Twenty Pounds of Queries a Week (if they still came as paper)

How many queries do I get every day/month/year?

I get asked this question a lot, and my answer isn't all that impressive compared to some agents. It's generally about 10 a day*. I know some people get dozens, and so mine doesn't sound super impressive, but it's still several thousand over the course of a year.

Some things that seem to limit my queries are first, that I keep a fairly low profile (or have, before starting this blog), second, that a lot of people query the general agency address, and I don't look at those, and third, the name of the agency is Veritas. There are a lot of writers who simply never reach that far down into the alphabet.

It's sounds silly, but I'm serious. A lot of people start at AAA Agency (or whatever it is) and start working their way down. I always figure by the time I get queried, a bunch of other agents have that query first.

Maybe that's why I started in 2010 with the idea that I'd be faster than average. If I start reading a requested manuscript, I try to be faster still. I've had the experience a couple of times of getting deep into a manuscript only to find that someone else has already offered representation.

While it's true that I've also lost out on writers after being the first to offer representation, in general my experience is that people want to go with the first person who offers. It might not be the most important reason, but there's something to be said for someone who was on the ball.

Similarly, when I'm first to respond, people will hopefully get the impression that I'll be responsive as their agent, too.


* There are times when I see temporary spikes in query levels. One is when I've just returned from a conference, as everyone who heard me speak dusts off their queries. Another is after I've reported a deal on Publisher's Marketplace. Finally, you have the weeks right after NaNoWriMo, when a zillion new books take a spin on the query-go-round.