Monday, October 7, 2013

The One Thing I Wish Agents Would Do

Okay there are probably many things that I don't know about since I don't have an agent, but there is one thing I wish agents would do during the query process.

Ready. . .

When you send a query by email, I wish they would send an automatic email back saying they received the query.

Not so hard.

There's actually a few that already do. But for those who don't this would save a lot of wondering. Lots of times you read on an agent's website. "If you don't hear from us within three months, you can safely assume we are not interested in your project."

If they sent an email back, this thought would never cross my mind. I haven't heard back yet, how do I know if the agent even got the email or if they just weren't interested.

Note: Some agents do say if you don't hear from us, then resend, but see insecure writer feeling above.

But wouldn't all of these problems be solved with an automatic reply that says: "Thank you for your interested in PN Literary, we take every query seriously and will get back to you as soon as we can."

Maybe I'm just being crazy and there's a reason most agents don't do this. If you know, please share.

How about you? Is there any one thing you wish agents would do?

6 comments:

Janet said...

Say YES!

But besides that *wink*, I agree with you, Patti - it's hard enough to hit the 'send', but then to wonder for days on end whether or not they got it can drive a writer insane (more so than they usually are). I've had a few agencies that will send out the automatic "We got it" reply - always appreciate that!

Melissa Amateis said...

Yes, yes, yes. I wish they would do this, too. There's been so many times I've not heard a thing and I wonder, did they even receive the original query? The automated response takes care of that.

Jessica Bell said...

Totally agree. I have experienced the same frustration!

Stina said...

I love it when they do that. And not only for the query, but for requested material too. There have been numerous occasions when a writer lets an agent know they've had an offer of representation, and that agent never received the requested material to begin with.

H. R. Sinclair said...

I totally understand the sentiment, even though I haven't queried. On a personal recommendation, I would recommend bcc-ing yourself. It doesn't confirm they got it, but it does confirm it went through the webs to get back to you.

Heidi Willis said...

Yes! This is really such a little, simple thing to do! And it would help everyone out!

I don't always know if my query arrived because I never write to inquire about it (assuming a no answer is a no and not wanting to bug them, like you said), but once I got a request for my manuscript and I sent it via email. Three months later when I inquired, they'd never gotten it!