As many blogging agents have noted, there has been quite the uptick in queries this year, and I have the stats to prove it. I received 105 queries over the past three days, which is certainly a record for a holiday weekend. Also of note: the Stephenie Meyer effect is strong. I didn’t separate out “YA Fantasy” in the YA category, but the bulk of the YA queries I received were YA Fantasy, plus 13 adult fantasy queries.
On to the stats:
Young adult: 19
Literary fiction: 14
Fantasy: 13
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: 13
Women’s fiction: 8
Male ennui: 5
Self-help: 4
Religion: 4
Historical fiction: 4
Memoir: 4
Science Fiction 3
Short Story collection: 2
Picture book: 2
Biography: 2
Romance: 1
Western: 1
No freaking clue: 4
Of those 105 queries, 35 were personalized (33%) and I requested two partials (2%)
Some more fun categories:
People who “didn’t take no for an answer” and sent me their partial after I had already passed (please note: this doesn’t work): 2
Queries sent as nothing but an attachment (which I deleted): 2
Queries that misspelled the word “query” or “blog”: 3
Addressed “Dear Literary Agent” or other impersonal opener: 8
And, of course, queries beginning with a rhetorical question: 4
You know, I wonder if the uptick in queries has anything to do with rising unemployment… so many people have been downsized and are looking into new careers – I wonder how many of them decided to use the non-working time to finally write their great American novel.
On the brighter side, I hope the partials rock.
I love the new genre you’ve discovered: “No Freaking Clue”. The possibilities are endless. 🙂
yes! I love query stats.
That’s very interesting–especially the genre of “no freaking clue.”
I’m also betting that a rise in fantasy novels isn’t only due to the Stephanie Meyer effect–I think with times being as hard as they are now, people are looking for an escape into a completely different world. Then again, that could be said about most fiction, so who knows 😛
I know fantasy is the thing to write in Dayton–everyone in my critique group but me is writing it (ranging from urban fantasy to high fantasy with dragons).
It’s also nice to see I won’t be the only historical fiction writer out there submitting to agents 🙂
Hi Nathan…I wondered, just out of idle interest, what’s the shortest query you’ve ever received that made you request a partial or a full? Does someone hold the record at 30 words or something?
And now…back to the masterwork.
Nathan:
I know it would be labor intensive on your part, but it would be really cool if you chronicled what happens with those two partials you requested. I’m interested to learn more about the process and following these two along the path might be helpful.
From the queries that you request partials on, what percentage would you say end up making it all the way to book deal and publication?
Thanks!
Scott
Neil-
I honestly don’t know the shortest query that has resulted in a partial, but I’d say at least 150 words.
Scott-
I don’t really keep track of partial stats, but I’d say of the partials I request I probably request fulls for 2-5% and end up taking on a handful a year.
Wow! Thanks, Nathan. It almost seems a little like American Idol…
Interesting statistics.
By the way, I hope you’ll accept my full manuscript despite refusing my 85th quarry letter. Thanks, and I read your bolge.
Just curious…
How do you misspell ‘blog’?
How on earth do you misspell “blog”?
Hey SideKick, you read my mind. Freaky!
Nathan,
Can you tell us the genres for the two partials you requested?
Someone misspelled BLOG?!?
I can’t believe you still get those “DEAR AGENT” queries. With your blog being so popular and you being well-known on the Internet, people would have known your name.
*shaking my head*
Ooh, thanks for sharing! I’m a tart for stats.
I don’t understand something. You said, “Of those 105 queries, 35 were personalized”.
You mean you replied personally to 35? With a non-form rejection? Or are you actually saying that only 35 out of 105 knew your name? Or do you mean that 70 out of 105 cc’ed other agents on the query?
None of those options make sense to me, so please clarify. Pretty please. 😀
Oh crap, and my novel is a YA Fantasy…figures! I also enjoy reading your bllogg.
nixy-
35 mentioned something about my blog, my clients, or something that showed that they had taken the time to research me.
And yes, I responded personally to them, unless they said they’d read my blog but strayed so wildly from my query recommendations that it was clear they had seen my blog but hadn’t actually read anything, in which case I sent a form rejection.
Love the query stats! They make me feel like a lone wolf for writing contemporary, real-world YA.
Your query stats fans might also get a kick out of this article from UK agent Andrew Lownie — he chronicles a week in the life of his agency, e-mail, snail mail, and all. Link
So it looks like close to 20 percent of those who queried had no clue about audience, purpose, or attention to detail.
I wonder how many have the nerve to call themselves writers…
After all this time, I definitely appreciate a personal rejection of my query. So thanks for that!
For anyone — does YA dystopian count as fantasy?
Well, out of loyalty to some of my favorite books, I’d substitute the ‘Meyers effect’ with the ‘J.K. Rowling effect.’
I appreciate seeing these stats. It helps give me a bigger picture of the field. It also occurs to me that you must work pretty hard, Nathan.
It’s also very educational. Once I actually write something and then query an agent, I’ll need to do something to stand out from the huge crowd.
Does anyone know if we have this technology? When an agent opens my query, I’d like fireworks to start shooting off, and the 1812 oveture to start playing. The part with the cannons.
If anyone knows how to do that, let me know.
