More than one agent at once?

[jerich100]

I've never sent a query letter to a literary agent.

Is it okay to send a query letter to more than one agent at once (before any of them respond to me), or should I send to one at a time?

Thanks

[bodwen]

More than one.  A lot of agent are nonresponders, so if you wait on them you may be waiting forever. 5-10 at a time is a good batch size.

[Carakasla]

I usually send batches in four or so.

Just to keep in mind, don't sent queries to more than one agent at the SAME agency. If they aren't at the same agency, then don't worry about it, it's expected that writers will query lots of agents at a time--unless they ask for an exclusive on a query (hey, it's happened to me before).

So! As long as the agents aren't at the same agency or they don't ask for an exclusive, why not? It betters your chances.

[Falen]

Yep, what Bodwen and Carakasla said. Send them out in batches. Though, it doesn't hurt to maybe test the waters with your query first to one or two agents that you know are fast responders.

I tend to go in batches of 10 or so. When i get an R or a MS request, i send out another query

[Casper]

Yep, I sent out five or six at a time with my first book. That way you can gage what kind of interest you get and perhaps rework the query if you get no bites.

[HarrisSP]

I think one boring day a few weeks ago I sent out at least 30 queries. Many agency websites specifically say you should send out multiple queries. And then you get agencies that want to know if you've sent letters to anyone else, as if it's a bad thing. This authoring stuff is confusing.

[edelweiss]

Karma to HarrisSP for confessing to binge querying! And to jerrich 100 for newbie luck.

[JeanneG]

Hmm...I tend to apply the 2-query to reject ratio: Send out 2 new queries for every rejection. It seems to improve the odds. 

JeanneG

[MittensMorgul]

I do what Falen does, and send out a query or two with every R I receive. It makes me feel better after a depressing rejection!