If you haven’t yet finished your queries, please continue to leave your requests and rejections!
But also, please note a programming change: I’m changing the deadline to Saturday night Pacific time, at which time I’m going to close the query threads so I can start compiling some stats. Monday morning I’ll reveal which queries were for books that went on to be published and reveal the Superstar Agents.
Now then. When I announced the contest I really had no idea how this would go. I thought there was a chance people would only make it through five queries and think “This is hard,” or people would breeze through all 50 and think, “Is that all?”
So. For those who have already ventured into the land of agentdom, how was it? Was reading through 50 queries easier or harder than you thought it was going to be?
(And allow me to brag that I made it through 76 real ones yesterday.)
Lupina says
Oops, I read your Saturday-Sunday timeline dyslexically and now see you did not extend it after all, but that is ok. I am two-fifths finished and enjoying the variety so far. It feels like a treasure hunt rather than a big chore, but then I don’t do this every day.
morphine-moniza says
Anon 2.16
I was one of the pretend agents who went with the books they would want to read. From what I gather from blogs, a lot of agents do that too and special in particular genres that they enjoy reading. I think that works because you create links in the industry related to that genre and also because you like reading the books you represent you do a better job selling them.
I think that’s why agents turn down projects which go on to be commercial successes. And its entirely possible that if an agent chooses to sell something they wouldn;t read themselves but realise is commercially viable, then the project would go on not to do as well as with some other agent who actually loves it.
I’ve actually read various forms of this argument on blogs run by agents so I think quite a few of them react to manuscripts not only as agents but also as readers, maybe even primarily as readers. It doesn;t mean that they are unable to identify the commercial worth of the books they reject.
Anonymous says
Some say like like the pitch right up fromt in the letter, before eventhe title. I disagree.
I think it behooves the writer to frame the pitch by first stating title, genre. Otherwise, as someone else pointed out, the reader is trying to figure out as they read the pitch, “What’s this supposed to be? thriller? sci-fi? mysetery?” and they’re not focused on the actual pitch. So get the genre out up front and remove all doubt, frame that pitch so the reader’s mind is ready to go.
Furious D says
I know how hard it is to wade through that sort of material. That’s why I’m sitting out this contest. I’m either too harsh, too soft, or too easily bribed. 😉
Anonymous says
It wasn’t terribly difficult, although I have selected only 2 definites and 4 maybes…still trying to narrow those down to 3.
Two things struck me:
One of the queries was so bad that I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but the pages had such a vivid voice that I couldn’t stop reading.
And, regarding “voice”: As a writer, I’m always a little confused when agents and publishers say they are looking for “voice.” I still can’t define or describe it, but this exercise has shown me that I know it when I see it.
Agent99
Katie says
I cannot tell you how helpful and enlightening it was to do this! I didn’t send one in, but I read a bunch. I think this whole process has DRASTICALLY helped my own query – so thank you!
Scott says
I thought it was about the same, but the rub is I don’t have to now try and shop my choices to publishers. 🙂
Anonymous says
The Q is a very simple matter, and there is some wiggle room for personal preference, but in the submitted Q’s, there was a fair amount of drivel, a few perfect specimens, and everyhting in between. For my $, this is the ideal Q format:
4 para’s max:
1) Intro (incl. why Q that agent, title, completed word count, genre.
2) pitch
3) about you (if relevant–if no credits, or no platform, relevant background to the book of any kind, then omit)
4)Close (completed ms. available, thanks for your consideration, etc.
And that’s it. Worked for me.
Bounce up on it!
Sharon aka Sapphire says
I enjoyed reading all 50 of the queries. I made brief notes on each letter, but have only posted five of my responses so far. I hope the query writers will take the time to read the other author’s letters. I think it is important to present your query in a professional manner. Wordiness is not always a good thing.
balinares says
Dear Nathan,
Thank you very much for this insight into your work. I’m one of the many distant Internet voices who truly appreciate the considerable extra work you put yourself through for this experiment!
