I started querying my novel SECOND DAWN in earnest back in early June, and since then I’ve sent a total of 40 queries, netted some full manuscript requests, and racked up a fair amount of rejections and CNRs. In July, I posted some stats from QueryTracker, detailing the chances the agents I’d queried would respond to my queries, how often they asked for full manuscripts, and so on. Well, I’ve got more data points now (and I’ve learned a thing or two about the process), so it seems like a good time to revisit this topic. So let’s dive in.

As I said, I’ve queried 40 agents so far, and here are my general query stats.

• Total Queries: 40 (20 pending)
• Rejections: 15
• CNR: 2
• FMR: 3

Percentage-wise, I’m looking at a 42.5% rejection/CNR rate (this is sure to rise) and a 7.5% manuscript request rate (this is sure to fall), but what does that mean in comparison to other querying authors? Well, QueryTracker gives you that information. According to QT, the average querying author sends 44 queries, has an 87.8% rejection/CNR rate and a 5.9% request rate. So my numbers are in line and even a tad better than average, but I’m still waiting on a A LOT of replies, so those numbers could improve (less likely) or get worse (more likely). Still, for a first-time querying author, I’m happy with how things have been going.

But what about the agents I’ve been querying? What do their stats look like? How many queries do they get? What percentage of those queries do they actually reply to? Let’s find out.

Here are the average query response stats of the 40 agents I’ve queried.

• Queries received in past 12 months: 1598
• Query Reply Rate: 58%
• Manuscript request rate (full or partial): 2.4%
• Average Response Time (Positive): 21 days
• Average Response Time (Negative): 38 days

Positive replies are full or partial manuscript requests and negative replies are rejections and CNRs. These numbers are very ballpark, and averages might not be the best way to look at them, but they give you a general sense of what to expect. Let’s look at things in a slightly different way, though.

• # of agents that respond to 20% or fewer queries: 8 (8/45)
• # of agents that respond to 80% or more queries: 13 (18/15)

Interestingly, the agents that respond to queries more often actually receive FAR more queries than the ones who respond at an under 20% clip. It’s not even close, actually. The 20-percenters receive an average of 500 queries per year, while the 80-percenters receive over 2500. Now, if you look a little deeper into these numbers, you quickly realize that the 80-percenters are generally more established agents who work at or even run large literary agencies and, most importantly, probably have assistants that help them answer queries. Most (but not all) of the 20-percenters are less established and often working on their own. The numbers in parentheses are the average days it takes the agent to respond (if they respond). The first numbers is a positive response, the second a negative one. Again, the data is interesting. The 20-percenters respond quicker with requests and the 80 percenters respond quicker with rejections.

Okay, now the numbers that give me nightmares. Let’s look at some response numbers for manuscript requests.

Here are the submission response numbers for the three agents where I have FMRs pending.

Subs is the number of manuscript submissions the agent has received over the last twelve months. Positive replies are when the agent responds with an offer of representation, a revise and resubmit, or a request for more pages. Negative replies are, well, rejections. Finally, the response rate is how often the agent responds to a submission of a full or partial manuscript. That last number is what worries me. It is absolutely possible and even likely that my FMRs are going to become CNRs. That’s a bummer, but it’s just reality, and I have to roll with it. I just have to believe that my full manuscript is compelling enough to at least elicit a response, but we’ll see.

Unfortunately, you kind of have to dig for submissions response numbers on QueryTracker, so I’m not gonna give you the stats for all 40 agents I’ve queried, though I might do that in a future post.

Data is interesting, but I think we should take all these numbers with a grain of salt. It’s important to keep in mind that querying for an agent isn’t a lottery. Getting an agent has more to do, in my opinion, with having a book that’s ready to query and then putting it in front of the right agent at the right time. The numbers can give you a general idea of what querying agents is probably going to look like, but we’ve all heard about folks getting agents after a single query or getting one after three hundred. Right book, right agent, right time. Those three things are like tumblers in a lock–you have to trigger all three at the same time for the door to swing wide no matter what the numbers say. 🙂

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

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.