What to Expect When You’re Expecting (a Response to Your Query)
Once you’ve sent your query off, the next step is getting a response.
What might these responses look like? They break down into a few categories:
Form Rejections
Most of the time, you’re going to get a form response, especially if it’s a rejection. You might be tempted to think that these responses are personalized, because a lot of them sound like they are - but they’re not. You can use Query Tracker’s comments section to look for examples of the agent’s form letter that have been posted, if you’re wondering.
Form rejections, therefore, usually offer you very little actionable information. They’re usually going to say something like “I didn’t connect with the characters” or “the voice wasn’t for me” or “this isn’t a great fit for my list.” But, the fact that you’re getting form rejections tells you something - if that’s all you’re getting, you need to work on your query.
And yes, you can get form rejections on full manuscript requests too. I know I did, from two different agents.
Do not reply to form rejections if they come in via email. You’ll just be clogging up the agent’s inbox.
Personalized Rejections
Every so often, you get rejections with personalized feedback. These are always lovely, because it means the agent took time to write out their thoughts on how you can improve. The one time this happened on a query, I took the time to write a short thank-you note to the agent - they had put a lot of effort in for a query they rejected. You can tell if a query is personalized if it mentions details specific to your book, like the setting, the characters, the conflict, etc. (It’s tempting to think that some rejections with specific writing advice are personalized, but most of the time, these agents just have different form rejections they send depending on their reason for rejecting a query.)
This is much more common on full manuscript requests. When I got these rejections, I took the time to thank the agent for reading my material, considering my work, and giving me feedback.
No Response
There are a lot of agents and agencies who get so many queries that they can’t respond to all of them. Their policy is that if you don’t hear from them, they have passed on your query. Make sure to mark down which agencies these are, and the date after which you should consider them to have rejected your query.
Requests for Full or Partial Manuscripts
This one is always exciting! An agent who wants to see more of your work will request more material from you. Make sure to send them what they asked for as soon as you can.