Why I haven't responded to your query yet
A tale of woe, including real stats
It’ll be no surprise to anyone reading this that agents receive a LOT of submissions these days, and that keeping those numbers under control and making timely decisions about queries is one of the big challenges of the job. Since October, I’ve been agenting part-time (previously I agented full-time) and I knew this aspect would be possibly the biggest challenge for me. So, believe it or not, I came to this prepared. I decided to open one week every month and spend the rest of the month reading, rather than remaining open all of the time. It works for lots of agents.
With that in mind, let me pull back the curtain and walk you through why I haven’t responded to your query yet. (Also, I’m so sorry.)
You can see I received 202 queries in October - that’s when I opened to middle-grade only. I’m happy to say I was able to respond to very nearly everyone before Christmas. I was pleased with my new system; it was working. In November, I attempted to open only to BIPOC writers doing YA and adult fiction, however this proved difficult to police and a lot of writers missed the BIPOC requirement so I received nearly double the number of submissions I’d had for MG. However, I figured I would take January off (December being a bit of a write-off for me agenting-wise) to read these.
January ended up being a bit of a write-off too, for reasons largely outside of agenting. But in mid-February I decided to honor a commitment to open to all genres. I received 1,029 queries in a single week. More fool me! Despite trying to keep on top of things in March and April, I’ve failed miserably.
So, if I haven’t been reading submissions, what have I been doing in my agenting life, and why aren’t queries more of a priority? There are two main items on my 'to-do’ list that always bump down reading queries.
Reading and feeding back on clients’ books and getting them out on submission. This is my number one priority as an agent. If I don’t have things on sub, I don’t sell anything. My authors have to come first - and I have a scary bottleneck of manuscripts queued up on my Kindle! 10/17 of my clients submitted something for me to read between October and March. I’ve managed to read and provide notes on a grand total of 3, develop submission lists for them, and all are now out on sub… but I have 7 left. So, this is an ongoing battle for me.
Managing existing clients’ contracts and publisher relationships. It is a big priority to ensure my contracted clients are happy and to spend time doing what needs to be done to help them in their publishing journey. That involves calls (with authors and editors and whoever else!) and many many emails, whether they’re negotiating a contract or smoothing over editorial differences. I’m lucky enough to have been handling 3 new contracts in 2025 so far, as well as existing ones, but that definitely takes attention away from my QueryManager.
My officially average response time is currently, somehow, 35 days - however I am anticipating this getting longer and longer as it will take several months to respond to most authors in my inbox. I try to tackle them roughly in order (although I do like to skip around genres for fun!) - so November people, you should be hearing from me in the next few months.
It possibly goes without saying that I’m scrapping the idea of opening one week a month! It’ll be as and when I can manage it, and I’ll keep you all posted here and across all my social accounts. I’m sorry it’s got to be so annoyingly fluid.
In more exciting news, the first book I’ve agented to be published is now out in the UK and Ireland! Caroline Madden’s brilliant The Marriage Vendetta is published by Eriu/Bonnier and hit the shelves yesterday (April 24th). If you’re in the UK, please grab a copy - if you’re in the US, pre-order now, it’s out with HarperCollins in early June! Caroline’s story to publication is a really inspiring one, check it out if you want a little writing motivation - and she even has her own wonderful website (with an attached newsletter) about getting published.
In addition, you can come meet me at the LA or Cincinnatti Writing Day Workshops conferences - currently my last two conferences before the Fall! And yes, I am still open to pitches via these events - those who have a pitch session with me receive my email address or a special link to submit and bypass the general QM madness.
Until next time,
Kesia
We fully understand Kesia. We're glad you're such a sought-after agent! That we should be so fortunate! I also pre-ordered Caroline's book "The Marriage Vendetta," and thirstily await its arrival. It was Caroline who recommended that I pitch to you. Being a writer is tough enough; I can't imagine having a workload like yours!
The number one reason I queried you is your complete honesty and transparency. You have a hectic job, and I also understand that you need your bookstore job to pay the rent:) I submitted my query for my historical biographical fiction, Echoes, to you in late February through Query Tracker, and you are still within the ballpark of response times compared to other agents. I've learned to be very patient and very optimistic. Hang in there.