't worry. I'll doing a batch of 10 at a time-5 email, 5 letters. If only I can get my writing perfect and finish a novel. Orion, who do you get as an agent?

angelscribe · Sep 27, 2007

More agent blogs

Here's my next list of 20 agencies I hope to query next year. Anyone with past experiences with them or websites for their blogs?

21. Halston Freeman-Molly Freeman
22. Russell and Volkening-Timothy Seldes
23. P. Stathonikos-Penny Stathonikos
24. RLR-Tara Mark
25. Fairbank Literary-Sorche Fairbank
26. Margaret McBride-Margaret McBride
27. Winsun-Mark Littleton
28. Denise Shannon-Denise Shannon
29. International Transactions-Sandra Riva
30. Jennifer DeChiara-Jennifer DeChiara
31. Linda Roghaar-Linda Roghaar
32. Literary Group-Frank Weimann
33. Rights Ltd.-Ben Salmon
34. Renee Zuckerbrot-Renee Zuckerbrot
35. Andrea Brown-Laura Rennert
36. Artists and Artisians-Michelle Wolfson
37. Halyard-Alaina Grayson
38. Felicia Eth-Felicia Eth
39. Harvey Klinger-David Dunton
40. Three Seas-Cori Deyoe

victoriastrauss · Sep 30, 2007

You've got a really big range of focus in your agency lists. For instance, Cori Deyoe of 3 Seas specializes in romance, erotica, chick lit, YA, and children's chapter books, while Quicksilver doesn't seem to specialize in any of those genres, and Launchbooks' only fiction interest is hard science fiction. Are you absolutely sure that all these agents are appropriate for your manuscript? Don't count on the info you find in one place--if possible, use multiple sources (especially agents' own websites, which is where I found the info on the agencies I mentioned) to research every agent you're thinking of approaching.

The Whimsy Agency has an interminable agency clause in its contract--not a good thing. See this alert from the Authors' Guild.

- Victoria

angelscribe · Sep 30, 2007

Yes I'm sure. According to GLA and AQ, Cori and Quicksilver list thrillers as a genre, even at Writer's Market. Whimsy isn't listed at PR&E. I'll let GLA and PR&E know. What does that mean?

dantem42 · Oct 2, 2007

angelscribe said:
Yes I'm sure. According to GLA and AQ, Cori and Quicksilver list thrillers as a genre, even at Writer's Market. Whimsy isn't listed at PR&E. I'll let GLA and PR&E know. What does that mean?

If you really want to focus, try to track down some of the principal authors the agent reps. For example, "thriller" covers a huge gamut of often disparate work, from Da Vinci Code-type stuff to the quasi-sci fi of Crichton. If you google the agent, you'll possibly get some stuff from the agent website, but you'll also find news releases to trade pubs that link the agent to an author.

angelscribe · Oct 2, 2007

Dantem, how do you exactly track down someone like Iris Johanson? At Querytracker.com, most of my fave authors have an agent listed while some don't. My thrillers are legal and psychological suspense. But at the websites I've been to, I didn't see a blog.

ORION · Oct 2, 2007

As I said in a PM to angelscribe - go through books in a bookstore looking in the back acknowledgment pages. The other way is to sign up for Publishers Marketplace (it's $20 a month -at least do it for one month if you can't afford more) and you can search through the deals and find out ALL kinds of great info. it's also a great way to see what pitches were used for the projects - a great resource.

ORION · Oct 2, 2007

BTW to answer your question my agent is Dorian Karchmar of William Morris Agency.
Most authors have their agents listed under "contact" on their website or you often can google an author's name and the words "represented by" I have Dorian's contact info on my website but she is also in Agent Query.com

When to query and agent blogs

angelscribe

C.bronco

I have plans...

angelscribe

Carrie R.

Procrastinating, clearly

angelscribe

Harper K

here's to the girl on the go

ORION

Sailed away years ago

arkady

angelscribe

angelscribe

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

angelscribe

dantem42

angelscribe

ORION

Sailed away years ago

ORION

Sailed away years ago