Indie Authors interested in traditional publishing: How to use Querytracker
As a self published indie author, I have zero experience in the traditional publishing realm, however, I have *tons* of experience using Querytracker
Querytracker is a helpful tool for those wanting to query agents once their work is finished and they have an edited and polished manuscript. It puts everything both writers and agents need all in one place.
Querytracker in a nutshell
Once you have an account with Querytracker, you’re free to start querying agents. This tool, all available online with no need to download, will help you find literary agents that may be a good fit for you and your book. The database as most agents in it, where you can then do a deeper dive. From there, you’ll learn how to submit your manuscript, whether it be through snail mail, email, or a form on Querytracker, and then in one place you’ll see where all of your submissions, rejections, and offers are.
There are two types of accounts: free and premium. The price is pretty affordable and costs just $25 per year, but we’ll get into that later. (Yes, I think it’s worth it if you’re serious about finding an agent and/or have multiple projects you’re querying, no I don’t have a premium membership because I mainly self publish)
Agents explained
The agent is the middleman for authors and publishers. Landing an agent is pretty exciting- most times they won’t take on a project unless they have complete faith that they can sell it to a publisher. Some agents have been in the game a long time and have connections at publishing houses, they’ve worked hard to establish themselves and have proven they have a good eye for success. Others are rather new and are waiting to make a big break into the publishing world as well. Either way, agents make their money by selling these publishers the manuscripts of authors they represent. An agent isn’t likely to take on a project they don’t feel passionate about or that they have no faith in selling. Sometimes your book is actually really great, but they already have a project too similar to that or they think the market is saturated with that type of book.
The important thing to remember is that just because you got an agent it doesn’t mean you’ll get a publishing deal. That being said, your chances of getting a publishing deal once you land an agent increase tenfold.
In Querytracker, agents are listed alphabetically.
Above, you can see the agents names listed, the agency they work for, how they accept queries, and what country they’re working in. This image shows lighting bolts, which means they accept queries through a form on the Querytracker website. The crossed out red circle means they’re currently closed to queries. You cannot submit when they’re closed to queries. This means they may have all the projects they need, or they’re backed up and sorting through queries they received when they were open. There is also a symbol that represents both email submissions and snail mail submissions, meaning those are the methods they accept queries.
By clicking the agent’s name, you can learn more about them.
My strongest suggestion is that once you know your genre, you want to look for agents that represent that specific genre. You wouldn’t want to submit a psychological thriller to a middle grade agent. Researching agents on Twitter is a great place to start, and with Querytracker they can give you more information about agents and the agencies they work for.
Submitting to an agent and tracking your queries
You can add agents to your list almost as if it’s a shopping cart, so you save them for later and don’t lose them.
Once you submit your query, you can track them in the order they were submitted. If you submit directly through Querytracker using a form, it will save itself if you’re logged into the account while submitting. At the bottom of these forms you’re given the option to login to track it (I strongly suggest doing this).
If you submit via email or snail mail, you’ll have to manually put in that you submitted to the agent and make a mental note of keeping an eye out for a response.
Querytracker offers an average acceptance and rejection rate as well as giving the average time (days) it takes and agent to respond to your query.
From there, you can see exactly who rejected you, accepted you, hasn’t responded, etc.
Many times the agent will ask for your full manuscript if they have interest in your work, and from there they’ll make you an offer of acceptance or reject your work. My favorite part of Querytracker is that it’s made up of thousands of other authors who can communicate through message boards under agents and publishers main pages. If they had good experiences, bad experiences, how long it took, if they were accepted what the offer was, etc.
I find this feature to be the most helpful because let’s be honest- just like every other industry there are bad people. Of course there are great authors who are just terrible to work with and sometimes there are agents in it for all the wrong reasons, or they’re just unprofessional.
One time I had spent a lot of time researching agents, and felt I’d finally found someone I wanted to submit to. I found him on Querytracker, only to see he had been banned, which is very serious. That’s the only time I had ever seen that, which made me feel like Querytracker works hard to provide you the best service. They’re really looking out for you, they vet all their agents they list, and they’re very responsive if you submit a question. You’re talking to a real person.
Free vs. Premium membership
At $25 per year, you really can’t go wrong. I’ve considered getting it because I just want to have it and it’s so cheap, but because I do everything myself, I just see no need to pay for a membership right now. If the day comes that I do want to traditionally publish and try to query again, I will definitely invest in it.
Right now I have the free membership and was using it to submit my book 12,775 Days that I eventually opted to self publish. With the free membership, you can work with one project at a time. To submit multiple, you must have a paid membership.
What you get with a free membership:
Access to the database of agents and publishers
Tracking queries
Basic search tools
Reminders
Query notes
Watch notifications
Manage just one project
Create up to 2 tags
Assign one tag per project
What you get with a paid $25/year membership:
Everything the free membership has
Advanced search tools
Data explorer
Query timelines (other queries sent and what to expect time wise with yours)
Personal timeline
Agency queries (to show if you've already queried an agent at that agency so you don't double dip)
Agency notes
Assign priority (prioritize which agents and agencies you want to submit to)
Private listings
Email notifications for if an agent opens up queries
Exporting queries
Printing queries
Create up to 20 projects
Create up to 50 tages
Tag up to 8 assignments
If you’re someone that’s very serious about traditionally publishing, a paid membership may be right for you. And don’t get discouraged when it takes longer than you expect- it probably will. Some people don’t find representation for years, and sometimes they don’t find it at all. Many have shared that they didn’t find it until they gave up on one project and moved onto another.
Querying can be one of the most exciting but stressful things an author will ever do, but it’s worth it.