Thank you once again to everyone who participated in the Be An Agent for a Day contest. 50 queries, 300+ participants, 15,000+ comments later….. I know you’re curious to see how you did.
When I started this contest I really had no idea how it would go. I didn’t even spell out a prize because I wasn’t sure if we’d have five winners or fifty winners. I didn’t know if it would be fantastically easy for people to spot the three actually-published authors among the fifty queries or whether it would be fantastically hard.
Well, now we have our answer. And I think you’ll be surprised.
First off, none of the actually published books were among the top five most requested queries.
And out of the 300+ people who participated, only two people guessed all three published authors with their five choices (that’s less than 1%, compared to the 16% who predicted they got all three). A huge, massive round of applause to Moth and Chenelley!!! They win partial manuscript critiques. They also might have a future career as agents.
Now then. At long last, here are the ones who were actually (or soon to be) published:
Query #39 was for THE PREY by Allison Brennan. The query (and manuscript) landed her an agent, a pre-empt offer from Ballantine, and reached #33 on the NY Times bestseller list. Spotting this query would have been a career-maker. Only 15% of the agents for a day requested it (and many of the ones who passed were quite rude).
Query #9 was by Hannah Moskowitz, and her novel BREAK will be published this summer by Simon Pulse. In real life 60% of the agents she queried requested to see more. But only 31% of the agents for a day requested it.
Query #21 was by Inara Scott, who subsequently received a two book deal with Hyperion Books for Young Readers. Only 16% of the agents for a day requested it.
By contrast, the most-requested query overall was #10, a work-in-progress by Dawn Johnson, which generated a 52% request rate.
What should we make of all this?
To be fair, many of the people who personalized their rejection to Allison Brennan’s query mentioned that they were passing because it sounded too familiar. Well….. yeah. It was a big book. Quite a few people probably either remembered it or even read it. So I’ll let some of you slide on that one.
But more importantly, I think this contest goes to show how people may have overemphasized the query itself when they were playing agents. The queries that generated the highest response rate were the most technically precise. They were tidy, they were well-organized, they followed the rules. They were good queries (and some of them may go on to have success stories of their own). But this wasn’t a contest to spot the best queries.
When an agent is reading a query we’re trying to look past the query to get a sense of the underlying book. We’re evaluating the concept and the writing, not ticking off a box of requirements. I don’t reject people solely because they start with rhetorical questions or their word count isn’t quite right or they break one of the query “rules”. I can’t afford to do that. Nor do I request pages for a book that has a perfect query but whose underlying concept is flawed.
A good concept and strong writing are more important than good query form.
Now, a strong query helps your odds and your request rate, which is why we blogging agents spend so much time talking about the “rules”. It really does help your odds to write a good one. When people are writing good queries it helps us spot the good projects. But remember: the most important thing is not writing a good query, but rather writing a good book. A strong concept is so important.
The other main element I’d take from this challenge is how subjective this business really is. What resonates with you might not resonate with someone else. That’s why it’s so important to query widely. I was one of the 40% who passed on Hannah’s query because it just wasn’t quite right for me at the time.
And of course, I hope everyone will remember this contest the next time a poor agent or editor is mocked for passing on [insert bestseller here]. Because getting it right is incredibly hard.
What do YOU think of the results?
Anonymous says
Please define your term, “Big book” (in reference to one of the published books.)
My YA has been out on submission (vis a major agent/agency) for a year.
During a conversation with a publishing type, he noted one of its problems was that it was not a “big book.”
I didn’t think to ask at the time how a book’s size (I am thinking literally: the m.s. is 350 double spaced, courier font) impacts its sales potential.
Mira says
Oh. Where are my manners?
Nathan, this was such a fun contest.
Thank you for doing this. I’m sure it was a huge amount of extra work for you. This was very generous and constructive. Thanks for putting all that effort to help build understanding between writers and agents.
It was both edifying and super-fun.
