Queries

[Hopeful]

Hi. Long-time "listener," first-time "caller." I might be inviting lightning to strike by asking this, but ... I recently attended a conference and had requests from 2 agents. I wasn't expecting that, and haven't sent any queries to anyone else yet. I had planned on sending the first wave in September, given the "don't query in August" wisdom. I'm hopeful one of the agents who requested will love what I sent and offer representation. *crosses fingers, toes* If that were to happen, though, I'd have queried only two agents. I've read a million times that if you've queried someone already, you can send a follow-up note to your dream agents, saying "offer of rep received" or something like that, to get the dream agent to look more quickly at the materials you've already sent. But, is it cool to do that if you've never sent the dream agent anything yet? Can the first communication be "offer of rep received"? I'd be afraid that requires too quick a turnaround time from an agent who's just now receiving your query, and in August, no less. Is a better plan to send out queries immediately, despite the month, so that there's something in the agent's inbox in the event a second "offer of rep received" email is in order? Thanks - ducking now to avoid the lightning strike, will check in later when all seems clear ...

[Collectonian]

Take a breath hon

Why not query in August? I've never heard anyone ever say not to query an agent in August...I've heard warnings about querying in December, but that's due to the embarrassing NaNo influxes that often flood agents' boxes then

If you work is ready for querying, I'd go ahead and query the two, making sure to note the conference and that you are querying per their request, etc. No reason you can't also query others at the same time. And if neither of the two from the conference is your "dream agent", then you most certainly should include your dream agent when you do your first round. Generally you query top choices first, then go down.

And no, if you haven't even queried an agent yet, you should not send a query with a note that you've already been offered representation. It would just come off as rude or weird.

[Hopeful]

Thanks, Collectonian! Very helpful.

[Nathan Bransford]

Hi. Long-time "listener," first-time "caller." I might be inviting lightning to strike by asking this, but ... I recently attended a conference and had requests from 2 agents. I wasn't expecting that, and haven't sent any queries to anyone else yet. I had planned on sending the first wave in September, given the "don't query in August" wisdom. I'm hopeful one of the agents who requested will love what I sent and offer representation. *crosses fingers, toes* If that were to happen, though, I'd have queried only two agents. I've read a million times that if you've queried someone already, you can send a follow-up note to your dream agents, saying "offer of rep received" or something like that, to get the dream agent to look more quickly at the materials you've already sent. But, is it cool to do that if you've never sent the dream agent anything yet? Can the first communication be "offer of rep received"? I'd be afraid that requires too quick a turnaround time from an agent who's just now receiving your query, and in August, no less. Is a better plan to send out queries immediately, despite the month, so that there's something in the agent's inbox in the event a second "offer of rep received" email is in order? Thanks - ducking now to avoid the lightning strike, will check in later when all seems clear ...

Yeah, as Collectonian said I'd go ahead and query in August. If the agents who asked to see your work didn't ask for an exclusive you're also able to query other agents, which I'd definitely recommend, especially if you have a few agents in particular who you feel would be a great fit for you.

Good luck!