Query Quest: What Are My Chances?

I’ve been using a marvelous database called QueryTracker (highly, highly recommended) to find agents and keep track of my queries. In addition to these vital services, the site provides TONS of data on each agent, and you know me, I fucking love me some data. So, I thought it might be fun(?), educational, and a little terrifying to look at query and submission data for the ten agents I’ve queried so far. I won’t be identifying these agents because this is just about the numbers and what we poor query monkeys can learn from it. This is certainly a sample size, but, in my opinion, it’s a decent snapshot of what you can expect.

Some quick explanations. I’ve changed some of the headers so it’ll make more sense to folks who don’t use QueryTracker, but this is all directly from their data.

• Queries Sent: The number of queries the agent has received in the last 12 months.
• Requests: The number of times the agent has requested more pages from a querying author, either a full or partial manuscript request.
• Request Percentage: The percentage of queries that yielded a manuscript request.
• Subs Sent: The number of manuscript submissions has received (after a full or partial request).
• Positive Replies: The number of times an agent has offered representation or asked for a revise and resubmit after a full manuscript submission.

Of course, the most daunting number here is the number of requests verses the number of queries. Most of these agents are hovering around one or two percent. Remember, though, QueryTracker can only report the queries of authors who use the service, so individual numbers probably are higher or lower in some cases. Still, those are small numbers, and when you look at the number of authors actually offered representation, it gets even more daunting, but as hard as it may be, I don’t think you should look at this like some kind of lottery. A have to believe that a good, well-written book accompanied with a strong query letter and synopsis has a far, far better chance of snagging an agent’s interest than these numbers suggest. In addition, proper research into an agent’s manuscript wish list and other books and authors they represent can only increase your chances of a good outcome, right?. That’s not to say it isn’t an uphill battle, but I believe you CAN be more prepared than the average querying author, and I think that increases your chances a lot.

What about the status of my queries to these ten agents? So far, I’ve received two rejections and one full manuscript request (more about that in a future post), and there are a couple of queries I’m likely to close for nonresponse. Obviously, getting a full request so soon is really encouraging, but I’m not gonna get my hopes up too much. I’ll keep querying, keep writing, and keep my fingers crossed. 🙂

Thoughts on these numbers? Tell me about it in the comments.