Thursday, September 15, 2011

Following Up

We writers always wonder about how long it takes agents to respond (if they do at all) and whether to follow up and so forth, but I was wondering - what about agents and editors? How long do agents (or just you guys, since I'm sure it's different for everyone) wait for a response from an editor before following up?

This is a great question to ask any agent when you get an offer of representation, because the answer is going to differ from agent to agent and situation to situation. Overall, I tend to follow up four to six weeks after a submission. How long I wait will depend on how quick other feedback is coming in, whether the book was submitted on proposal or full, how busy the editors are (sometimes I know that an editor has just returned from vacation or the time fell around a major holiday), generally how responsive the editors are (some tend to respond faster than others), etc.

Generally though, I will follow up in about four weeks.


Jessica

8 comments:

Phil Hall said...

Jessica, You replied to me the same day... I'd have to say you're doing pretty well on the reply front.

Anonymous said...

Yup, same here, actually two days later. What I liked about the rejection letter I got from BookEnds was the candid tone of it. It's one of the few I keep. Although a rejection, I didn't feel rejected, but more determined to better myself. The QL got a major u-haul afterward.

Phil Hall said...

I keep all my QL replies, that's how I know who get's next "dibs" on book #2. "No reply = no interest" for them means "No reply = no second chance" from me.

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You know, it is always interesting to read your posts! Thanks a lot

Giora said...

BookEnds LLC has a policy to respond to queries, and not let aspiring authors to wonder what happened to their query. Lauren addressed this topic well. Thanks for your policy of being polite.
Agents like a policy of "no response" from the editors for their queries.

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Nicole said...

Good to know. I was always curious. (which is why I asked that question! XD)

Anonymous said...

This is good to know. I'm sitting on some submissions from earlier this year that I've written off at this point, but it's good to know for future reference.