The Follow-Up
Virtually all literary agencies and publishing houses will take at least one to two weeks to respond to a query and six weeks or more to respond to a proposal or full manuscript. There's a very good reason for this: Literary agencies and publishing houses are extraordinarily busy places. Business hours are devoted to existing projects and clients. The stacks of queries and piles of proposals from potential new talent are at or near the bottom of the list of priorities, waiting for those rare free moments in an agent's or editor's day.
Directories of publishers and agents, such as Writer's Market, include average reporting times for each establishment. Whenever you send out a query, mark it on your calendar, as well as the approximate date you can expect to hear back from that agent or publisher. This not only helps you keep track of your submissions; it also reminds you not to get too anxious when you go several days, or even weeks, without a response.
No Reply
Even if you expected a response to your query in two weeks, give the agent or editor a total of six weeks to get back to you. If you haven't heard anything by then, chances are you forgot to include your SASE, or your SASE did not have your address and the proper postage affixed. Book queries usually receive a yes or a no response right away; rarely is one held as “maybe.”
If you like, you can assume that your query got lost in the mail — it does happen, though not often — and resubmit your query. If you do this, make sure you include a complete SASE and tell the agent or editor, tactfully, that you are resending your query because you haven't received a response from your first try. Don't demand that the agent or editor look at your query immediately, and don't demand any special treatment, such as a phone call confirming receipt. If you still don't hear anything, or if you decide not to resubmit, move on to another agent or editor.
Send More
When you get a positive response to your query, the agent or editor will ask you to send more material — usually a proposal or partial manuscript. Read the instructions and follow them carefully. If you're asked to send the first three chapters of your book, send the first three chapters; don't send the second, fifth, and twelfth chapters, and definitely don't send the entire manuscript.
Essential
Pay attention to the tone and mechanics of the response. Just as an agent or editor makes judgments about your professionalism based on your query, you can get an idea about the professionalism of the agent or editor by the response. A poorly written letter, or one with lots of errors, doesn't bode well for your project.
Sometimes agents and editors will call and ask you to send more material. When this happens, take notes to make sure you know exactly what you're supposed to send. Don't rely on memory; write things down during the conversation and, before you hang up, go over the list one more time. Ask if there's anything else the agent or editor needs, and tell her when you plan to send the material. Also ask when you can expect to hear back on the additional material, and make a note of it so you can mark your calendar.