Thanks.
terri says
I just went through the stats and found that most of my picks were in good company:
#10 – 52%
#17 – 43%
#35 – 35%
My last two picks were lonely, however something about these tales intrigued me:
#02 – 3%
#41 – 2%
Tamara says
Wow. 0-3. I’m proud to say two of the three were on my short list, but I also disregarded them because they were so familiar. I’ve learned a lot from this exercise. Nathan, thank you for that. One thing in particular is like so many other things in life, when it comes to good writing, you should trust your instincts.
Anonymous says
Is there a difference between trolls and snarks?
I’m just learning the language.. and I’d hate to call someone a snark when they’re really a troll.
reader says
Nathan,
I wonder if at some point you can expand on the “A strong conept is so important,” par of today’s post.
What makes a great concept, and how does it differ from one that’s too far out there?
Nathan Bransford says
reader-
Yeah, I’m planning on posting on that too. I think a completely original concept is somewhat overrated, but at the same time, it can’t be too similar to something that’s already out there. I always think of it as “fresh take on existing tropes.” Because unless you’re a once in a generation genius like Tolkien, Mary Shelley or H.G. Wells, you’re probably not inventing an entirely new genre. And even they used story arcs that go back to the Greeks.
Deniz Bevan says
Congratulations to the winners! And thank you to everyone that personalized their rejections/acceptions – although you can’t please all the people all the time, the more comments one gets, the easier it is to edit one’s query letter.
That being said, I do wonder about the whole “can’t cram every detail of the plot” into the letter rule – because, invariably, the minute you leave something out, the reader comes back with “but you didn’t explain this aspect, therefore the plot isn’t viable, therefore I’m rejecting your manuscript.” Argh! How do you get around that?
Bane of Anubis says
0 for 3 – definitely enlightening. Thanks a bunch!
David says
Nathan,
re: your comment at 8:29
I know that it is an inexact science, but do you find that authors who ultimately find representation for a particular project are getting requests for partial at a 50 percent clip (or thereabouts)?
Put another way, what kind of request rate should make us feel good, and when should we stop, re-assess whether the query needs work, or worse, maybe the entire project is flawed?
Your comment reminded me of Janet Reid’s comment on her blog a while back that when she offers representation, she’s usually one of a few agents doing so.
Nathan Bransford says
deniz-
Readers might do that, but an agent wouldn’t. We just need the setup.
Will Entrekin says
Okay, so those three were the published ones and one was a best-seller. I’m curious about how their queries performed during the query process, though. Did they have a high rate of success for eliciting a partial request?
That is to say: the one most requested had a 52% partial request rate, which meant that one of every two people wanted to see the book, based on the query. “Actually-published” is a decent gauge for the success of a book, but wouldn’t the best gauge of a good query be how many agents asked to see pages? Each actually-published book, after all, only had to have one agent accept it for representation, for the most part, right?
I don’t know. I hear about the experiments all the time wherein famous authors take their names off of queries to send to agents and editors who reject them, which makes aspiring writers say, “ah HA! Gotchya!” (Doris Lessing is the example most prominent in my head, but I think someone did it with a Naipul manuscript a few years ago) And while this exercise was certainly more informative and educational (not to mention: way more productive and positive than queryfail, so well done), I guess I’m just wondering about the measure of the successful.
Still, as always, hugely awesome and terrifically well executed, Nathan. This is one of the reasons I think this blog is far and away the single best resource for authors, established and aspiring alike, on the net.
jo says
Please do another one of these, preferably in the summer.
Nathan Bransford says
david-
Think of it as your query request rate setting the odds, and then you roll the dice.
I honestly don’t know what a “normal” request rate is for books that go on to be published, but there have to at least be consistent nibbles for your odds to be good.
Bane of Anubis says
And Hannah – 18 and 2 be published – very nicely done; kudos 2 you.
And 2 Moth & C – bravo.
