While I was away on vacation last week I received 327 queries, all of which I have now answered. There are 165 more that arrived so far this week alone, which I haven’t yet gotten to. The queries are massing at the gate! Man the ramparts!
I kept stats on those 327, and here they are in all their glory:
By Genre:
I lumped these into broad categories:
Young Adult (of all kinds): 73
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: 53
Fantasy (includes paranormal and urban fantasy): 28
Historical Fiction: 26
Literary Fiction: 25
Science Fiction: 18
Memoir: 18
Spiritual Novels: 12
Women’s Fiction: 12
Mangst: 11
Middle Grade: 8
How-to/Self-Help: 7
Misc. Nonfiction: 7
Short Story Collection: 6
Religious Manifestos: 5
Biography: 5
Romance: 3
No freaking clue: 6
Word Count:
Out of the 327 queries, 214 listed the word count of their work:
less than 25,000: 5
25,000-50,000: 16
50,000-75,000: 65
75,000-100,000: 72
100,000-125,000: 31
125,000-150,000: 7
150,000-175,000: 9
175,000-200,000: 7
200,000+: 2
Miscellaneous factoids:
Here are some more random counts. Please note that I don’t automatically reject anything, even if it’s addressed to the wrong agent, and especially if my name is misspelled. I know mistakes happen.
Queries beginning with a rhetorical question: 14
Queries that misspelled the word “query”: 2
Sent query as just an attachment or link: 3
Addressed to another literary agent: 2
Addressed “Dear Literary Agent” or “Sir”: 10
Queries that were personalized: 108 (33%, same as the last time I compiled stats)
And out of those 327 queries I requested 4 (a little over 1%)
Surly Jason says
What's the genre/word count/etc of those you requested?
Karma & Adam says
Wow. Someone misspelled "query"? So my question is of those 300+ letters, how many were well written and made you take a second glance? I'm assuming it's more than the 1% your requested.
Krista G. says
Thanks for these stats, Nathan. They're always enlightening.
And same question as Surly Jason, the genre part.
Cory Clubb says
Fascinating stats, Nathan.
Everybody knows you spell βQUERYβ with a βKβ, duh. Kan't they get it right?
"K"idding of course.
Ben says
Wow. 4%.
So I'm feeling better about the fact that you requested a partial from me, even though you passed in the end. It's a bigger deal than I thought it was.
Erin Edwards says
Those stats are both encouraging and intimidating at the same time!
There's an article over at the Wallstreet Journal about Apple's negotiations with publishers: Apple Portends Rewrite for Publishers. https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703906204575027503731077976.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&
They want the price of ebooks to be higher, but publishers and most importantly *authors* will still get less per book than traditional books. Why? How do they justify that? Or I guess in business you don't have to justify it, you just do it if you can.
Another reason agents are becoming more important; they are the only ones looking out of authors in a business that is becoming increasingly complex.
John M. UpChurch says
Looks like you're losing the battle with those rhetorical questions. The percentage was up this time. Isn't that odd?
Thanks for the numbers. I'm curious to know how many of the "no freakin' clue" ones were also the ones with word counts over 200K.
Nathan Bransford says
It was a smattering of genres. I actually don't want to reveal the exact breakdown because I don't want people to think I request more of some genres than others. It's all driven by whatever individual projects strike me. The genre is kind of beside the point.
Nathan Bransford says
Oops! That didn't come out right. What I mean about the genre being beside the point is that it is for me – I don't really have a quota and am not looking for certain genres over others. Though of course I can understand why people would be curious. Sorry.
Amanda says
I'm a stats nerd. I love these kinds of posts! Can't really tell you why, but it's just a fact of my weirdness. π
Steven Till says
I'm curious about the category "No freaking clue." What percentage of those queries did you request to see more from the authors?
Wanda B. Ontheshelves says
Those higher-end word counts are astounding (to me). Wow. I struggle to get up to 100,000 words, not revise back down toward 100,000. How do you all do it, I want to know?
Nathan Bransford says
steven-
None.
Nathan Bransford says
josin-
The ones where it's not clear what they are don't usually list their word count.
