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7 thoughts on “Status Queries: When and How To Do It”
Suppose one has sent work to an agent who said, “I will read this by the end of X month.” With a month and a half to go before that deadline, a published illustrator/author in one of one’s writing groups looks at something written since the Agential Sub and says, “This would really be fun to illustrate. Would you mind if I sent it to [Editor’s Name Withheld]?” and you say, “Mind? By no means! I’d be indebted!” or words to that effect.
Would a note mentioning this be a reasonable status update?
Well, first, you have a really nice friend in your writing group. Second, this is a very good question. You might want to to let your friend know it’s already been sent to an agent and whether or not you plan to work with an agent, in general, in the event the work is sold. Just so the editor at the other end is not surprised later.
Now back to the agent. If the agent has the work on an exclusive basis, then yes, it could warrant a contact by just saying your work has been referred to an editor by a published author and you wanted to let them know you are sending it on. You hope the agent understands and you will keep them posted as necessary.
However, if it’s a simultaneous submission, you may simply decide to not mention anything and see what happens with the editor before acting. There’s a good chance nothing will come of it, as any manuscript has a terrific chance of being rejected. Sorry to say this, but it is the truth, yes? If the editor does want to buy the manuscript, then you can contact the agent and let them know X editor would like to buy your work and you are interested in knowing if the agent would like to continue to consider you as a client. That will usually get you a very quick response.
Anyway, it all boils down to what you’re comfortable with. And are you prepared for the potential outcomes? To status update or not to status update? The choice is yours.
If this were Snoop and the sub was simultaneous, he probably wouldn’t say anything at all unless someone showed him the money.
Hope that helps.
Wow! I certainly didn’t expect an answer so quickly! Thanks!
Believe me, I know what a lovely offer it is to send someone else’s ms to an editor, and that there’s no guarantee of anything.
If the work were one that I’d sent to Courted Agent, I think I might’ve sent a note already. Thing is, it’s one that didn’t exist when I sent the submissions. As in, submissions November, new piece last week. So she not only hasn’t seen it (she likely hasn’t looked at the rest; she’d said a while before Christmas that she’d do that whenever she got caught up, probably this month maybe next); she has no idea it exists. (And I also greatly appreciate the fact that she gave me an idea of when not to go nuts yet. )
Thanks for the dithering space, and the help! 😀
p.s. by the bye – if Snoop would like a picture of one of his swamp-rabbit relatives, I have some I could e-mail. Swamp rabbits are cottontails, but have little ears.
Cynthea,
You’re correct. If they want to buy the book, they find me. You’ve encouraged me to no longer send status queries unless asked by an editor to do so. I had a pb out for over a year at one publisher and had chalked it up as lost. Without sending a sq, I received a nice personal saying it had been on their “we like this” stack for too long. If I had sent a status query, might they have just sent a form back? Who knows? I’ve got enough pbs making the rounds that I can just chill out and not worry about those who take an extraordinary amount of time to reply.
Thanks for the advice,
Brian Humek
(P.S. My last comment seemed to vanish, if you have two from me, I apologize)
Thanks, Ms. Tizzydither. You’re welcome to send photos of Swamp rabbits to Snoop AT cynthealiu DOT com. 🙂
Hi Brian, thanks for the comment. I don’t know if they would have formed you, but you definitely saved yourself some time and postage. I myself had some nice results from submissions that took a while! And I really believe it’s important to trust the system. Very little actually does get lost and if it does, by then you probably have a new version of your manuscript anyway. hahaha! Why not spend more time focusing on writing your next masterpiece than stressing about something that isn’t really under your control? That’s what I ask my readers to think about.
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Suppose one has sent work to an agent who said, “I will read this by the end of X month.” With a month and a half to go before that deadline, a published illustrator/author in one of one’s writing groups looks at something written since the Agential Sub and says, “This would really be fun to illustrate. Would you mind if I sent it to [Editor’s Name Withheld]?” and you say, “Mind? By no means! I’d be indebted!” or words to that effect.
Would a note mentioning this be a reasonable status update?
Well, first, you have a really nice friend in your writing group. Second, this is a very good question. You might want to to let your friend know it’s already been sent to an agent and whether or not you plan to work with an agent, in general, in the event the work is sold. Just so the editor at the other end is not surprised later.
Now back to the agent. If the agent has the work on an exclusive basis, then yes, it could warrant a contact by just saying your work has been referred to an editor by a published author and you wanted to let them know you are sending it on. You hope the agent understands and you will keep them posted as necessary.
However, if it’s a simultaneous submission, you may simply decide to not mention anything and see what happens with the editor before acting. There’s a good chance nothing will come of it, as any manuscript has a terrific chance of being rejected. Sorry to say this, but it is the truth, yes? If the editor does want to buy the manuscript, then you can contact the agent and let them know X editor would like to buy your work and you are interested in knowing if the agent would like to continue to consider you as a client. That will usually get you a very quick response.
Anyway, it all boils down to what you’re comfortable with. And are you prepared for the potential outcomes? To status update or not to status update? The choice is yours.
If this were Snoop and the sub was simultaneous, he probably wouldn’t say anything at all unless someone showed him the money.
Hope that helps.
Wow! I certainly didn’t expect an answer so quickly! Thanks!
Believe me, I know what a lovely offer it is to send someone else’s ms to an editor, and that there’s no guarantee of anything.
If the work were one that I’d sent to Courted Agent, I think I might’ve sent a note already. Thing is, it’s one that didn’t exist when I sent the submissions. As in, submissions November, new piece last week. So she not only hasn’t seen it (she likely hasn’t looked at the rest; she’d said a while before Christmas that she’d do that whenever she got caught up, probably this month maybe next); she has no idea it exists. (And I also greatly appreciate the fact that she gave me an idea of when not to go nuts yet. )
Thanks for the dithering space, and the help! 😀
p.s. by the bye – if Snoop would like a picture of one of his swamp-rabbit relatives, I have some I could e-mail. Swamp rabbits are cottontails, but have little ears.
Cynthea,
You’re correct. If they want to buy the book, they find me. You’ve encouraged me to no longer send status queries unless asked by an editor to do so. I had a pb out for over a year at one publisher and had chalked it up as lost. Without sending a sq, I received a nice personal saying it had been on their “we like this” stack for too long. If I had sent a status query, might they have just sent a form back? Who knows? I’ve got enough pbs making the rounds that I can just chill out and not worry about those who take an extraordinary amount of time to reply.
Thanks for the advice,
Brian Humek
(P.S. My last comment seemed to vanish, if you have two from me, I apologize)
Thanks, Ms. Tizzydither. You’re welcome to send photos of Swamp rabbits to Snoop AT cynthealiu DOT com. 🙂
Hi Brian, thanks for the comment. I don’t know if they would have formed you, but you definitely saved yourself some time and postage. I myself had some nice results from submissions that took a while! And I really believe it’s important to trust the system. Very little actually does get lost and if it does, by then you probably have a new version of your manuscript anyway. hahaha! Why not spend more time focusing on writing your next masterpiece than stressing about something that isn’t really under your control? That’s what I ask my readers to think about.