Heather Harper says
I was right in assuming I only picked one of the three-BREAK. BUT, the other two were among my final choices before I actually picked. So, yay me. 😉
Congrats to the two actual winners!
I passed on the other YA, and boy was that choice a struggle, but I felt she left unanswered questions in her query about her premise. Query pertinent questions,IMO, like:
“Sarah will be forced to take sides in the most difficult struggle she has ever faced” What struggle and why is it difficult?
I’ve been taught to not keep secrets in your query. To tell, not show. That is why I gave a no, even though I liked it.
And for A. Brennan… I’m an idiot.
She was a finalist on my list, but I don’t think I’m a good judge of rom suspense because I’m not current with market trends, etc.
You have a hard job, Nathan. You deserve your 15% and more.
Nathan Bransford says
Will-
All three of the actually published works had real world manuscript request rates above 50%.
I too am skeptical of the “gotcha” experiments. Particularly in the case of existing successful works like THE PREY, they had their moment in time, that moment has passed, and I think it’s unfair to judge people for passing on them in 2009. And then at the end of the day of course, it’s subjective.
So I don’t think this proves TOO much, but what I draw from it is: 1) there’s something to be said for the expertise that comes with being an agent 2) I don’t know how good crowds are at predicting the success of works beforehand. It seems like there’s definitely a place for the expert in all of this.
Anonymous says
So for a synopsis, you DO include the resolution, right?
(just checking)
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
Yes.
Scott says
I love to go against the grain with my concepts because that’s what I like to read: bold authors with brass ones and wicked imaginations. I can see now it’s probably hurting or at least delaying my career. My last rejection said: I love your voice, I just don’t know how to sell it. Which makes me wonder if I should be more careful in future queries to place my book into a marketable context outside of just naming like authors.
For the record, my picks were: #6, #10, #18, #37, #48. “Well done” to the minds behind them.
Jen says
Glad No. 9 got published. The premise made my skin crawl but it REALLY got my attention. Hope “Losers” (no. 35) gets picked up too. I’d have jumped all over that one.
CarrieK says
I would love to find out if any of the sample queries used in this contest go on to be published in the future. My choices will be vindicated, I tell you! VINDICATED!
Rachel says
Congrats to the winners. I am impressed. Maybe you could start your own business…like agenting for agents?
Congrats to the published authors, too, as well as the writers who volunteered their queries. That took a lot of guts.
Thanks to Nathan for doing all of this. I’m sure it was a huge undertaking but I think it helped a lot of us realize how much work and intuition goes into being an agent.
Eva Ulian says
I didn’t do so badly:
I asked to see no 9:
I said that no 10 had potential and would catch the eye of the RIGHT agent:
As for no 21, since the author said it was a full length adult novel I replied that at 60,000 words she should try as YA novel- which in fact it turned out to be.
The biggest cock-up (excuse the language) was for me no 39 which because the query was never ending and complicated I was just too tired to bother…
But the overall experience was POSITIVE! Many thanks!
Gabriele C. says
I always think of it as “fresh take on existing tropes.” Like Urban Fantasy in Imperial Rome, maybe?
No, I’m not writing that. 😉 I do write about the Romans, but focussing on their presence in Britain and Germany, with lots of battles and a family feud. Aside the fact that I have plans for several novels already, so far I haven’t come up with a character and concept for Roman UF, and I don’t know I ever will. It just struck me as an interesting idea.
:)Ash says
Very interesting! Congrats to the winners!
Marilyn Peake says
Oh well, I guessed two out of three. I requested fulls for #9, #39, and #10. For #10, not only did I think the query was well-written, I sincerely hoped it was published, because I so wanted to read that book. I think that #10 sounds like something that could be a best-selling book as well as a TV series someday.
Congratulations to Moth and Chenelley!
