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"Agent Nathan" is not okay?

Damn...

Ha ha ha ha, that's awesome, Vicky.

I remember my first query to Kristin Nelson. This was a big deal. She's a big deal. I gotta get it right. Check and double-check everything. I'm just about to hit send and I realize my mistake. I was calling her Kristin and not Karen. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing if I had called her by the wrong first name.

Send.

Blink. Blink.

No, no wait. That's backward. Her name is Kristin. It would have been embarrassing if I had called her Karen.

WHICH I DID! GAH! *dies of failure*

'Agent Nathan' does have a ring to it, doesn't it? My guess is that the 'Bransford' and 'Nate B' salutations were from guys. Something about the macho sound of a punchy name.

It's common courtesy to address someone by their correct name,but even more so when you expect that person to do something for you.

Using a checklist can help one remember all the bits, and avoid a gaff.

When I was an editor, a lot of slush authors would call, hear my name, and ask how to spell my last name as it is tricky. But they would all assume they knew how to spell what sounds like "Karen". Nope. I spell it "Carin". So I was able to sort my submissions and still ignore the slush authors who were trying to make it into my To Read piles by pretending I'd requested them. Ha!

Fun post, Nathan-- thanks!

Chris??

I feel your pain Nathan, names can be a bother when it comes to pronunciation and spelling

Martha. Hilarious! Yes, I definitely recommend getting the name right.:)

@Natalie Whipple, some of my worst nightmares have been about misspelled agent names. I check about three or four times before I convince myself that I am indeed not crazy and that it's spelled correctly. o_0

I read your blog to learn. I also read it to laugh. And that's what I did today. Thank you for this hilarious, eye-opening post.

BTW ... Bransford seems like an easy sur name compared to mine, which has eight letters and only three consonants. No wonder I use a nom de plume. :-)

haha! Isn't Vicky Bijur a real agent? I'm pretty sure she is. They must have been sending their query to various agents and accidentally sent you hers. LOL Honest mistake. Poor thing.

I want to laugh (and, well, the "Martha" salutation is pretty funny), but I can just feel myself doing something equally is dense. I haven't sent you a query (yet), and I hope that when I do, I get it right. It's nice that you're so good-natured about it.

Had to giggle at the "not so much" list.

Just don't call him late for dinner.

That's just a guess, though.

:)
G.

The Martha one made me giggle.

Before I sent a query I re-read the thing like 10 times to make sure everything is good to go. Once I nearly sent a query with Dear (Blank) because I usually imput the name right before I send. Thank goodness I figured it out. That would have been embarrassing.

I really wish my keyboard had a 'Recall/DON'T SEND' button on it.

(big sigh...)

Oh wow, I like the, Nate B. I thought that was catchy. You may never be Nathan to me again.

My husbands last name is a phonetic nightmare. I too have to resort to your mother's style of spelling. It takes a little longer but cuts back on confusion.

I am still so, so sorry about the Ms. Bransford thing. But at least now I never query while brain-dead.

Martha Bransford, though... how does that happen?

The hive mind has spoken. You must change your name to Agent Nathan.

rebecca-

If you've done that really no worries, it happens to quite a few people, I'm bad about this stuff myself and I don't take it too seriously as you can see!

Vicky Bijur?? Actually, that's kind of a cool name. Nate B. sounds like you're a member of a recovery group (Agents Anonymous?).

Really, Nathan, you should be grateful. You could be stuck with a moniker like "Frohock." Would you like to know the variations of that name?

Frohawk, Fruhawk, Frohuck (which looks slightly obscene to me), and my personal favorite: Fruehause (complete with an umlaut over the u). And those are just the misspellings. The pronunciations would curl your ear hairs.

Honestly, Vicki, it could be much worse. ;-D

That was a fun post, Nathan, thanks for an afternoon laugh.

This is amazing.

hey, I'm surprised there weren't any Bradshaws (as in Carrie Bradshaw haha) in the list!

Too funny!!! It has never ever occurred to me to address a query other than Mr./Ms. and their last name. This is a formal business letter...and IMHO, there is no other way too address it!

That guy Curtis Brown keeps popping up. I mean, I hope he's easy to get along with in the office, keeps up with the sports scores, that kind of stuff.

Ha! These are funny. I started laughing at Chris and kept going.

Although, frankly, I'm also alittle disappointed. So little true creativity. Where are the really good names?

