Author Topic: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?  (Read 122 times)

Offline OutOfPosition

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Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« on: August 15, 2019, 02:50:49 PM »
In my experience, both personal and anecdotal, when agents are interested, they usually respond within a few days. I've never heard of someone receiving a positive response even a week after their submission email, let alone six weeks, which is how long most agencies tell you to hang around before assuming you've not been succesful.

So rather than obediently doing as they say and waiting the dictated length of time before sending out more submissions, I'm leaning towards waiting a week before considering a non response a failure (though I would like to make it clear I wouldn't log it on this site that way until it had passed the agency guidelines).

I'd love to know how other people's expereince aligns or not with this theory...

Offline dancingdove311

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2019, 03:12:46 PM »
It took nearly three weeks to get my first full request. My other two requests both took between 1 and 2 weeks. So no one interested has contacted me within a few days. I think we just hear more about people who got quick responses.

Offline jessikalindst

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2019, 05:22:07 PM »
My requests have been the same as daningdove's; about 2-3 weeks although once a request came a few days later, four if I remember correctly but that agent was one that I noticed had a quick reply rate.

But I totally agree, we always hear about the people who get responses straight away--what luck they have. 

Offline ml89

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2019, 07:15:55 PM »
I've queried three books over the past year with varying success (just got The Call yesterday!!) and overall, I do notice that about half of my requests are very quick, while others are much, much later. I was curious and looked at the stats for how quickly full requests came for each, not including Twitter pitch contests that solicited material immediately.

Book 1: 144, 1, 45, 51, 1
Book 2: 0, 2, 1, 33, 16, 0, 4
Book 3: 65, 2, 1, 1, 27, 20, 1

The second book was MG contemporary while the other two were YA fantasy. I wonder if agents who deal in YA are so bogged down by queries that it often just takes them longer to get to them.

Offline OutOfPosition

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2019, 02:12:00 AM »
That is so interesting, thank you so much for sharing.

I'm so glad I've joined this forum where I can get some solid information from real people, rather than just bouncing around in my bubble full of misconceptions.

Are the numbers in days? So 0 means they got back to you in less than 24 hours? And someone got back to you with a request after 144 days?!




Offline ml89

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2019, 05:35:57 AM »
Yes! One of the 0 ones was on a Twitter pitch day so the agent must have been keeping an eye out in the first place, and the other has thus far ghosted me (even after the offer of rep so far!) so go figure. Instant interest doesn’t seem to indicate anything in the long run. The 144 was more recently (I don’t even think the other books have been circulating for that long) and I offered the agent Book 3 instead because I’d shelved the first already. :D

Offline Tigerlily1066

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Re: Interested agents respond within days - true or false?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2019, 07:17:49 AM »
Positive responses can definitely come in later than one week! One author I know got her first reply three months after the query, which turned into multiple offers right away after that. Agent timing is mysterious. All my full requests came in pretty much immediately after I sent the query (I think the record was Janet Reid at under three minutes) but then one of the agents waited A LITERAL YEAR to reply to my full.

A year.

The only redress authors have against that kind of timing is to keep on querying.

 
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