for engmajor2005
1. It depends on the length of the prologue. If it's just a couple of pages, for example, you should send it along with three chapters. If it's as long as a chapter, which generally prologues aren't, just send the two.
2. You can send a manuscript registered, though I had a case just recently where the post office never returned the signature card to the querier, who then worried that the submission was never received. You can also send a postcard that the agent can return to say that the submission has arrived. Neither is fool-proof. Often I don't open the envelope on a submission (and so would miss the postcard) until I'm actually ready to read it.
3. Response times are generally listed in an agent's guidelines. If there's no website with such information, you can send a self-addressed, stamped envelope along with a request for guidelines and most agencies will mail them to you in the SASE. Once an agent has gone past his or her stated response time, it's fine to make a polite inquery. (Demands for responses will likely just get the material rejected.) If you've sent a SASE and followed the agency's guidelines, you should definitely receive a response one way or the other.
Side note to this: don't ask the agent to call or e-mail you with a response to save yourself the $.39 stamp. It's an extra step for us and even if you're a wonderful, sane individual, that's not true of everyone, so we often will choose not to phone or e-mail, which can invite a dialogue when all we'd intended was a response.
engmajor2005 said:
Ms. Diver,
I have just finished my first query letter and I'm sending it out this month. While I don't want to be too optimistic, I want to be prepared for any responses I might get. So I have a few questions:
1. My novel has a prologue. If I am asked to send the first three chapters, do I send the prologue as well? If I send the prologue, should I send only the first two chapters? I suppose what I'm asking is does the prologue count as a chapter or a seperate entity?
2. Should I send mansucripts registered? I know that sending queries registered is not suggested.
3. Finally, what kind of turn-around time should I expect? I know that following up to queries is not a good idea, but is there a standard wait time that, if I hear no response, I can consider a query rejected? What about manuscripts; will the agent contact me personally if they see the manuscript and decide to reject it?
Thank you for your time.