Mister Agent Man
Brandy Ford
O' Magnificence
Snookums
Sire
Hey You

Not even a: To Sir or Madam. C'mon writers, we have to try harder!

What a timely post! I received a cover letter from a candidate today addressed to Dear Sirs. Plural. As though there are a bunch of dudes sitting in a circle reading their resume.

Has anyone called you Ma'am Bransford? Wait...what exactly is the plural of Ma'am. Ma'ams? Maams? Back to work. Thanks for the post and I'm glad we're back on track with being nice and jovial as a group.

Oh my gosh, too funny. Nate B made me laugh out loud, and I agree with Kathryn - Agent Nathan does sound like some sort of secret agent. I think you should adopt that as your new query name.

From the other side, I get an alarming number of query replies addressed to Mr. Dotson. I know that Chazley is a weird name, but it's not inherently masculine! I even slyly mention my husband in the letter. Maybe I should start signing my letters "Mrs. Dotson."

Well Nathan Bransford, I can truly sympathize. Whenever you are feeling that you have a loo-loo of a monicker, think of me. My name is Joanna van der Gracht de Rosado. (Note how my already difficult surname is comprised of three words and the first and second are not capitalized...) On top of this, I live in Mexico where a woman takes on her husband's name too. You would NOT believe the versions I have received! So, take heart... it could be a LOT worse.

That's it. I'm going to call you Vicky Bijur at home.

Vicky Bijur, can you feed the Chihuahua?

Vicky Bijur, do you want to go on a date this Friday?

Vicky Bijur, do I look fat in this dress?

Vicky Bijur?!?! At leas Bijou would have been interesting - in an alter ego, Parisian femme fatale kind of way...

Personally, I like "Nate B." I'm surprised you haven't received any addressed to "Nate Dawg."

When I'm randomly talking to people I've met on your forums, I just say "NB." They never misunderstand who I'm talking about. Must be pretty cool to be recognizable by initials only.

K

"Vicky Bijur" made me laugh out loud. Quite the misspelling. ;)

People always want me to be more French (as in "Gremmier"), because an "L" cannot POSSIBLY follow a double-M.

Thanks for the laugh. I'm sure for you (Yo, Dawg) it's funnier on some days than others. :)

I'd honestly be delighted to be addressed as Agent Nathan, and I'm a girl named Tara. I'm pretty sure it's awesome.

Agent Nathan is funny! lol Martha Bransford is just wrong.

I have an unusual last name, and because of the effs it's hard to spell over the phone unless you do this: C-O -FF, as in French fry, E-L-T, as in Tom.

Haven't gotten a Cosselt or Coflet in years because of that trick...

People usually spell my name correctly, but if it's over email or mail, they usually assume I'm a guy :-( I guess Deniz looks a lot like Denis, but it gets really frustrating...

Who would honestly think your name is MARTHA Bransford? xD

This made me think of the Phil Hartman scene from So I Married an Axe Murderer: "My name is Nathan Bransford. People here call me Vicky."

This post is one of the many reasons I love this blog! Thanks, Martha. :)

Haha! I can't even imagine sending some of these!

Although I have to be honest. I think Nate B. is kind of awesome.

Oh, Martha! I love it! :)

None were addressed to Nate the Great?

Actually, I'm very surprised by all the variations. I've wondered when I've sent something to a female editor how to address it if I've spent time googling and can't figure out if she is a Miss or a Mrs. I've sent them to Ms. if I'm not positive of their marital status. I've never addressed anyone by their first name unless I have met them or had personal communications with them.

What the heck, no one calls you Nate Dog anymore?

At least Mr Branford and Ms Bransford were kind of close, I guess.

Also, would it be insta-fail to say something along the lines of "Yo Mister Agent Person Dude"? I happen to enjoy YMAPD (maybe not (or maybe really (not))).

I get similar name problems too. For some reason, Rebecca is apparently the hardest name to spell because I've gotten every variation possible, and then my last name is worse, and it's only four letters!

So should we call you Martha or Vicki from now on?

Speaking of not casting stones, I once queried you about a query beginnng with, 'Hi, Nathan'. After this illustrious start, I was too embarrassed to try again. *g*

Nathan:

Please, what is the official moniker of agents (or at least the safest rout)"?

Chris made me laugh. Vicky Bijur made me spit rice on my screen. Thanks a lot, Martha.

This was too funny.

Personally, I like "Agent Nathan" ... it sounds very Mission Impossible!