I don’t think the experience can really be described in terms of easier or harder than expected, for me: the queries were, as a whole, better than what I was bracing for, but not so many had, ah, the smell of publishable material — does that make any sense? I was surprised by the amount of gut feeling I ended up relying on.
Here is my selection:
#20 – IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
#36 – ROSIE’S CHILD
#40 – BECOMING EMILY NOVAK
#27 – GHOSTLAND
#43 – THE LION’S MANE
(Is it okay to post it here rather than under each individual query post?)
I have a strong hunch that neither #40 nor #43 are among the published three, but the game was to pick material that we felt might be marketable, so I tried to play along.
I am also surprised that the queries which I ended up selecting do not match my personal genre preferences: I believe I may simply be pickier when it comes to my favorite genres. I am not sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing, though. Is this a common phenomenon?
Thank you again for organizing this little experiment: it was highly educational!
gwen says
Reading the queries was no more difficult than I anticipated. The difficult part was trying to decide which partials to request. It definitely would have been a bit easier to decide if sample pages had been attached.
I still had fun, though. Obviously with practicce, one would grow much more adept at spotting errors and weeding out the queries that are not up to par.
Mira says
Wait a minute. I’m going about this the wrong way.
The point isn’t to pick published authors. It’s to pick more published authors than anyone else.
I shouldn’t work hard trying to find the right ones.
I should work hard at sabotaging everyone else’s choices.
Notice:
Everyone stop reading.
I’ll tell you who to pick. Don’t worry yourself about it.
You can trust me.
Mira says
By the way, what do we get if we win this thing?
Not that it seems to really matter to me. Apparently I can be whipped into a frenzy of competition with no discernable goal whatsoever.
But it would be nice to know.
MaLanie says
Thank you for the experience, Nathan.
This has been a great learning lesson.
My best,
MaLanie
melissablue13 says
I started late and now I’m tired only after 31. But I can be honest and say this would be harder to do if there were only women’s fiction, romance and YA queries. Bypassing non-fiction all togther is probably what made it easy. The clincher is that some of the books that I just wouldn’t read had really good queries.
To my tally for 1-31 that I’d request within 5 seconds:
15, which has the most !!!!! next to it on my note pad, and 21 and 31.
The, if only I read those stories winners from 1-31:
10
11
12
14
25
29
And, 30 surprised me with the writing. The query totally lost me, but after reading the writing I changed my outright no really fast.
Now, all this is to say. I stand by my decision to be a writer. Nathan you can keep your day job, it’s safe from the likes of me.
melissablue13 says
Oh, I had no intention of doing the contest(hence ignoring the rules), just wanted to see what it was like to be an agent for a day.
Gregory says
Dear Nathan;
Thank you, GREAT JOB, and a question: The issue of first-person queries came up. I thought I read all your stuff, but if you’ve addressed that, I missed it. Thoughts on that? Good? Bad? Auto-rejection?
Most important lesson learned for me: More on what NOT to put in a query.
Response to some who complained about the comments, found them “breezy,” etc. I had the exact opposite reaction. Yes, a few were snarky. But for the most part, there was a great deal of good, honest feedback here. Very valuable. Lots of time spent by people doing their best to help others. GREAT JOB, PEOPLE!
Thanks again, Nathan. I know people think they got some insight into your world here. And we did, to 5% of it. But then there’s dealing with authors, publishers, editors, manuscripts, selling, selling, and selling. I often wonder how you find time for this blog. Amazing. Thanks again!
— Greg P
“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.” — Isaac Asimov
Anonymous says
I just wanted to say thank-you Nathan. This made it easier for me to realize query rejections do not mean I necessarily did something wrong when I get a rejection, and there is hope. Keep sending out those queries.
Marie
Nathan Bransford says
greg-
I don’t really have thoughts on first person queries. If it works it works. I think it’s usually awkward for people to write as if their character is narrating, but I’m sure it’s worked before.
Mystery Robin says
The hard part for me was to keep readiing with purpose. I felt my eyes glazing over, and going on auto reject mode. I think I’ve heard agents say before that the answer is NO unless you give them a good reason to say yes. I can see that. I can also see how you start to spot trends in queries and start generalizing.
