When I was little I memorized the way my mom would spell out our last name to people over the phone. Ready? “B as in boy, R – A – N, S as in Sam, F as in Frank, O-R-D. BransFORD.” My sister has a variation that emphasizes the SF in the middle, which is […]
query stats
Vacation Query Stats
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 […]
Agent E-mail Stats
Every Monday morning, as sure as the rooster’s cry (I don’t actually have a rooster) I can expect to come in to 100+ e-mails from the weekend, mostly queries. I like to think of it as the Monday Deluge, and it means that if I’m going to answer all of them (and oh, I do) […]
Presidents’ Day Query Stats
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 […]
What’s the best length for a query letter?
What is the best length for a query letter? How do you know if yours is too long or too short? Back when I was a literary agent, I ran a word count on every query I received for a week. If the author included sample pages in the body of the e-mail I did […]
Query Stats Eeyore Would Love
Do I sound depressed? No? Give it time. Usual preface: there were three or four queries over the weekend from regular blog readers that followed the rules, wrote good personalized queries, and were perfectly fine and just weren’t quite for me. Keep on trucking, I’m sure you’ll find the right agent. Everyone else? Wow. Let […]