Martha Bransford... Really? Where did they get that one from? It made me laugh (then again, it's getting late here, and I laugh at everything!)

Vicky Bijur, another agent, cut and paste oversight, yes? I do like Nate B, that makes me laugh. When people I've just met shorten my name to Nat, it kind of bugs me - hate to say it, but it's the truth. So good you're relaxed about this,Martha...

Vicky Bijur made me laugh until I realized it was a cut and paste thing. It was funnier when I thought it was made up. Martha is a hoot, as well.

Nathan, I don't think your name is weird at all. Or hard to spell.

Mine is hyphenated, which is my own fault, I admit. But hyphens do really weird things to people. They can look right at my driver's license and still not get the name, spelling, or my place in the alphabet right.

LOL! You, agents, must really be having fun not having fun at all.

Some of those are quite hilarious from an outside perspective, at least.

Anyway, offering solidarity, as I too have an oddly-spelled last name (and one that very few pronounce correctly the first time they say it).

Great post, Nate Dogg.

Yo, Mr. B! works for me, too.

Oh my gosh these totally crack me up. In some weird way they make me feel better about myself. Thanks Mr. B.!

Magdalena Munro said...

Wait...what exactly is the plural of Ma'am. Ma'ams? Maams?

June 22, 2010 3:21 PM

Mesdames. Yes, I know that looks strange, but it is indeed the plural. Actually it's the plural of Madam, or Madame, since you can't pluralize the contraction "Ma'am."

:-)

And yes, "Martha" was priceless. I hope that was a cut-and-paste accident, which is more understandable than anything else. Ooh, ouchie.

"Martha Bransford" sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm surprised just "Nathan" is acceptable. Query letters are business letters, after all, so it seems like a last name would be in order.

Liberty my dad gets misspelled letters all the time - in fact his nickname is due to a teacher not reading his name right.

His real name is Simon but a teacher saw SMM and read out Sam and that name stuck. Very few people actually know what my dad's actual name is. Some letters come to him addressed as Samuel, which is logical but if your going to write to someone make sure the elongation that your assuming is actually the correct one.

For such a long time, I was so scared of querying. I feared the doleful eye of jaded literary agents holding the keys to the kingdom. Now I see I need not have been worried. For all my sins, I'm not a blithering idiot. I'm only an idiot on purpose. Vicky. Oh man.

I for one and extremely disappointed that no one used the effervescent "NB"
:-)

To Whom It May Concern?

Sounds like a suicide note.

My surname's 'Willoughby'. Try and imagine how many misspellings I get. I also get some weird pronunciations from cold callers.

I just laugh.

Chris and Vicky Bijur almost made me spit my breakfast all over my computer screen. That's hi-larious. Thank you for sharing--you've made my morning.

There is no way the person addressing you as Nate B. thought he was going to be taken seriously. No way. (Unless he's a friend)

That's why I triple check my query letters. I want to get EVERYTHING right! The competition is so tough right now, I don't want to give anyone anymore excuses to ignore or reject my letter :)

And to think I worried about whether to start "Dear Nathan" or "Dear Mr. Bransford."

I did the same thing everyone else did when I saw CHRIS. Martha...er...you failed the physical for that a long time ago, so that's a mystery.

As a person whose maiden name was very, very simple to spell but apparently impossible for people to figure out how to pronounce (!), I feel yoah pain.

JB, who's waiting in line to be the first to buy the "Agent Nathan" action figure!

Personally, I am partial to Mr. Brown. Does that mean you get a raise?

People have been spelling my last name wrong since before I can remember. If I were an agent, I think I'd be like you and give them marks for trying. :) Still, it's always nice when someone gets it right.

@bettielee re: "For such a long time, I was so scared of querying."

Develop a thick skin and jump in, the water's fine! I queried for 30 years and have over 300 rejections. I wear a Shield of Gardol and I am living to tell the tale.

The rejections never hurt until recently... until the "marjorie-cartoons" were rejected. This hurts. I am submitting not just for me, but for her, and my alter ego takes rejection quite seriously. She is not pleased. Her next morph may be quite edgy.

So glad we here at least have the likelihood of clearing into the 'didn't get it wrong in the opening address' 77% just with such a simple thing.

Do you have a personal preference?

I like the method in lots of languages with a formal you and informal you, depending on how well you know the person. The formal you is ALWAYS prefaced with Mr. or Mrs or other title followed by last name.