I felt jaded by the end of the list!
Also, it wasn’t nearly as fun as I thought it would be. I imagined something more like browsing my audiofile magazine. Not so. Not so.
Anonymous says
Her’es my patented Cycle of Successâ„¢:
1. write book
2. try to get agent for said book
3. while waiting to hear back from agents, start writing book #2
4. if, by time you’re done writing #2 you haven’t managed to get rep for or sell #1, decide if #1 is worth either PODing or selling to small house; if so, then do that,; if not or if you can’t, then abandon #1
5. repeat Q process for #2
6. start #3
There it is, folks! What # in the porcess are you all on?
jjdebenedictis says
I’ll bet the people whose queries were featured here will never be bothered by rejection ever again…
IQOkie says
I’m sure this is still nothing compared to an agent’s daily workload, but there is one thing that made it harder for us pretenders: genres we don’t like.
An agent usually represents genres he likes or is familiar with.
Reading fantasy makes my brain tired and I found myself skimming those.
I know one thing, if I were an agent I would have to break it up in little blocks throughout the day, say five every other hour or something. I was a better query reader with a fresh mind.
Nixy Valentine says
I picked “about the same” simply because some things were easier than I expected (I knew right away that 90% of them weren’t going to make my list) and some things were harder (narrowing down that last 5 when I had 10 I liked… and when I had 7 I liked, it was torture).
The game did take longer than I expected, but that’s because I decided to write personal comments to each author, just to try to be helpful.
SGF says
Actually I voted that it was the same as I thought it would be, but at the time I had only gotten through four queries last night. Today I’m powering through a lot more and I just realized how absolutely heinous it must be for agents to do this EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Change vote: much harder.
Jen C says
I’d say it was more or less what I expected. Once I’d worked out a system for keeping track I got through the 50 quite fast, and then worked on the list I’d made. I had to do real work in between, so I can’t say how long it took me all up.
I did try not to think too much about my short list, I just went back over it a couple of times and pulled out the 5 that really spoke to me. I have a feeling that I missed one of the ones that was published now that I look back, but it just didn’t register with me as much as the ones I chose.
And apart from the boringitude (is so a word) factor of form rejections, it was just as much fun as I hoped it would be!
Kalika says
I will never, ever even think of being an agent. After only 50 queries, I was exasperated enough to start gibbering at some authors to just QUIT WRITING NOW. I didn’t, of course. I’ve yet to settle on my five, I need to investigate further those I found interesting.
Raven56 says
And done.
Definitely a cool exercise, I appreciate your having gone to the effort of organizing it.
All told, this was if anything slightly easier than I expected. The vast majority took very little to time to reject, mainly because the author’s voice didn’t do anything for me, and I think of that as the first consideration.
Of the total, 11 out of 50 took a more careful read-through, and I probably would have requested about 7 if it weren’t for the limit (although I wouldn’t necessarily read all the way through all 7).
If anything, though, what this has done is confirm my previous positions on the matter. I have a great deal of sympathy for agents who must use a form rejection; anything else is madness. But if I can whip through 50 queries in under an hour and a half, all while having to fill out the blogger comment form each time, then I have no sympathy whatsoever for agents with the option of creating an auto-response program who instead say “no response = no interest.”
All in all, very instructive
Marilyn Peake says
Phew. After 3-1/2 hours of reviewing all 50 queries, I’m now planning to reread nine specific queries and then post the rest of my “Agent for a Day” response letters. I learned a lot, and am looking forward to the discussions following this contest. One thing I learned for sure: I could not have evaluated all 50 queries in 3-1/2 hours if I hadn’t resorted to sending out mostly form letters, and I had to send out mostly form letters in order to balance this contest with my writing, which I view as similar to the time constraints of literary agents trying to represent their clients’ books. I am now going to take a break, watch a couple of TV shows, then finalize my query choices.
Anonymous says
I said it before and I’ll say it again:
No response does not mean no. Only no means no.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
Well, maybe in the metaphysical sense, but who lives that long?