JustineDell says
I have often wondered the same thing Wanda. Creative prowess flows better through them, maybe? Or their novels are full of mudane chapters? Either way, if I ever had a novel above 100k, I'd probably find it much easier to cut back than to add. But I digress…
Thanks for the info Nathan!!
Andi says
I didn't notice Horror on the list of genres. Do you include it in with one of the others (and, if so, which one), or did you not receive any queries for horror mss?
Interesting to see these stats!
Sam says
Thanks a lot for the stats, interesting to see where the competition leans. This is one of the reasons I read Jennifer Jackson's blog regularly; she does a weekly stats update (although generally only listing how many queries she went through & how many manuscripts she requested).
You probably can't answer this specifically, but what was the breakdown like on the YA? A lot of fantasy? Literary? SF?
Thanks again, Nathan.
Joseph L. Selby says
Thank you for listing fantasy and science fiction separately. So few people do.
Nathan Bransford says
andi-
I believe I only received one or two and they was in the urban fantasy area, so they got lumped into fantasy.
Nathan Bransford says
sam-
It was a little bit of everything, though I actually think paranormal YA may have crested in query popularity after quite a remarkable run.
Sam says
Sounds good, thanks. I'm curious because my novel is YA-SF, so, again–studying the competition.
Yes, I can attest to the popularity of YA paranormal–my 14 year old cousin gobbles up any book with a teenage ghost on the cover. Perhaps my novel went in the wrong direction…
Mira says
Cool stats. I always enjoy the 'no freaking clue' category. I'd love to see an example of that sometime.
Oh wait. Maybe I'm in that category. That's highly likely now that I think about it.
So, no humor books. Awesome. My competition is still limited to one person, Rick Daley, my arch-nemesis.
And religious manifestos. See? The problem with things like this is that they affect me so personally. I now have a deep and profound need to send you a religious manifesto, Nathan. I've been staring at that little contact box on your blog, trying not to send you things. Now, I have to stare at that little contact box on your blog and try not to send you religious manifestos.
That is abit complicated by the fact that I have no idea what a religious manifesto is, but I want to send you one anyway.
Ben says
Sam,
It didn't go in the wrong direction if the paranormal YA trend has crested. Maybe your direction will be the next big thing?
Anonymous says
I have a sensitive question, but I'm not sensitive, so don't worry about hurting my feelings. I know this is a subjective biz:
You write, "I don't feel that I am the most appropriate agent for your work."
Since you used the broad term "your work" instead of the specific "this work," does that mean you don't want to see anything of mine again?
Honestly, that's fine (really!), and that's how I took it. Just thought I'd mention it.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
This post will hopefully shed some light.
Rick Daley says
Interesting stats, thanks for taking the initiative to compile and share them.
I followed the link for Mangst to the Rejectionst's site, which included a link on mangst that led back to your blog. I know know what mangst is, and I have it π
Congrats to those authors who get to submit partials!!
Sam says
Ben–good point. And yes, I have a strong hope that YA/F and YA-paranormal have watermarked, opening the door for YA-SF. Time will tell….
Nick says
Quick question:
On 1.22% (yeah, I just punched it into the calculator), how much did you request? Partials each? Full on one and partial on the others? etc.
And oi vey 1.22%. I think when I'm done with my first draft I might just delay editing it long enough to polish a query to the best form I can get in. Slight j/k.
J says
Nathan, how much of it (any genre) was multicultural? Just roughly?
Nathan Bransford says
I (almost) always ask for the first 30 pages.
j-
There were quite a few that were multicultural, though I didn't track numbers on that.
Anonymous says
anon again.
Of course I've read that. I've been around long enough to know that one should never post a question before checking the faqs.
It didn't answer my question then, but I guess it kinda does now, if that's your answer. Which is fine. I have only appreciation and good wishes for you and your blog.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
I guess I don't know what it doesn't answer. It's just a vague rejection, it's fine to query me in the future.
Rebecca says
Great info! For a writer I sure am a stats whore.
