Do you go to their site ahead of time and check to see what they want?
Do you blanket the net with hundreds of emails designed as generic spam?
What kind of responses are you getting?
Just curious to find out what people deem as appropriate to send to an agent they've never met.
Perhaps, if you give me some "honest" answers here, we can wade through and decide how best
to approach an agent and get a positive response, a full read, or a contract!
Hmmm, the chocolate does look pretty good, but a great query is even better...
This is a great question. I'd love to hear what other tips people have for searching for that--well--perfect match. :) And the things to avoid doing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I query I send to thirteen agents at a time. I call them my baker's dozen. I take names from my master list of agents that accept my genre and cyber stalk them. Yup. I go to agency websites, blogs, pub marketplace, follow them on twitter, and look for any online interviews they've done.
After I fall madly in love with my top thirteen I revise my query letter, check their individual submission polices, and close my eyes thirteen times as I hit send.
After two rounds (I'm ready to start my third) and two huge story revisions (because I believe one should never stop learning about the craft) I'm getting warmer. I've gotten positive feedback. I've had at least one agent who has a no response means no policy respond to me (to say it wasn't right for her, but it was an encouraging email). I've had another agent tell me this story isn't right for them, but they want to see my next one. And I've gotten some non-form rejections. So not hot yet, maybe not even bubbling, but warmer. Hey, I'll take it.