Marilyn Peake says
Ahhh, before I go off to watch TV, I’d like to add one more thing. In my opinion, there is a LOT of talent in these query letters, even the ones to which I ultimately respond with my form rejection letter. I’d like to say a whole lot more about this right now, but I really need to take a break, and I know there will be many discussions about this contest after it’s completed.
Amy says
First off, hats off to the people who submitted their queries. I did not submit mine because I felt like it might be too terrifying to open myself up to so much rejection.
Did I think it was hard? No, but I don't think any of my past white collar-type jobs were hard either. Sure, they had annoying tasks, I'm sure reading and responding to queries fits in with updating cost basis for AT&T in the financial world, and I've done plenty of that in my life. I do think updating a Blog every day, and reading the requested manuscripts would be harder than managing the slush pile.
I'm not implying I chose the right ones, but I did chose the ones I thought were interesting enough I'd read the pages, and I left many out, including the Trucking Memoir that struck me as interesting. I was surprised I chose 2 YAs, since I never read YA. I don't read sci-fi so I couldn't offer anything on those.
Here are my choices:
9
10
17
25
29
Thanks Nathan for the fun contest (yesterday my husband was a bit annoyed with me for being pretend agent, rather than finishing the taxes) and thanks again to the people who offered up their queries.
amyandnick …… aspiring@agency.com
Anonymous says
I found it difficult, even though I didn’t really participate. Simply because I recognized my query and I felt really bad reading people say it sucked. One person that I saw requested a partial. Another seemed trolly. But whatever.
Adam Heine says
It was exactly as hard as I thought it would be, but that’s not saying much.
It took me 4 hours (interrupted by toddlers and meals) to get through all 50. I could’ve done it faster, but I tried to say something at least a little constructive on most of the queries rather than just saying no. I probably could’ve saved myself 30-60 minutes with a form rejection.
Caroline says
I actually have to say it was easier than I expected, and a lot more enjoyable as well. Of course, it was helpful to have a day off school on Monday so I had time to respond to the queries without being under pressure. Perhaps I’ve found a new career option, if I can’t make it as a writer (that’s number one).
I thought I would have trouble turning most of the queries down, but I guess I felt particularly ruthless yesterday. I think I definitely improved as I went along, and most of my acceptances were in the early numbers. My list was 6, 9, 20, 26, 46. Now I just have to bite my nails in anticipation. I am crazy curious to see which books were the published ones!
writtenwyrdd says
I got about twelve done while at work. Not able to pursue it and work, so I gave up. But I did find that I could form an opinion for the ones I read fairly quickly.
It’s not an easy job, and I can see where you might always wonder if you missed out on something at the end of the day.
Matilda McCloud says
Dear Anon–
I know it’s hard to see those rejections, but just keep in mind that it is a learning process. I cringe in embarrassment when I think of the queries I sent out a couple of years ago. I’m now on novel #2 (and am starting #3), and have received several requests for partials for this one. So try not to be too discouraged or too hard on yourself either.
Other Lisa says
I voted “about the same.” I’d participated in the first First Chapters contest on Gather and read (or tried to read) hundreds of first chapters – that’s a pretty good slush pile simulator.
The hardest parts for me were pulling the trigger (deciding on/narrowing down to 5) and letting my personal preferences affect my decisions. There were several queries I did not request even though objectively I thought they had more commercial potential; I just wasn’t interested enough in the subject matter to pick them.
I learned that I really am swayed by voice, by something distinctive in the style, and that I really liked having a sample page of writing.
I think even though I would have requested more than five if I’d had that option, I probably would not have chosen as many as five to “represent.”
I also think…you know, I kinda like doing this! I don’t know that I’d necessarily be that good at the job, but I can definitely see the fun potential.
Really great contest, Nathan!
Megan says
It didn’t take that long but I got lazy towards the end! You can notice if you read my comments from numbers 1 to 50!
It was interesting to see the quailty and difference between them: some people sucked up (for lack of a better word) and others didn’t.
I definitely have a bigger appreciation for Agents!
Horserider says
I have a bigger appreciation for agents now! It took me two days to answer them all with my normal responsibilities of school and my own editing.