LOL...Martha!

Dear Ms. Bijur: That's great!
Having a first name frequently misspelled, even by friends, I sympathize.
Best,
T (it's just easier, I've found)

Oh, and I agree completely with Mira:
Expect a query addressed to "Mr. Agent Man" some day soon...it'll be from me...or maybe Mira, since it was her idea...

I'd like to know how many queries you get addressed to Nate B. now.

Which is to say how many people who read your blog and feel vicariously connected to you in some way that they'll risk the joke.

Anyway, Nate B, catchyalater.

Decided that was too easily misinterpreted as disrespectful, which is not the intent, of course.

Terin - no reason we can't share! :)

This is a fun thread.

I'm dating a Nate B...

This post was hi-friggin-larious! Keep 'em coming, Vicky.

I can make sense of all the mistakes made except "Chris". Where did that come from? It made me snort in a most unladylike fashion.

Yeah, I grew up with M-O-S...long pause...K-O-W...I-T-Z.

and then you repeat it.

Put me in the pro-Nate-B column.

The unsatisfactory category is actually funny!!

I'm Dan Hill.

Just for giggles I spell it out for people as though there's a trick - keeps 'em on edge.

Dear Nate Blank Agent-Type Person Dude,

So, you expect us to spell your name right? What do you think we are? Writers? Oh, wait...

Jaye Tea Chez

Agent Nathan! Agent Nathan!

hahahahahahaha...

Actually, I am not immune to cut-and-paste stupidity. I once sent a query to an agent from a template that I had created for that manuscript's query, and I missed a couple of the parts that I was supposed to personalize. Oops. I got rejected pretty much immediately.

And I, too, have an odd name, which both gets misspelled and mispronounced. Nousha, anyone? It's really Ishta. EEESH-tuh. Oh, well.

But isn't it a little bit fun to be called Agent Nathan? Come on. Whipping out the literary agent badge and storming a bookstore has to be a perk. =P

www.morgankayser.com

Amazing that 60 people got your name wrong!

Thanks, Chris.

Who in the name of Socrates is Vicky Bijur - I hope that at least that this person got the spelling correct!

Hey, maybe the person didn't know Nathan's last name, and consequently wrote 'Dear Agent'.

Maybe this person thought his last name was a secret?

So that would make Nathan a secret-agent.

Get it!

A secret agent! Ha - I crack myself up.

Ooh, thanks for sharing! I'm a tart for stats.

I don't understand something. You said, "Of those 105 queries, 35 were personalized".

You mean you replied personally to 35? With a non-form rejection? Or are you actually saying that only 35 out of 105 knew your name? Or do you mean that 70 out of 105 cc'ed other agents on the query?

None of those options make sense to me, so please clarify. Pretty please. :D

Oh crap, and my novel is a YA Fantasy...figures! I also enjoy reading your bllogg.

Someone misspelled BLOG?!?

I can't believe you still get those "DEAR AGENT" queries. With your blog being so popular and you being well-known on the Internet, people would have known your name.

*shaking my head*

nixy-

35 mentioned something about my blog, my clients, or something that showed that they had taken the time to research me.

And yes, I responded personally to them, unless they said they'd read my blog but strayed so wildly from my query recommendations that it was clear they had seen my blog but hadn't actually read anything, in which case I sent a form rejection.

Love the query stats! They make me feel like a lone wolf for writing contemporary, real-world YA.

Your query stats fans might also get a kick out of this article from UK agent Andrew Lownie -- he chronicles a week in the life of his agency, e-mail, snail mail, and all. Link

So it looks like close to 20 percent of those who queried had no clue about audience, purpose, or attention to detail.

I wonder how many have the nerve to call themselves writers…

After all this time, I definitely appreciate a personal rejection of my query. So thanks for that!

For anyone -- does YA dystopian count as fantasy?

Well, out of loyalty to some of my favorite books, I'd substitute the 'Meyers effect' with the 'J.K. Rowling effect.'

I appreciate seeing these stats. It helps give me a bigger picture of the field. It also occurs to me that you must work pretty hard, Nathan.

It's also very educational. Once I actually write something and then query an agent, I'll need to do something to stand out from the huge crowd.

Does anyone know if we have this technology? When an agent opens my query, I'd like fireworks to start shooting off, and the 1812 oveture to start playing. The part with the cannons.

If anyone knows how to do that, let me know.

Since the category of "ennui" always makes me laugh.

