This naturally leads to feelings of fear, resentment, and powerlessness by aspiring writers, especially when they're in the tempest of the query storm, their hard work buffeted by casual rejection or even silence.
The query situation looks different from an agent's perspective. What do we get paid for reading queries, partials, and full requested manuscripts? Nothing, really. Sometimes a good writer turns up in the slush (I've found some of my best writers that way), but mostly it's drudgery going through all those dozens, hundreds, thousands of queries, and painful to keep saying, "no thanks, no thanks, no thanks, no thanks."
Compare reading the slush pile with the important stuff, like reading the new books of my existing writers, handling correspondence with editors, looking over royalty statements and contracts, etc. All the stuff that pays the bills and fulfills the requirements of my job. Where do I want to spend my time? Where do I need to spend it? Queries? Pfft.
With those caveats, there is a lot of rudeness in the industry directed at aspiring writers. I don't think a writer deserves an answer to an unsolicited query--it's unsolicited, after all--but after that, what do agents owe the aspiring writers who contact them?*
This is my opinion. If I ask for a partial or a fully, I owe you a timely response. Period. That doesn't mean I drop everything and get right to your story that moment. My primary responsibility is to my existing writers, not those who are applying to see if they might be a good fit.
But it kills me when I see industry people make a request, then hold someone's work for six, nine, twelve months. And then worse, some agents and editors still reject requested manuscripts with silence. The old "if you haven't heard from us within six months, assume . . . " variation of rejection. That's fine for queries, I guess, but for requested manuscripts? Hmm.
Personally, if I request something, I try to get to it within a month. Hopefully, less. I've lost a few good writers because I was too slow to answer, but mostly I've won the competition, because I'm frequently the first to offer. As someone who is not big enough or important enough to sign writers based on fame, star power, and sheer animal magnetism, I've got to show my qualities. One of those is responsiveness, and what better way to show it than in my initial interaction with a writer?
As for the 90% of requested manuscripts that still earn a rejection, I always give some personal feedback. A compliment, generally with a bit of criticism, and maybe a thought or two about the market, followed by encouragement. It's a tough, tough business, and getting a rejection stings. I know there are no moral victories when you get your 15th rejection on a request, but it's the least I can do to point out the encouraging reasons why the query/story was good enough to garner a request in the first place.
* I do answer roughly 90% of queries. I'll talk about exceptions in a future blog post. But you're not owed them, from me or anyone else.
The query situation looks different from an agent's perspective. What do we get paid for reading queries, partials, and full requested manuscripts? Nothing, really. Sometimes a good writer turns up in the slush (I've found some of my best writers that way), but mostly it's drudgery going through all those dozens, hundreds, thousands of queries, and painful to keep saying, "no thanks, no thanks, no thanks, no thanks."
Compare reading the slush pile with the important stuff, like reading the new books of my existing writers, handling correspondence with editors, looking over royalty statements and contracts, etc. All the stuff that pays the bills and fulfills the requirements of my job. Where do I want to spend my time? Where do I need to spend it? Queries? Pfft.
With those caveats, there is a lot of rudeness in the industry directed at aspiring writers. I don't think a writer deserves an answer to an unsolicited query--it's unsolicited, after all--but after that, what do agents owe the aspiring writers who contact them?*
This is my opinion. If I ask for a partial or a fully, I owe you a timely response. Period. That doesn't mean I drop everything and get right to your story that moment. My primary responsibility is to my existing writers, not those who are applying to see if they might be a good fit.
But it kills me when I see industry people make a request, then hold someone's work for six, nine, twelve months. And then worse, some agents and editors still reject requested manuscripts with silence. The old "if you haven't heard from us within six months, assume . . . " variation of rejection. That's fine for queries, I guess, but for requested manuscripts? Hmm.
Personally, if I request something, I try to get to it within a month. Hopefully, less. I've lost a few good writers because I was too slow to answer, but mostly I've won the competition, because I'm frequently the first to offer. As someone who is not big enough or important enough to sign writers based on fame, star power, and sheer animal magnetism, I've got to show my qualities. One of those is responsiveness, and what better way to show it than in my initial interaction with a writer?
As for the 90% of requested manuscripts that still earn a rejection, I always give some personal feedback. A compliment, generally with a bit of criticism, and maybe a thought or two about the market, followed by encouragement. It's a tough, tough business, and getting a rejection stings. I know there are no moral victories when you get your 15th rejection on a request, but it's the least I can do to point out the encouraging reasons why the query/story was good enough to garner a request in the first place.
* I do answer roughly 90% of queries. I'll talk about exceptions in a future blog post. But you're not owed them, from me or anyone else.
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