Casey McGill says
Congrats to the winners! I didn’t participate (it’s almost finals week, I probably would have ended up curled in a fetal position humming Spice Girls songs if I tried…) but I commend everyone who did. I read a few of the queries and that was enough for me. I think I’ll stick with writing. Thanks Nathan for a glimpse at your crazy lifestyle!
Chuck H. says
Thanks for the opportunity to prove what I already knew. I’m not cut out to be an agent. Now I’m beginning to wonder if I’m cut out to be a writer either. Anyway, to quote one of my inspirations, Douglas Adams, “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.”
richfigel says
As author of query #17 (INUGAMI), just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback! It was adapted from a query I used for a spec screenplay that did well in contests, but hasn’t been optioned or produced yet… which is why I didn’t include a word count (script queries never include that sort of thing — it’s assumed you know the “proper” length for that genre).
Mira asked “where’s the romance” — actually there is a subplot involving a beautiful Japantown artist, who is connected to the dead Fortune Teller! Should’a worked that into the query.
And yeah, probably too much synopsis info for a query. Also, I agree I should’ve left out the exclamation point on a plot “twist” line. Script queries try to sell the sizzle, so I like to underline big twists or put them in italics and wasn’t sure that would work in this posting format.
Thanks, Nathan for doing this contest! Now that I’ve tested the concept as a book idea, I’m gonna adapt my script. The great thing is I get to use all the stuff I had to omit or cut out for the movie version — probably 200 pages worth of material (most movie scripts are now under 110 pages).
Aloha,
Rich Figel
Leis says
Well done Moth and Chanelley, good luck with your MSs. Hope something good comes along 🙂
Well I can’t believe I missed ALL three… Sorry Authors. And godspeed to you all.
Nathan Bransford says
Rich-
Please query me when you’ve finished the adaptation.
Marilyn Peake says
Nathan,
If one of our own queries was in the contest, are we allowed to talk about the project here? I received the results to my own query that I was hoping for, and would love to talk about that just a bit.
Lori Erickson says
I didn’t participate in the agent angle of the contest, but I followed with interest. (I doubt I’d have gotten more than one, and that one would’ve been “cheating” since I’d run across Ms. Brennan’s query letter elsewhere while researching how to write my own.) I hope I learned a thing or two–as much from reading all the other queries and comments as from my own (#50).
Thanks to Nathan for running the show, to the volunteers for tallying the results, and to everyone who took time to leave comments on the queries. And congrats to the Super Agents!
Nathan Bransford says
Marilyn-
Of course!
PurpleClover says
“successful works like THE PREY, they had their moment in time, that moment has passed, and I think it’s unfair to judge people for passing on them in 2009”In no way am I trying to be rude, but why was this one included? I passed because it sounded like an old story. A good story, but already done (for obvious reasons). Kudos for those that chose it correctly but I’m not surpised it didn’t have a higher request rate. Are you?
I’m just thinking that the chips were slightly stacked on that one.
And NO. I do not think I would have chosen the three no matter how many times the chips were restacked. 😉
Jenn S. says
0 for 3. The closest I came to success was rejecting #9; I knew it was good but I wouldn’t have been the right “agent” for it. Congrats on your success, Hannah. 🙂
This contest was certainly a lesson in subjectivity. I tried to go with my gut and not read other people’s comments until after I’d made my decision. The wide range of comments was quite interesting, ranging from terse, even rude rejections to raging enthusiasm on the same book. I can see why “not right for me” is such a useful phrase.
I don’t think I would make a good agent in real life, but this was a great experience anyway.
Nathan Bransford says
PC-
I wanted a range of published queries, and I thought it would be fun to have a very successful one in there.
PurpleClover says
rich –
i totally request inugami in like 2.3 seconds. 😉
It sounded GOOD. Let us know when it gets pub’d.
Sage says
Only got the one I knew was being published right: BREAK. (IF IT AIN’T BROKE was the title I came up with for it).
It’s interesting ‘cuz a lot of people rejected #21 based on the fact that it had a rhetorical question. I didn’t reject it because of that, but I thought it showed off why a rhetorical question is a problem.