This is curious. My agent said she and an agent friend noticed the same thing. The general consensus in her blog responses was that the economy (layoffs) are giving people more time to write their “Great American Novel”.
Overall, have you noticed the quality of queries has deteriorated? Or is the quality fairly consistent as before the increase in volume?
Since the category of “ennui” always makes me laugh.
Is ennui sort of like watching last night’s episode of The Bachelor? Things should be happening, love should be blossoming, but instead you find yourself on a roadtrip in which “connections” and people being “amazing” have no shape or form or lead to anything significant, like, a plot?
Wow
I wasn’t expecting a post from you today, out of respect for Jillian’s departure last night.
Seriously…what is Jason thinking (besides, I just bedded three hot chicks in a week on national TV)?
harris
I don’t think Meyers started the upsurge in YA Fantasy. It began long before she did. She just had the timing to get in during the peak.
As someone who runs around calling herself a writer, I’ve had a couple of friends of friends contact me recently about writing a book.
This is of course purely anecdotal, but the people I spoke with were unemployed and approached book writing like a get rich quick scheme. They seemed shocked that actual work and research might be involved.
Of course, I’m unemployed too, so I shouldn’t really talk, but I’ve been working at this for years now and at least have some idea about how hard it is to get published.
anon-
I’d say a slight deterioration overall with lots more frivolous queries, such as the ones where “query” is misspelled.
Harris-
I’m still reeling from the Naomi departure. I thought she was good people.
The Rowling-Meyer Effect… sounds like something from a paper on particle physics.
Nathan,
You’re almost at a thousand followers. Are you gonna throw a party for all of us? I mean, you could offer Kool-Aid, since you’re officially at cult status…
My best, as always,
Bryan Russell
…Going back to check all my queries to make sure they don’t begin with a rhetorical question…
Every time I read your blog I see something else I’m doing wrong without realizing it!
Thanks for the stats! This is interesting to see. I’m wondering what your average day is like. Do you read fulls in the office, or do you take them home to read on the couch or something? Sorry, just curious. And don’t answer if you think I’m being dumb. 🙂
lady glamis-
I read anywhere and everywhere I have time. Every time I try and make this into a typical 8-6 type of job it never seems to work.
Intriguing, Bransford. I’ll keep this in mind when I querry (querie? queary?) you in the future… 😉
I have a love/hate relationship to these stats. On the one hand, I find them fascinating (and LOVE the “No Freaking Clue” category – that made my day!). On the other hand, how depressing for us writers!!! It reminds me of the stats that Kristin Nelson posted for 2008 – she received 3,500 queries and took on two new clients. Makes finding a needle in a haystack seem like a breeze…
Naomi’s family was wacked – they focused on her spacey mom , but it was her dad who scared the crap out of me.
Narthun,
I hive a queenie abort your borg. Does you spull chuck anyfing.
MArtian
That 2% partials figure isn’t the most comforting. Although the misspellings and lack of personalization do make it less difficult to take.
Nate,
This actually made me feel better. I am working hard at learning the craft of writing and the rules of querying. The fact that you get a lot of crap skews the statistics towards ‘real’ writers. That’s good, right?
Oh yeah, Ink, as much as I love the KoolAid suggestion, I think I’ll say ‘No’, we all know what happened to the last cult of KoolAid drinkers.
Nathan-
I notice 8 women’s fiction queries. Have you seen a counterpart to male ennui among those, or do their plots tend to vary more?
I’m now going back to check and see if I was given a form rejection by you or not…
On the other hand, lately I have been approached by several people who have written or are writing their “big one” who pretend to know the ins and outs of the entire publishing world but then ask, “Have you ever heard of a query? I heard I have to write one.” To which, I will now assume they mean queary, queery, kweery, etc.
*blank stare* What do I even say to that?
Ink,
Awesome idea. We could even do it like Fark parties (anyone read fark.com?).
What would we call ourselves? Here are some suggestions:
– Nathanites
– Branheads
– Freenathans (then Dan Brown could write his next book about US! Wait, we’re writers. We could write our own book)
Hope you like those partials and find another NYT Bestseller in them, Mr. Bransford! Continued success!
je m’ennui avec l’ennui.
Hey Nathan,
Great post. Can you please clarify what the ‘religion’ category is? Are those theology/no theology books like “The God Delusion” or just fiction that involves religion (e.g. Da Vinci Code)?
Thanks.
Sad that you would automatically think that YA (urban) fantasy has anything to do with Ms. Meyers. No offense to her, but she is hardly the inventor of the genre, nor is she even close the greats that the genre has to offer.
It kind of disturbs me to think that my manuscript would be automatically written off as part of some ploy to cash in on SM’s popularity.
Sad.
Heather-
I’m not saying everyone who writes YA fantasy is trying to cash in on the Meyer bandwagon, but lots are, trust me. There’s a query trend every time there’s a successful book.
Nathan-
I’m your 1000th follower. Do I get a prize?
I’ve been blog stalking you for a while now and have to say that I love your blog. Although it terrifies me at times (only 2%, really?), it’s been very informative.
lol Fun stats. Thanks
That kind of SM query trend makes sense though. When a book is successful there are people looking to read more of that kind of book and so maybe there need to be more of them. Just a thought.
Mine is YA supernatural does that mean that I’m a SM wannabe? Well, heck, I’d love her success.