Is ennui sort of like watching last night's episode of The Bachelor? Things should be happening, love should be blossoming, but instead you find yourself on a roadtrip in which "connections" and people being "amazing" have no shape or form or lead to anything significant, like, a plot?

This is curious. My agent said she and an agent friend noticed the same thing. The general consensus in her blog responses was that the economy (layoffs) are giving people more time to write their "Great American Novel".

Overall, have you noticed the quality of queries has deteriorated? Or is the quality fairly consistent as before the increase in volume?

Wow

I wasn't expecting a post from you today, out of respect for Jillian's departure last night.

Seriously...what is Jason thinking (besides, I just bedded three hot chicks in a week on national TV)?

harris

I don't think Meyers started the upsurge in YA Fantasy. It began long before she did. She just had the timing to get in during the peak.

As someone who runs around calling herself a writer, I've had a couple of friends of friends contact me recently about writing a book.

This is of course purely anecdotal, but the people I spoke with were unemployed and approached book writing like a get rich quick scheme. They seemed shocked that actual work and research might be involved.

Of course, I'm unemployed too, so I shouldn't really talk, but I've been working at this for years now and at least have some idea about how hard it is to get published.

anon-

I'd say a slight deterioration overall with lots more frivolous queries, such as the ones where "query" is misspelled.

Harris-

I'm still reeling from the Naomi departure. I thought she was good people.

The Rowling-Meyer Effect... sounds like something from a paper on particle physics.

Nathan,
You're almost at a thousand followers. Are you gonna throw a party for all of us? I mean, you could offer Kool-Aid, since you're officially at cult status...

My best, as always,
Bryan Russell

...Going back to check all my queries to make sure they don't begin with a rhetorical question...

Every time I read your blog I see something else I'm doing wrong without realizing it!

Thanks for the stats! This is interesting to see. I'm wondering what your average day is like. Do you read fulls in the office, or do you take them home to read on the couch or something? Sorry, just curious. And don't answer if you think I'm being dumb. :)

lady glamis-

I read anywhere and everywhere I have time. Every time I try and make this into a typical 8-6 type of job it never seems to work.

I have a love/hate relationship to these stats. On the one hand, I find them fascinating (and LOVE the "No Freaking Clue" category - that made my day!). On the other hand, how depressing for us writers!!! It reminds me of the stats that Kristin Nelson posted for 2008 - she received 3,500 queries and took on two new clients. Makes finding a needle in a haystack seem like a breeze...

Intriguing, Bransford. I'll keep this in mind when I querry (querie? queary?) you in the future... ;-)

Narthun,

I hive a queenie abort your borg. Does you spull chuck anyfing.

MArtian

Naomi's family was wacked - they focused on her spacey mom , but it was her dad who scared the crap out of me.

That 2% partials figure isn't the most comforting. Although the misspellings and lack of personalization do make it less difficult to take.

Nate,
This actually made me feel better. I am working hard at learning the craft of writing and the rules of querying. The fact that you get a lot of crap skews the statistics towards 'real' writers. That's good, right?

Oh yeah, Ink, as much as I love the KoolAid suggestion, I think I'll say 'No', we all know what happened to the last cult of KoolAid drinkers.

Nathan-

I notice 8 women's fiction queries. Have you seen a counterpart to male ennui among those, or do their plots tend to vary more?

I'm now going back to check and see if I was given a form rejection by you or not...

On the other hand, lately I have been approached by several people who have written or are writing their "big one" who pretend to know the ins and outs of the entire publishing world but then ask, "Have you ever heard of a query? I heard I have to write one." To which, I will now assume they mean queary, queery, kweery, etc.
*blank stare* What do I even say to that?

Ink,

Awesome idea. We could even do it like Fark parties (anyone read fark.com?).

What would we call ourselves? Here are some suggestions:

- Nathanites
- Branheads
- Freenathans (then Dan Brown could write his next book about US! Wait, we're writers. We could write our own book)

Hope you like those partials and find another NYT Bestseller in them, Mr. Bransford! Continued success!

je m'ennui avec l'ennui.

Hey Nathan,

Great post. Can you please clarify what the 'religion' category is? Are those theology/no theology books like "The God Delusion" or just fiction that involves religion (e.g. Da Vinci Code)?

Thanks.

Sad that you would automatically think that YA (urban) fantasy has anything to do with Ms. Meyers. No offense to her, but she is hardly the inventor of the genre, nor is she even close the greats that the genre has to offer.

