About QueryTracker

QueryTracker is not just another list of agents. In fact, our agent list is secondary to the real purpose and power of QueryTracker.

QueryTracker is about data. Each QT user contributes data about their query and agent experiences. Alone, this data does not reveal much, but when combined with the data from thousands of other authors, we can see trends and identify important aspects of an agent's query habits.

How does QT work?

When a user queries an agent, they provide QT with specific information about the query and the agent's reply. That information is then combined with the thousands of other records submitted to identify agent and query aspects, such as an agent's true likes and dislikes, reply times, and reply frequency. Authors can record the following data about their queries:

• Date sent
• How sent (Email, Regular Mail, Form)
• To whom was the query sent
• Genre of manuscript
• Word count of the manuscript
• Date of response
• Type of response
• Etc.

With this data, QueryTracker can reveal a lot of things about an agent, for example:

• The overall number of queries sent to each agent and their accept/reject rates.

  This can tell you how busy an agent is, but it also reveals how much an agent is actively seeking new authors. An agent that requests to read more manuscripts is obviously more interested in new authors than the ones that seem to reject everything they receive.

• The genre-specific accept/reject history for an agent.

  This reveals the agents who are actively seeking certain genres. Just because an agent says they are interested in a particular genre, doesn't mean they are interested right now. With QT, you can find the agent who is requesting to read more manuscripts of the genre you write, allowing you to better target your queries.

• Agent response times.

  By tracking send and received dates (for queries and manuscript submissions) we can soften the pain of the waiting game, because you'll know how long it usually takes each agent to reply.

• Manuscript word count.

  QT can tell you how individual agents feel about certain book lengths. Do they prefer long books, short books, or somewhere in between?

• And much more...

For more information, take a look at our help videos.

What QueryTracker is NOT?

The most important thing that QueryTracker is NOT, is a query blasting service. A query blasting service is a company or individual who will send out query letters for you (usually for a price). Typically, these queries are not targeted in any way, but instead are sent to just about any and all agents under the sun.

Most agents, if they realize the query originated from one of these blasting services (and they can usually tell) will ignore those queries.

QueryTracker does not want to be confused with one of these blasting services. We do NOT send your query for you. You must send it yourself using a traditional method. Anything else would just hurt your chances of being noticed.

Why is QueryTracker FREE?

QueryTracker is free because it needs to be free.

Besides tracking the status of your query letter, QueryTracker also collects data about each query and provides statistics on a per-agent basis. For these statistics to be as accurate as possible there must be a lot of data, which requires a lot of users, and free means more users.

QueryTracker is also free because there are countless scammers and crooks out there trying to rip off writers, and I did not want for a second to be confused with one of them. The best way to do that was to offer QueryTracker for free and put to rest the question of money.

Of course, maintaining a website like QueryTracker is not free, that's why I first experimented with advertising. But the ads were always annoying to members and were often scams out to fleece authors. So that ended. I then tried a donation system, but that didn't feel right either and so it evolved into the Premium Subscription model now in use.

What is a Premium Subscription?

Some people may feel that this goes against my previous statement that QueryTracker should be free. The bulk of it is free, and a user can get a lot of value out of the free portion.

In the early days of QueryTracker, I asked users to donate to the QT fund. Some did, and some did more than once. But it didn't seem fair that those who donated were receiving the exact same services as those who did not donate. I wanted some way to thank and reward those users who were kind enough to donate, and the only thing I could offer was more features.

Thus the Premium Subscription was born. Instead of taking donations, I set a small annual subscription of $25 per year. Any user who wishes to help QueryTracker can subscribe. In return for their generosity, they are granted access to extra features not available to regular members.

Thank you for your support.

Here are the extra features available to premium members.