Query: What if you could make things happen just by imagining them?
Sage: Sounds awesome. Sign me up!
And then I waited for an example of why I shouldn’t want that power and never got one.
I remember that one a lot better than #39, which I suspect I form rejected.
Anyway, this was fun! Thanks, Nathan.
Lots of love,
Sage
PPP says
I failed miserably!
But I understand why I did. I was attracted more to good queries than to good stories.
I hope we get to go this again some time so I can apply what I’ve learned.
Thanks, this was fun!!
PPP
PurpleClover says
Nathan – the whole thing was fun. Period.
Maybe you can make it a quarterly contest?? 😉
In the mean time, any hopes of a twitter contest? 140 character queries?
(*)(*)
____
Megoblocks says
Course, if you want to have some statistical fun, given 50 queries with 3 sellable works in the pile, if you pick one at random (or throw darts, or get a monkey) for each of your 5 requests, you’ve got a 27% chance of seeing at least one.
However, getting 3 of 5 with all random guesswork comes out to something abysmal like .086% (have to double check my math though to be sure, someone can feel free to run the numbers)
So lucky people can get 1. Seems it takes some talent to grab 2 or 3 🙂
CarrieK says
I, too, requested INUGAMI. (As did 46% of commenters! Well done, Rich!)
So, some of us may not be Super Agents now, but we might be the Super Agents of the future…
I really would love to see updates on any of these queries, and I especially hope that my picks get agented and published down the road!
SGF says
After reading the results I thought that we did place too much emphasis on the query itself.
As Nathan commented, there is real skill in being an agent that extends past spotting a good query out of the slush. THAT’S what I take away from this experience. It’s easy to point fingers at tired agents for being rude (ala #agentfail) or having no taste but they are skilled. It’s really good to know that, actually. It’s been a great eye-opener into the field and will ultimately help my perspective as I query.
Janny says
Yeah, I was 0 for 3 as well. Which flat out amazes me. And #39–I KNEW I’d heard it somewhere before. But the query just struck me as “same ol’ same ol’,” so I passed. Ain’t that a hoot!
Just shows that many of us need to stick to our knitting…er, writing.
…and I had the same problem with the “Dancia” name creeping up in that query. Which I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at, to be honest with you.
(sigh)
Congrats to the super agents! Now, will they be hanging out their shingles soon?
Janny
Enusan says
Damn, I ended up passing on Broke at the last minute.
I hope a few of the queries I did request come out in print, or at least get a manuscript request from a real agent. I’d like to read them.
Pinkie says
Thanks, Nathan, this experience was worth it for me.
I picked the Copycat Killer, but missed the other two. I rejected If It Ain’t Broke, thinking it was too morbid. Like someone said, I’m not up to snuff on what is happening in YA. Over the weekend, I attended a reading fair in Philly and there was a long line of autograph seekers waiting for John Green to sign their copy of Paper Town. I knew nothing of the novel and asked someone standing in line. He said, “It’s YA with an edge.”
I also rejected Running Blind thinking it’s so cliche to have someone with power that can’t use it.
But I did get good feedback on my query, and I thank all the participants for pointing out its flaws as well as its strengths. And I will not disappoint those who picked my query. It will get published!
CPK
Meggrs says
Great contest, Nathan. I’m taking a lot away from the experience (more than one lesson learned).
Congrats to the winners and kudos to the participants.
TecZ aka Dalton C Teczon - Writer says
What an eye opener. I had #39 and #21 on my top twelve list. But the “Copy Cat Killer” sounded like a movie I saw with Sigourney Weaver. Wow, good exercise. I personally also loved #10, it was on my top twelve list and I would personally read this kind of story. I love sci-fi. I hope it gets published too.
Thanks so much Nathan. I hope you do this contest again soon. I love another try at it. (ah, I came so close, lol). Have a Beautiful Day All!!!