What is QueryTracker.net?
QueryTracker is not just another list of agents. In fact, our agent list is secondary to the real purpose and power of QueryTracker.
QueryTracker.net is a model for what I like to call "Social Data Gathering." Which means 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 our ever-growing membership, we can see trends and identify important aspects of an individual agent's actions.
What can you learn from this information and how does it help?
What is a Premium Subscription?
How does it work?
When a user queries an agent, they record the following data about that query:
- Date sent
- How sent (Email, Regular Mail)
- To whom was the query sent
- Genre of manuscript
- Word count of the manuscript
- Date of response
- Type of response
- Etc.
What can you learn from this information and how does it help?
With this data, QueryTracker.net can reveal, on an agent-by-agent basis:
- 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 this 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 sent and received dates (for queries and manuscript submissions) we can soften the pain of the waiting game.
- Seasonal data:
Are certain times of the year better for some agents and not for others? Now we can see and reveal any trends that may exist.
- Manuscript word count:
This will tell you how individual agents feel about certain book lengths. Do they prefer long books, short books, or someplace in between?
- We continue to expand:
New ideas for data gathering and reports are always being recommended and implemented, and the site continues to grow both in features and users.
For more information, take a look at the some of 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 the query.
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 I Created QueryTracker?
As a struggling author, I knew there would be plenty of obstacles to overcome before I could achieve the dream of publication. But I quickly discovered the hardest part was not writing a book. The hardest part is to find a literary agent to represent your book.
Sure, there are websites that try to help. There are those which offer lists of literary agents, but finding the agent's name was just the beginning. Of course I had to write the query letter, but a major problem turned out to be how to keep track of all those query letters. Who did I already query? Which literary agents looked promising, and which were just not suited for my work.
I was faced with the same problems every time I sent out a new batch of query letters. Sure I kept a list of which agents I already queried, but, as that list grew, it became harder and harder to keep track. I found myself reading profiles for literary agents I had already determined were not suitable, or spending time on an agent just to realize that I had already queried her once before.
I thought how nice it would be if I could just check a box beside the agent's name and forever mark her as queried. I could even go back after receiving that all-too-common rejection and, by checking another box, record that, too.
And then the real power of this website hit me. With all this information, and with enough users on the site and contributing, we could take a lot of the guess work out of querying. Could the information gathered reveal patterns, or help identify more likely agents for different genres? I was sure of it. Now, I felt I was on to something. I hadn’t been this excited since the first time I wrote, “The End.”
So, I took this wishlist and I created QueryTracker.net, and now, although publication still eludes me, at least the query process has become much more organized, better targeted, and therefore faster and easier.
For more information, take a look at the some of our help videos.
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 valuable 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 permanently the question of money.
Of course, maintaining a website like QueryTracker is not free for me, that’s why I had to place advertisements on the site and why I began solicitating for donations (which has evolved into the Premium Subscription model now in use.)
Spread the word (more users = more data.)
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 help.
