What Not to Do When an Agent is Closed to Queries

When an agent closes to queries, it means they’re not accepting new query submissions. Agents can close for days, months, years, or permanently, depending on their workload and whether they’re looking for new clients or not. 

You might find this information on the agent’s website, their agency page, their Query Manager form, or their twitter. What should you not do if the agent is closed to queries? 

Query them anyway. 

Don’t do this. It’s annoying, I’m sure, and your query will be deleted or disregarded anyway. 

Bug them to ask when they’re going to open.

 I’m sure this is also annoying. You’ll find out that they’re no longer closed when they open again. 

Wait to query your project until they open. 

I firmly believe there’s no such thing as a “perfect agent” (the perfect agent is the one who loves your book the most and will champion it! And you can’t know that until you query!). Putting your query journey on hold until a particular agent opens again isn’t smart. For one, they might not open for a long time. Also, they may reject your query, and then you’ve waited for nothing. There were agents I would have queried because they seemed like a good fit, but they didn’t open in time for me. So I continued on my query journey anyway.