Jennifer Jackson is an agent at the Donald Maass Agency. She regularly posts notes on what works for her as an agent, what doesn’t work, and more interestingly, her statistics as far as how many queries she receives and the number of partial / full manuscripts she requests.
Her most recent post can be found here. The reason I find this discussion so interesting is the fact that one commenter, who is a self-proclaimed non-writer, (EDIT: I just re-read the comments in question. The commenter in question is not a fiction writer, that doesn’t mean this person isn’t a writer. I apologize if I’ve given offense by my misunderstanding of the situation) has said :
"If I recall correctly, last year you took two new clients after having read 8000 queries. So, the odds of an author getting representation from a query are 1 in 4000. With such long odds, it doesn’t make sense for an author to spend much time finding out what an agent wants, and tailoring the query to those requirements."
I find this an interesting sentiment.
I posted a reply on the thread. It’s near the bottom, though the definition of "bottom" may change depending on how many more people post. Basically, I think customizing a query letter is much like customizing your resume when you’re seeking a job. When a potential employer has a pile of resumes with the same seniority, the same job experience, and the same skills, wouldn’t it be better for the job seeker to make her resume stand out by showing she’s done some research into the position and the company she’s trying to get into?
How many people feel like writers shouldn’t bother with customizing their queries? And how many of you are actual writers themselves?
Also, how do you feel about agents blogging about their query preferences or their stats? Does it help you? Does it hurt you? Do you even care?
EDIT: I’m also now wondering how many writers have gotten representation by sending out form queries with the same standard X number of pages without customizing. As I have yet to get representation, I’m really interested in who’s done it the requested way and who didn’t and how those numbers stack up against each other.
Color me curious. I’d really like to know.
