QueryTracker Form Submission 10/6/2025
Espionage Thriller 78,000 words

@mariomessina: I've noticed that these average rejection/request times aren't really reliable. Response times are based on data spanning multiple periods; meanwhile, an agent's availability can fluctuate significantly with the season.

Writers have to remember (for their own peace of mind) that they could have a fantastic query package, but if they have things too similar to an agent's current client list or something that skews a little too far from what the agent's editors want, it will be a rejection. A good query package is half the battle; the other half is really out of our control (good timing).

I've had a handful of people reject me within hours, while my first full request came within hours. My second full request came almost a week later - a week of watching the agent make same-day requests and rejections for others. It's really easy to feel like our query must have "sucked" when we get quick rejections, but an agent's methodology isn't necessarily a reflection of our work.

Continue tracking your response times and compare them to when people around your submission are (or are not) receiving responses. Every writer will experience a fast rejection if they query long enough. If your query gets rejected fast for some but holds out through waves of rejections for others, it's boiling down to agent preferences that can have nothing to do with the quality of your work.

Sorry, this was long, but I hope it helps. Continue tracking patterns in submissions and refining your query package to see which ones show indications of "clicking" better with submission waves. I had to revise my query half a dozen times before I found the pitch that got my first full request (at query 110). Good luck!

This agent has an average rejection time of 133 days. She rejected mine in under 24 hours. I must have made the worst impression of all time.

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Query 10/2/2025 107k Atomic Fantasy