Sending queries to more than one...

I'd say the most common, and probably the best, method is to send out queries in bursts. As in, collect a list of agents (maybe 25, 30, even 50) then send out 5-10. Wait a month or so, then send out 5-10 more. Wait another month or so and send out 5-10 more. This way you'll almost alway have something out there (hopefully fulls!) but you've still got agents in reserve to query using feedback you receive from rejected queries, partials, and/or fulls.

When I started querying, I used the same method you are. I sent a query, got a rejection. Sent another query, got a full request. Then I waited for months before finding this site and learning that I should be sending out more of something. So I did. And I'm glad, cause that second agent essentially ignored my follow-ups and everything. So, for me, the one query after another method isn't very productive.

As for sending out a mass amount of queries all at once...I did that for my last subbed book, basically. It was over 3 or 4 days, but I sent to 9 agents and waited. I got surprisingly good results with that, though it hasn't lead to anything (yet...I'm doing a revision and crossing my fingers!). I still have other agents on a reserve list that I might query after I finish this revision, though I might hold out for my next project.

So, really, all three methods work. I've done all three, and my best results came from the "send all at once", but that left me with few to send to after making changes to the query and the novel. It all comes down to what you, personally, would like to do and which you think would work best for you.

Though, I would suggest sending out at least three to five queries at a time. If you have an amazing manuscript on your hands, and you only sent to one agent, how are you ever supposed to know if you could have gotten a 'better' one?

sheridan3003 said:

Should I just be sitting idly by waiting anxioiusly my first rejection, or should I "shotgun" out as many queries as I can?

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Neither.

Send out queries in small batches, say five to ten at a time.

Meanwhile, work on your next novel.

I agree...I did approx. ten at a time and then started my next novel.

I keep running across agent websites in which they state that they want to know if you are querying any other agencies besides them. I finally ran across one in which they explained that they would "attempt" to give your ms priority if they were the only agency that you were querying.

I've also seen websites that say they will ONLY respond to an email query IF they are interested in what you have to offer. That said, I'm still going to do email queries when I run across an agent who accepts e-queries, and I'm going to do my snail mail queries in batches. But I am NOT going to state that I am querying other agencies. (But then, I'm a novice at getting published, so what do I know?)

ExposingCorruption said:

I keep running across agent websites in which they state that they want to know if you are querying anyone else besides them. I finally ran across one in which they explained that they would "attempt" to give your ms priority if they were the only one that you were querying.

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Agents realize you're querying others besides them. They have to. Most writers get dozens of rejections before finding an agent, and if you only queried one at a time and waited for their response before querying others it would probably take years to land one. Picture this scenario:

You send out one query, get a reject, then send out another, get a reject. Meanwhile, a month has passed. You send out a third, and the agent asks for the full. Hooray! You wait. And wait. 4 months go by, but all you can do is bite your nails because 3-6 months is what you can expect when an agent is reviewing the full. After 5 months, you get a rejection on the full. So you've just spent over half a year and no dice. Besides, it's pretty rare for an agent to respond personally to queries, so it's not like you can "learn" from each rejection.

When it comes to requested material, however, most will want to know if other agents are looking at your manuscript. That makes more sense than wanting to know if you're querying others besides them, because they're about to invest more time in your project.

cate townsend said:

You send out one query, get a reject, then send out another, get a reject. Meanwhile, a month has passed.

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Or worse, you send out a query and get...nothing. Because the agency doesn't respond unless interested. So, using the one-at-a-time method, at what point do you send out the next query?

I sent out 70 over the course of about eight months. The latest actual response was a year and two days (form rejection that came ten months after I signed with my agent). I had about 20 non-responses (most email; one snail mail).

cate townsend said:

Agents realize you're querying others besides them. They have to. Most writers get dozens of rejections before finding an agent, and if you only queried one at a time and waited for their response before querying others it would probably take years to land one.