Mira says
Hey! It's Rick Daley, my arch-nemisis. Hi Rick.
So, I looked up religious manifesto on Wikipedia, but
Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for religious manifesto!!
This is terrible. How am I supposed to know something if Wikipedia doesn't tell me? I'm filing a complaint.
Holly Bodger says
Wow. I'd heard the No-freaking-clue genre was taking off, but I didn't know it was moving with such velocity (she says as she runs to computer to write true story about a Smurf who falls in love with a vampire-slash-priest during WWII)…
Kristi says
I was surprised there were word counts under 25,000 and over 200,000, but couldn't believe you had 14 beginning with rhetorical questions. I'm guessing those weren't personalized because they would have known better!
D. G. Hudson says
Thanks for the stats on what you received. It gives us a look at the slushpile averages.
Mine wasn't in that pile, but one day it will be and I hope it will be considered for a partial, at least. I'm surprised that the senders don't pay more attention to your guidelines, but they probably think those rules are for everyone else.
Oh well, only 165 more to go.
Nick says
"So, I looked up religious manifesto on Wikipedia, but
Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for religious manifesto!!"
Nathan had a post mentioning it somewhere (may have even been the Mangst post) but I imagine it's basically like:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_You
Which is an epicly awesome read btw, even if I am a philosophical theist (in plain english: a free-thinker who doesn't reject the concept of god).
Suzannah says
Thanks for this, Nathan. It's sad to see some people query without taking the time to really read and follow the advice you give on your website.
Just curious whether YA paranormal was as popular a genre before 'Twilight' came out, or has that success had a major influence on what people are writing now?
I think I'm the last person on earth who hasn't read it yet!
Moira Young says
Wow, that's an eye-opener.
I wonder how many of those people submitting queries actually read your "what to read before submitting" rules.
Layne says
Nathan: only one or two of the queries were horror. Are agents accepting horror manuscripts these days or has this genre melted into the fantasy/paranormal category?
Nathan Bransford says
layne-
I don't really represent horror, so I think that's why it's so few.
GhostFolk.com says
Great stats, Nathan. Thank you.
An aside: I hope this isn't too offensive for General Audience, but iPad sounds like a sanitary napkin brand to me.
Bane of Anubis says
Loving the stats, and that's a nice, daunting rejection rate. Thanks for sharing.
Mira says
Nick – thanks I'll check it out.
I can't keep joking around while anon, and maybe 323 others, are having a hard time.
I think it's so easy to get your heart set on Nathan because he's accessible and personable.
Maybe that's partly why I joke.
Because Nathan is such a long shot. It's easy to confuse Nathan's accessibility with his availablity. Nathan is queried more than any other agent on the web, and I think he took on, what? 6 clients? 7 clients? Out of 15,000 queries in 2010.
I try to enjoy Nathan for his blog, as another artist, as a person I respect and appreciate, as someone to debate with and wrestle truth and the future of publishing with, and I'll query him, but when/if he turns me down, I'll know I'm in the company of thousands, and that it doesn't mean I won't have a fantastic writing career, or find a dynamite agent, or self-publish and make millions.
Millions and zillions.
And zillions. Most likely on my religious manifesto. Once I find out what that is, and write it, it's going to be awesome.
T. Anne says
Really enjoyed this. Thanx Nathan.
Tamara says
Nathan, I appreciate your blog and am very impressed by the time you take to answer everyone's questions! π Some agents can be…well…snooty, but you don't seem that way and I say, "Hooray for you!"… π
Nic says
i was going to ask the same as Surly Jason. How many were you close to requesting and how many did you just reject straight away?
Nathan Bransford says
nic-
I don't really waver: when in doubt I request.
I know that sounds crazy considering I only requested 4, but after answering tens of thousands of queries I am used to making snap decisions.
That's not to say that the queries I passed on were poorly written or that the projects won't go on to success, I just know what I'm looking for when I see it.
Rachel says
That's a huge range on word count, and quite surprising. I had some strange notion everything is best if it starts out around 80,000.
Is that the general count you like, or are you not picky in your original queries, knowing a lot of changes go on down the road?