Is it okay to double dip?
For those of you out there who have had the unique pleasure of receiving numerous agent rejections, I am wondering what happens when you actually run out of agents to query. Is it okay to go back and re-query agents if you change your query? It hasn't happened to me yet but I'm just curious since no matter how optimistic I might be, I also have to realize that the agent list is finite.
Thanks,
-Jenn
www.jlpenn.com
I had never considered this. I always thought that if I had run out of agents to query (and that is assuming my query was any good) that I would consider the novel trunked and move on to the next one. Of course, there is always the possibility of moving directly on to publishers as well.
One tactic is to doublecheck all agencies you queried that did not respond. Look for those that say they will send a response, either rejection or request. If you did not get a response from that agency, poilish your query letter and requery. You may have just gotten lost in their spam filter.
I have gotten requests for partials (and a full, once) using that tactic. In large part because my second query to the agencies was a much better query letter.
Short answer: yes
Long answer: Read my article The Road to Publishing to fully understand the process