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I agree 100%. It sounded bizarre, but several agents clearly state on their website that they would like to know if you are sending queries to other agents.

Here's one example from "How to Query Browne & Miller Literary Associates."

6. "If the author is querying several agents, he should indicate that his is a multiple submission."

http://www.browneandmiller.com/Query.html

Some agents want "exclusives". Most agents don't.

ExposingCorruption said:

Here's one example from "How to Query Browne & Miller Literary Associates."

6. "If the author is querying several agents, he should indicate that his is a multiple submission."

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A multiple submission is one where you send an agent two or more different projects to consider. A simultaneous submission is one where you send the same query/project to more than one agent at a time. I think that this can be confusing to some who are just starting the process, especially when you see something like this posted on a agency's website.

The online query form for Artists Literary Group asks: "Is this an exclusive or multiple submission?" http://www.algmedia.com/Submit.html

I think that they want to know if you are querying other agents, as in "Are you excluding all other agents?" It doesn't appear that they want to know whether or not you are sending them two or more different projects to consider.

ExposingCorruption said:

The online query form for Artists Literary Group asks: "Is this an exclusive or multiple submission?" http://www.algmedia.com/Submit.html

I think that they want to know if you are querying other agents, as in "Are you excluding all other agents?" It doesn't appear that they want to know whether or not you are sending them two or more different projects to consider.

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Yes.

It's true that that is more accurately called "simultaneous submission" than "multiple submission", as cate townsend points out, but they're clearly meaning to differentiate between exclusive and non-exclusive submission.

I wouldn't send a query/proposal out exclusively, nor would I make any mention of whether or not it's a simultaneous submission. I'd do as many others have recommended - sending the material out in small batches.

Responses to the query will sometimes prompt a tweak or two that will improve it for later go-rounds - which is why I wouldn't recommend an initial fusillade.

Save the granting of (time-limited) exclusives for requests for fulls.

Maryn said:

I envy you all on writing in a genre which so many agents seek. After research, my total list of potential agents numbers less than twenty.

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Unfortunately, mine is a subset of SF which garners even less response than that...

How do you figure that, astonwest? I can name at least 30 or 40 agents who have actively sell SF. Still not a huge list though.

astonwest said:

Find me agents who are interested in space opera...
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Have you checked the awesome Locus sales announcement spreadsheets compiled by Melinda Rose Goodin, may her name be eternally praised?

Didn't even know it existed...very awesome. Thanks for the link.

(Space opera only comes up with three agents on that list, but even that's better than the "I certainly hope by SF, they include space opera" plan I've been going with)

IceCreamEmpress said:

Have you checked the awesome Locus sales announcement spreadsheets compiled by Melinda Rose Goodin, may her name be eternally praised?

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Here Aston, this should make you feel better...

Except that runs contrary to everything other agents have ever said about "researching the agent before sending your query"

Since someone publishes space opera, there have to be agents handling it. The thing is that I consider about half of SF to be space opera. LOL

No, she's only applying it to the genre aspect. This is, for what it's worth, exactly what Miss Snark used to say. Hmm...

I would still do the research. Especially about who is legit and who isn't, who's making sales and who isn't. JR is just saying that genre preferences might be more elastic than we've been led to believe. Maybe we should query her, eh?

I will personally start with the agents who are the best fit as far as genre is concerned. If need be I'll expand to those where the fit is a bit more approximate. Like a series of concentric circles. I'll start in the middle and work my way outward.

Of course, if my genius is properly recognized, I'll hit the bull's-eye right at the beginning. *cough gag*

In another thread, Victoria commented on how cliquish the fantasy marketing niche is and I do suspect that applies to SF as well. An agent who doesn't have contacts at the publishers such as Tor or Baen might well have a hard time selling to those markets. I will keep trying until I have an agent who is experienced in my own genre for that reason--just another way of looking at the thing.

Of course, not all genre markets are necessarily that cliquish. But that was Victoria's word for it and it echoes what I've heard from other people.