Your Questions on Queries: When to Nudge a Literary Agent
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Mar 21 2016
I always appreciate questions from readers and am happy to do what I can to help answer them…
If I’ve queried, say, my top ten ideal agents, then gotten a request for the full MS from one of them, should I let the other nine agents know that someone has requested it? Perhaps just the ones who haven’t replied yet? Or even the ones that graciously declined?
The argument in the article was that it creates a sense of urgency, which sounded a little more pushy than I’m comfortable with. (LOOK! SOMEBODY LOVES ME!) But then again I’m not an agent seeking out fresh talent.
Maybe, if I were an agent, I would be disappointed to know I could have discovered a great new author, if only my inbox weren’t overflowing with queries. Some agents are busier than others. I expect, in most cases, it’s a direct result of being a successful agent.
Is nudging really nagging? Helpful, or way out of line?
Thoughts?
There might always be the agent who feels differently, but letting me know that an agent has requested your material doesn’t change my opinion. To me that only means there was something about your query that resonated with another agent, but didn’t resonate with me. It also tends to sound, to me, like the author is hoping to create competition when, until there is an actual offer, there is no real competition.
I agree with what you say about being an agent and feeling disappointed about missing out on something. It’s why I always suggest that when the offer of representation does come in you contact those top choice agents who have not yet responded, even to the query. In other words, that’s the time to get in touch and let them know that something is happening. Not before.
Nudging when the posted timeframe for response is up or when you have an offer is not nagging. Emailing every few weeks to see what’s up is.
I hope that helps and congrats on the request. Good luck!
I’ve noticed a lot of writers get too excited when an agent asks to see the full manuscript. It’s certainly something to be pleased about, but it’s NOT an offer of representation. Agents reject fulls all the time.
Nudging other agents in the pipeline when you’ve received an offer of representation is polite. Nudging them when you’ve waited longer than their respond-by date is an acceptable way to help your sanity.
Any other nudging is nagging.
What if the agent has had your full manuscript (by request) for 5 months and her website says she responds to ALL full requests within 3 months? The agent in question is usually very good about responding yay or nay. I sent a polite e-mail nudge, but haven’t heard back. Should I assume it’s a no and move on?
It’s ok to mark it as a no, but if this agent usually responds I wouldn’t assume it’s a reject. She might very well still be getting to it. Especially if you get an offer.
It’s like I say to my students “if you have the question than most in the room probably do as well”. So thanks for answering these questions, Jessica, because your answers help us all.
My first Query Letter went out on October 21, 2021. At that time I knew squat about how to Query an Agent, or about the process of getting a novel published. Since then, I have learned much. As of today, I have queried 13 agents – 3 of which were rejected, one was to an agent who was not accepting queries at the time (and I did not notice it). So I have 9 which I assume to be still in active consideration. My last query went out on January 26. I have not received any response to my first query, which is now over hundred days, or over 14 weeks.
Should I close that one and do a fresh query on it? My query skill has improved and gotten better with each subsequent query. My second query is only 24 days old. My novel is fits in with the Science Fiction genre. I am Canadian and live in Canada.
Thank you,
first comment was an error. I noticed that unlike the majority of agents, you respond to the majority, if not all, the queries you receive.