Query Letters and reality

So, you've drafted the perfect query letter for your novel. You've followed the guidelines exactly, and you've narrowed your agent search down to your specific genre. Assuming you write fiction. (The process for non-fiction book proposals is much different.) Anyway, you've prepared each package carefully, tailoring each one to the requirements of the agent and agency. You mail out a few a week, (Mass mailings do not allow for corrections and procedural adjustments) keep a list of what you have out there, and wait for the responses to start flowing in. You've done everything right. Right?

The reality is most agents working at reputable literary agencies are inundated by author queries, especially first time authors of novels. I have written and published Flash for a few years, but I am marketing my first novel as well. These agents receive on the average over 100 queries per week. Most of these companies neither have the time nor the need to take the time to read each query. A generic rejection post card or letter is stuffed into the SASE you included in your package and mailed back. You file it with the others, then move on. Send out the next batch, and wait. Repeat process over and over.

This is not to say you won't get a valid response, some agents may even ask for a synopsis, chapters or even the manuscript. But more often than not (which is just the nature of this business) the first description is more apt.

In Jeff Herman's Guide to Literary Agents, Editors and Book Publishers (2012) Jeff nicely interviews agents within agencies and gives authors the pertinent information needed to contact the right agent or company. The underlying issue though remains: If you know someone in the business, a published author, editor etc. a referral is the best shot at opening doors. Some agents state this up front, most don't.

So the bottom line is, at least for me. Send out as many queries as possible. Stick with it. Go to conferences and writer's events. Build on the network of people you know in the literary business. Don't rely on one staid method to open the doors.