The first of March, the beginning of spring (or nearly so) and it's time to assess the query list. I keep re-working the query, then try it out on a few agents who accept e-mail. When I get no response, I revise again and try a few agents who accept snail mail. Oddly enough, it's been more of the same...no response.
There must be piles of lost mail in NYC, or maybe it's an unpaid intern dealing with a backlog via the shredder. How else to explain the lack of a response from Sally Van Haitsma at the Castiglia Agency, with a query mailed at the beginning of last September? After six months, the query was either lost, stolen or strayed. Or pulped. Whatever the reason, the query is now lined out of the list.
Alicka Pistek no longer accepts paper queries, but I sent mine in before she changed her policy. So that must mean that she is not going to do anything with the ones that arrived before the switch. Or mine got lost. Or the mailman grew disgruntled and has it stuffed in his cellar, along with the queries I sent to Michele Beno, Chris Parris-Lamb and Tara Mark. They were all mailed in September, and not one has garnered a response, so what else am I to conclude?
Melanie Jackson is a busy agent, and that is why she never responded to the query I mailed four months ago. Another one lined out, the no response is a no being the most logical reason for the fact that my SASE has yet to land in the mail box.
I thought that it was well past time for replies to the snail mail sent after the first of the New Year, but today I discovered an e-mail rejection from Andrea "Andy" Barzvi, courtesy of her assistant. Nearly two months to get the response, but it's getting to the point that I'm grateful for any sort of signal from a literary agent.
This looks to be a new trend, where the agent does not bother with a query that does not grab them. The SASE becomes filler in the envelope, as it serves no purpose, unless of course the agent is able to recycle the things and correspond with actual clients. But to omit the SASE could be a mistake, for who knows which agent really wants them and which will not actually use them? It's a tough game to play, when the rules vary by location and change over time.
4 comments:
Dude, did you ever follow-up with her to see whether she received it?
No point in following up on a query letter (as compared to a requested manuscript). I'll submit again in a couple of months, in case the letter got ground up in some post office mail sorting machine.
But the fact that so many agents aren't replying makes me think that they've changed tactics.
Oh my gosh do you have Andy Barzvi's e-mail address? Or any e-mail address for her co. for that matter? Any guidance would be much appreciated!
Most sincerely, Nancy Goodman
If you go to Agentquery.com, you'll find Ms. Barzvi's e-mail addy, along with a note that she does not accept e-mail queries.
If you're thinking of sending her a query, do it via the postal system. Her business address is also to be found at Agentquery.com
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