A querying strategy deep dive 📇

Answering your questions about querying strategy

Querying literary agents is an exciting (and often nerve-wracking!) step for any author pursuing traditional publishing. You may be eager to get your manuscript in front of as many agents as possible — after all, you’ve heard that querying is a numbers game, and you know that it can take agents months to review and respond to their queries.

But querying smartly and strategically can help you increase your odds of landing on the right agent’s desk. So, before you blindly start sending your query letter to every agent you can find, I recommend taking time to assess each agent and be selective about who you query and when.

Today, I’m diving deep into querying strategy, covering some of the most common questions I get about which agents to query, when to query your top agents, and what to do when you reach the end of your agent list.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How can you find reputable agents to query?

• Can all agents land you a big book deal?

• Should you query agents who represent popular authors?

• Is it worth querying brand-new agents?

• At what point should you query your “dream” agents?

• What if you run out of agents to query?

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How can you find reputable agents to query?

To start your research, use the two primary industry databases: QueryTracker and Manuscript Wish List.

As you’re browsing the agents that represent your genre, you should always verify their reputability. The best source for that is Publishers Marketplace, which is an industry website, news source, and database that posts the majority of deals that agents and editors at a publishing house conduct. When a book gets acquired by a publishing house, it will be posted there with a blurb saying who the agent is, who the editor is, and what imprint purchased it, along with a brief description of the book.

There is a paid monthly subscription, but you can sign up for a one-day pass while you're querying. Then, search the names of all the agents you are interested in querying and see the recent book deals that they have done. Check that they have made deals at major publishing houses and that they've made deals recently, within the past year.

If they've been dormant for a while, that could be a red flag that maybe they're not ready to take on more clients. If they have not done many deals, or if they have only done deals with what you perceive as smaller houses versus part of the Big Five, then that can help you understand the connections they have already (but that doesn’t mean they can’t land you with the Big Five!).

The agency’s website should also have a list of the books that the agency and the specific agent have helped to publish, so I would definitely check those out as well. Go to the Amazon pages of those books and check how many reviews they have, and check if they've gotten any media coverage. All of that is going to help you assess if that agent has done major book deals and could potentially offer that same support to you.

Can all agents land you a big book deal?

Now, the next question becomes: Are some agents better to work with than others?