It was actually easier than I expected and even fun. 🙂 But I can see how reading a couple hundred of them a day would get wearing after a while.
Carolyn says
I said “About the same” because I knew that this would be hard with only two choices; reject or request full. There were several I would have requested at least a few pages.
I also now know that if I were an agent, I would definitely want to see at least 5 pages with every query.
Thanks for doing this.
Also, I ultimately, only requested 4 MS.
Lita says
It was harder but also more fun than I expected it to be. I just couldn’t make myself give rejections. And I’m with Joyce – I’ve recognized one of the pubbed ones (btw, my apologies!), but I was surprised how many people rejected it. All in all, awesome contest!
PurpleClover says
I voted earlier but couldn’t post at the time. Mainly because my children were beating each other senseless and if I want them to be Doctors I had to intervene.
Anyhoo, I thought it was harder in the sense that after query number 30 or so I just wanted to be done. I don’t think I could do this on a regular basis. Not sure how you guys do it every single day. But I’m sure it has something to do with the rewards of getting that debut author and seeing a paycheck for the recently pub’d books!
Melanie Avila says
I didn’t comment in the posts but I did read them all and wrote down my choices (9, 21, 33, 37, 48) . Man, I now understand how you can make decisions without reading the entire letter.
*passes bottle of bourbon to Nathan*
Writer from Hell says
twas Boom Ting
Tawny says
This contest was a brilliant idea! Was it harder, easier or about the same as I expected? The same. If I were an agent, would I have requested the books I did in this contest? Probably not, since they weren’t in a genre I would want to represent.
Still, I’m curious to see how I did. I’m not familiar with the markets for fantasy, YA, thrillers/mysteries and non-fiction so I doubt I have any clue what might be marketable.
Very interesting exercise.
Liz says
Compared to negotiating ownership of intellectual property and helping managers terminate contracts with terrible vendors while ensuring the least liability exposure? My usual day swimming with the sharks?
I expected this to be really hard. I always figure everyone must have it harder than me. So far it isn’t that bad. I think the hard part would be the boredom of slogging through it all (plus the silent and slightly heartbreaking schadenfreude of the occasional really bad query), but then that sparkling gem shows up that makes it all worthwhile, right?
Thank you for doing this. It was very instructive to see what it’s like to have a pile of these to go through – what kinds of things make you shut down v. what makes you go “aaahhh.”
Anahita says
I’m still working on them. I have read and ranked almost half. I still think it is hard and I still think it is interesting.
Vic K says
I have to say it was easier going than I expected – I mean in the sense that I didn’t have any trouble deciding the ones to say no to. Which isn’t to say for even a moment that I think I’m going to be the agent of the day, but that I found myself really clear on two things; first, how much personal taste goes into the decision and second, knowledge or preference for a genre.
For example, rightly or wrongly, I didn’t ask for more info on the non-fiction proposals, and I avoided – regardless of whether I thought they could sell or not – subject matter I didn’t think I could be passionate about. My thinking on this was that maybe they could be sold, but since I was pretending to be a real-life agent, it wasn’t fair to request what I couldn’t sell myself. And the reason was I just wouldn’t be able to work up the requisite enthusiasm for them.
I also realised how damn hard it is to write personal rejections and I absolutely understand the form letter now. You could lose hours, and I mean HOURS, thinking up flattering ways to say some honest truths in the process of trying to help people. If I was an agent I’d be a form-rejector for sure.
The other epiphany I had during the process was realising how hard it is to find truly original concepts or ideas. I ended up focusing on that as my driving goal… and it was harder to find than I thought.
Learning that is actually the true gift I received from all of this, and I thank you for that Nathan. Because at the end of the day, I realised that for me as agent-for-a-day, what a query needed in order to stand out of the slush is an original concept or a unique delivery.
Having said all that, I’m certain I won’t be agent of the day because I did make entirely personal calls, for the most part. And will as I go forward, filling in the rest of my requests and rejections. But regardless, I learned something very valuable and so the exercise was very worthwhile for me.
Thanks Nathan!