I posted a while ago about making sure to personalize your query letters for the agency and agent you are sending things to. One author commented and I wanted to take the time to respond to this.
The trouble is, agents know how unique and different they are. All aspiring authors have to go on is the brief blurb on the agency website, and maybe if you're lucky occasional blog or Youtube interview (which still doesn't tell us much). It's dreadfully hard to personalize [sic] a query letter because that's not enough to begin to get a sense of the agent as a person.
This is something I hear a lot of from authors but there is something I am seeing here that says a lot, and it all comes down to time.
As I have stated here on the blog, and I will continue to do when I speak with authors, is that this business takes time. You cannot rush this business. In fact, with anything we do in the world, to be successful takes time. If we have a career we want to enter, we take the time to learn every nuance of that business to make our resume and our background perfect for the future employer. Even when we start looking at potential companies we wish to work for, we take the time to really explore that company. We want to know what they really do, what their work climate is like and so forth.
And yet, in publishing, I see far too many authors who simply see the agent (and even the publisher) as simply a tools, as a means to the end, which is nothing more than getting the book published. They don't take the time.
In this author's comment, I see a quick search of a website and that is it. Truly getting to know that agent and who they are as a person takes time. It requires going to conferences where they are speaking and listening to them. It takes reading all of the articles they write for other writing groups or online journals. It takes asking around and hearing what a lot of people are saying. AND THEN, it takes synthesizing that information into something that is truly meaningful to you.
Yes, I do know there are agencies that maybe don't give a lot of information on their website about the specifics of what they want, but pay attention to what they are putting on their. Do they only promote certain authors? Do they have a tendency to ignore some authors? What are they spending the time talking about? This will give you the insight.
The author sent a second comment that I also want to respond to:
On the other hand, email queries make it easy (and cheap) to fire off 100s of queries; consequently, agents are getting zillions of queries. Which perhaps means some agents quickly reject and move on--more and more without even a form reply.
I'm sure it's not true of everyone, but I suspect there are some agents who will spend a little more time evaluating a paper submission than an emailed one. Am I wrong?
I cannot respond to what all agents do, but I can respond to what I do, and yes, what I have heard some agents say. Let me address some of these questions/comments individually:
email queries make it easy (and cheap) to fire off 100s [sic] of queries - This is a mistake. Your writing DOES NOT fit with "100's" of agents ( or editors for that matter). You are just throwing darts. When you apply for work, do you just send resumes out to everyone who pops up in the classified ads (for you print people) or in your online searches for jobs in your area? No! You find the jobs you are a "match" with. You should be doing the same here.
agents are getting zillions of queries. Which perhaps means some agents quickly reject and move on--more and more without even a form reply - Some are but they are receiving queries for the entire agency, or they accept a lot of genres. This is not an issue. Do we move fast through the queries? Yes! But here is the thing. We know what we want in a story and we want to see it. Remember that in the "real world" cover letters and resumes are only looked at for under 30 seconds. There is no difference here.
I would also add that it doesn't take much to "quickly reject" a project. That first read through is simply looking at the premise, the genre and the marketability of the project. This is strictly looking at the concept. If that first phase of the marketing sounds great, we can move on to the next level of checking the quality of the work (and that is the request for the material). It is shocking to say this, but authors just give us too many reasons to say no on that first read through.
Now, as to response thing... Yes, I have heard some agents take the approach that no response is a no. I personally don't agree with that. I do think at least a form letter is appropriate. Of course, I know that I have refused to answer some people who have sent things that are either far from professional or clearly someone who is a completely clued out to the world. But those are limiting.
some agents who will spend a little more time evaluating a paper submission than an emailed one. - Be careful with this one. Since we have moved to such a digital world, we like to see those projects in that form. Remember we are reading these on the move. Editors and agents are reading them on their digital devices on mass transit going to and from the office. I would also add that those paper submissions are often a sign to us that the author probably is "out of touch" with what the publishing world is really about.
Yes, this was a bit long, but I think worth it. These were great comments and hopefully gave some insight.
And I have been out of town with some conferences to that is why the blog has been quiet for a while. Will get back to this ASAP!
Scott
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