The query was sent so long ago that I had forgotten all about it.
It's a good thing that the agents of Einstein Thompson Agency include the original query in the response or I wouldn't have known what manuscript they had rejected.
At the moment, they are closed to queries as they try to catch up with a backlog of submissions.
And a serious backlog it must be. I sent the query last summer, which sure seems like a very, very long time ago.
Of course I had tagged the query as a no response means no submission, added my stat to the Querytracker listing, and moved on. If an agent hasn't asked for pages after a few days, you start to figure they aren't ever going to ask and there isn't any point in waiting.
No hard feelings about the non-response either. Agents are busy people. Many of them have discovered that they can read the hook line, decide if it's worth continuing, and then either ask for the manuscript or move on to the next query in the inbox. Creating an e-mail response, even a standard rejection letter that goes to all, takes time. For many agents, that's time they need to take care of existing clients.
Yet there are Susanna Einstein and Meg Thompson, plowing through months of queries in search of a hidden gem, making an effort to get back to the writers even though it's bad news.
Is it worth it?
It's an indication of how they do business, with this decision to not leave a writer without an answer. They made that extra effort, albeit months after the fact, but they did it. And it's an example of good manners in a fast-paced time, when stopping to be polite is becoming rare.
I didn't need the response. I pretty much knew what it was, way back when. But still, it's nice to know that someone took the time to write back.
No comments:
Post a Comment