BookEnds Policy on Repeat Queries
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Apr 10 2018
I think I get this question once a week,
Hi Jessica! Just wondering, if I query you and you think that my query will be better for another colleague in your agency, will you share it with them? Basically: do you have a “pass for one pass for all” policy? Thanks and hope you have a good Sunday!
Happy Sunday (on a Tuesday) to you too.
Obviously every agency is different, but the BookEnds policy is that you should feel free to query every agent at BookEnds, just not at the same time. In other words query away and if you’re rejected by one, feel free to query the next one that fits your book. Of course “fits your book” is key. That doesn’t mean you should query your middle grade to even those agents who don’t represent middle grade.
We don’t have a “pass for one pass for all” policy and while we do share queries, we don’t always share queries. It sort of depends how much we’re feeling another agent might be right for the book.
To expand on the original question…how does a writer know if the query has already been shared to another at BookEnds? Do you assume no-one but the original agent has seen it and query another? Or if a second agent has already seen and passed on the query (unbeknownst to the writer), will querying them be a problem?
You don’t always know, but typically if a query was passed on the response will come from the agent it was passed to.
Thanks, Jessica
Jessica, I will add this information to my notes that I keep on specific agencies. Thank you for taking the time to share this. Hope you have a good Thursday LOL! (even though you may only get a chance to read this many days later, perhaps the following Wednesday.
I queried an agent at BookEnds who requested a full and haven’t heard back for almost a year. Should I assume that’s a pass? There are other agents here who I would love to query. I saw some #MSWL requests that my MG book would fit so well!
I’m really sorry this happened to you. I give you permission to handle this in a couple of ways. Assuming QM still shows the request as open you can simply query another agent and let them know you never received a response on the first, but are querying the same or another book. And/or you can “withdraw” through QM and query another agent here.
Again, my apologies and good luck!
Thank you for your kind words. I will try your first suggestion. I’m excited to move forward!
If a writer has two separate manuscripts, what is the standard for querying for them? Is it the same as for one manuscript? Wait for further information, or rejection, from an agent for one work then submit for the other? Or, is it permittable to query two separate agents, one for each manuscript, simultaneously?
I would not submit two things to the same agent at one time. But if you are querying both books you can feel free to do that.
I would be looking to query both books, each to a separate agent.
without knowing all the details I can’t give concrete advice. That’s fine. Just remember you will likely need to choose only one agent.
Thank you for your responses!
Hi Nicholas, are your two books in different genres? If not, why would you query both at once? It halves the number of agents you can send each book to. And you don’t know who your query will resonate with.
My 2 cents (for what it’s worth) would be to query one book (the one you think is stronger) and let the other rest for longer while you start another. Then, if you have success with your first, you have another to offer them ready to go. If you don’t have any luck, visit your other novel with fresh eyes, one last polish and start again.
One reason I say this is because I’ve seen agents say they don’t like sequential querying from an author. They question whether they can really have two well polished manuscripts in such a short time.
Good luck whatever you choose to do!