It kind of disturbs me to think that my manuscript would be automatically written off as part of some ploy to cash in on SM's popularity.

Sad.

Heather-

I'm not saying everyone who writes YA fantasy is trying to cash in on the Meyer bandwagon, but lots are, trust me. There's a query trend every time there's a successful book.

Nathan-

I'm your 1000th follower. Do I get a prize?

I've been blog stalking you for a while now and have to say that I love your blog. Although it terrifies me at times (only 2%, really?), it's been very informative.

lol Fun stats. Thanks

That kind of SM query trend makes sense though. When a book is successful there are people looking to read more of that kind of book and so maybe there need to be more of them. Just a thought.

Mine is YA supernatural does that mean that I'm a SM wannabe? Well, heck, I'd love her success.

Mr. Bransford,

Did any of those queries who did not personalize it to you get a partial request?

Love the blog, by the way.

I think mine comes under "No Freaking Clue"- But look as I might I've not seen any other agent dealing in that category, so does it mean you are the only one handling that niche- Gosh I don't have much choice then do I? I love the way you take all this cheek!

Not. One. Horror. I'm an idiot. But I can't help it.

I'm beginning to think the figure of 2% is some universal number, like pi. In direct mail advertising, 2% is considered a good return. Hey, in this economy, it's just nice to be in the black.

Thanks for the stats, Nathan.

I also believe that 2% is the acceptable number for the defective rate of electronics.

Oh wait.

I don't need to add fireworks and the 1812 overture to my query. What was I thinking?

I'll just write a really good book.

Although it wouldn't hurt if the moment someone opened my query a love potion perfume engulfed them. Then not only would they represent me, but they'd fall in love with me and do my every bidding.

This is a really good plan. Anyone know the technology for a love potion perfume?

Who said the fantasy genre was dead?

I'm not sure whether I should be pleased or depressed that none of those were for diet humor (what I am currently writing).

Seems I have a corner on the diet humor market, but I think I'm beginning to look like an overweight hooker standing out under this corner streetlight all by myself.

Love the "no freaking clue" category! I think I'll takle that one next! :p

So, if you're a [high] fantasy writer that's been working on a novel for two years and it happens to be on the lieu of the Stephenie Meyer's wave that you decide your manuscript is ready and begin querying, does it reflect on your manuscript poorly? I swear this genre and I had a relationship before the vampire thing became big.

Nathan, when you turn people down do you give them all the same response?

I wonder if the fantasy has anything to the increase in sci-fi/fantasy tv shows like Life On Mars, Dr Who, Torchwood, Merlin and probably a million others in the US.

Thank goodness I decided NOT to write that book about a teenage vampire and his dragon friend who uncover a deep and historical conspiracy involving religious cult members and global warming. Whew!

Glad to know it's a good thing to mention following a blog or website. I have actually stayed away from that in the past thinking it seemed corny and brown-nosy.

So looks like a switch to Western might be a good idea for me since I write YA and middle-grade fantasy.

105 queries in three days.

The mind boggles. I laughed at your breakdown stats, too. I suppose it's a bit weird, but I don't find those stats (and the query stats other agents have posted lately) to be so terrible...at least from my perspective. It just goes to show how important it is to follow guidelines. I'm a bit surprised that so many fail to do so.

I was going to query you about a picture book that's sort of a cross between a Western, no freaking clue, and male ennui. Looks like it might be a tough sell though in this market.

Dear Ms. Literary Agent. I read your Blogg all the thyme.

I wanted to send you a quiry but had no freaking clue what to right.

;-)

Wow, if you request 2 partials every 3 days then you're reading 243 partials a year. If you request fulls for 2-5% of these then you're reading 5-12 manuscripts a year. That's up to 3x the amount of books that the average American reads in a year.

On the other hand, if you get 105 queries every three days, you get a total of 12,775 queries a year of which 12,532 will get a flat out rejection letter.

So . . . were the last three days representative?

I vote for bloug and quiry.

Despite the excellent advice you give on your blog, these query stats have managed to terrify me. Is that a good thing?

I don't know about anyone else but this is some of the best and honest information I have read on this process. It gives me an honest look at what we are all up against...including myself.

