I was reading submissions on Query Manager this weekend, and, once again, I had an author submitting material I had already passed on. Now, let me say first, there are agents who will look at revised projects. It is always important to ask first before sending it again. If anything, mention at the very beginning of the query that you sent the project earlier, and you have made revisions. For me, I do not look at revisions. I will look at new projects and should one of those work, we can always go back and revisit the earlier project.
But that is not what is happening here.
Authors just move from one submission platform to the next with the same project. Now, this might be due to poor record keeping. However, that can easily be remedied by using something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet. For the author this weekend, I passed on the project in October the previous year noting that I simply did not like the premise of the story. This was not a case of something to be fixed. Then she submitted again about a month ago on Query Manager and then again just this last week. This one has be puzzled. Query Manager allows you to keep track of these submissions.
Could this be an honest mistake? Sure... but I still see this far too often. It seems there is this belief that if you keep submitting, maybe the agent or editor will suddenly like something and their attitude changed. Maybe there is this belief that since we get so many submissions, we won't remember. For me, I use a spreadsheet so when I type in your name or the title of your book, it does pop up as something I have already seen.
I do think the other factor here is that authors are just sending their projects out to anyone who is breathing. The reality is that you should not be sending a story out to hundreds of people. You MAY get to 20 but after that, you are just throwing darts.
If you like rejections, keep doing what you are doing. If not, stop sending it to people who have already said no, or keep track of those submissions.
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