Note to self:

1. Don't send on a holiday weekend. Try mid-week on some random week when nothing is going on.

2. Use spell check! Smart people do!

3. Show how unique I really am...;) (not a problem for the most part)

Have you gotten any haiku queries, like this agent is asking for? :-)

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-contest-query-haiku.html

I'm not sure what genre my WIP fits into.
It's about a flawed psychiatrist treating a traumatized child, who is the only link to a sick pedophile and possible child killer on the loose. Under pressure from the hospital, police, the media and the whole community, the psychiatrist's very reputation is at stake, while at the same time the case is opening the wounds of her own abusive childhood. Her memories resurface, clouding her judgement regarding her patient. She seems the unlikeliest person to be able to break through to this child, who refuses to speak.
The only way is to face her own past, her own fears, dead on. Her dedication to her profession and her sheer will, compell her to try to heal herself, so she can heal this child and hopefully help catch a killer.

In a nutshell, that's its' bare bones.
I would maybe call it psychological thriller.
Any suggestions?

Jenn-

Yeah, that sounds about right, actually, plus my clients' manuscripts. Lots of reading in this job!

Amber Lynn Argyle, I agree with your comment about the YA Fantasy thing going on for a while. I work at a public library, and there seem to be a ton of books that fit in to this category. They're as varied as the "regular fiction" books. I have noticed that most of the YA fantasy that we carry are of the series variety.

Scotty - also at our library, we regularly have people ask us for the "horror" section. So I know people want to read it....

Nathan, thanks for the stats!

Hello, Nathan. I was one of the people you met at the agent speed dating at the SF writer's conference. You asked me to email you after you heard my pitch.
I'm just trying to find out how many sample pages I should send, because I see nothing on the blog to let me know.
Please, I really want to know so I can follow up on my pitch.

Hi Nathan, as a crime writer I'd love to see some kind of breakdown of the 13 Mystery/Suspense/Thriller queries. Not that I expect you to go back, analyse them, and provide an exhaustive list of sub-genres, but I was wondering if there are themes that recur?

Like are they mostly irate-loner-tackles-bad-guys-after-family-murdered? Or do they tend towards the lady-huntley's-body-found-in-aristocratic-library? Or naieve-divorcee-moves-to-town-with-big-nasty-secret?

I'd love if you posted a whole bunch of queries, they sound like great fun to read. Do you ever find yourself rolling round the floor laughing?

"I was going to query you about a picture book that's sort of a cross between a Western, no freaking clue, and male ennui. Looks like it might be a tough sell though in this market."

Thanks for that Anonymous! I just about peed my pants! LOL

"The Hong Kong Connection" is a legal thriller about a gutsy female attorney who takes on high ranking International officials. It's a taut, rollercoaster of a ride from New York to Palm Beach to Washington D.C. to Hong Kong. The plot is expertly woven, the characters persuasive, and the dialogue snappy and spot on.
www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/TheHongKongConnection.html

You failed to mention one genre.

My 200,000 word novel is about a sorority of vampires and their use of blood orange martinis to terrorize and ultimately bend to their control the entire student body. I deemed it straight horror, but my readers tell me it is in fact horrorble. Here's hoping that category isn't overstocked:)
Deb S

What amazes me about this post is that only about 15 percent of your queries during this period, if I read the categories correctly, consists of nonfiction. What, I wonder, is the general ratio of fiction to nonfiction in your queries, Nathan? And what (for another post perhaps) is the ratio of fiction to nonfiction queries that lead to your request for more material?

The 2007 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards will be presented Oct. 19/07 in New York City. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow is one of this year’s winners! www.janeaddamspeace.org has more information on the 6 award winners this year as well as the previous winners.

Thanks for pointing that out, Corinne. Also, Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata is one of the other 2007 award winners.

What a great topic to highlight. It would be interesting to see how many non WWII books there are out there on the topic of peace. I should do some scrounging around. Here in Canada, Deborah Ellis has published a number of books about middle east. The Breadwinner and Parvana’s Journey deal with a young girl growing up in Afghanistan. Mmmm. I’ll have to keep thinking about all this.

You raise an interesting point and if you do find anything interesting, do let us know. Thank you for pointing out Deborah Ellis’ books. She is a very powerful writer and you can read a bit of background to her Breadwinner Trilogy in an interview with her on PaperTigers. We will also be reviewing her most recent book, Sacred Leaf, in our next issue. The sequel to I Am a Taxi, it is all about conflict too, focussing on issues within Bolivia about the coca plant, and indirectly on the influence of the US on government policy…