Query Stats and Hacks

How I survived the rollercoaster and signed with a literary agent.

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Picture this: you’ve hit send on yet another query*, your heart pounding as your carefully crafted words leave the safety of your inbox and land in a literary agent’s electronic slush pile.

* If you want to be traditionally published you must first find an agent to represent you to publishers. You do this by sending a query letter + synopsis + sample of your novel.

Even though you know that only 1-5% of unsolicited submissions receive a full manuscript request, you still wonder… maybe this is the one.

Maybe this time, your email won’t vanish into the void.

Maybe this time, you won’t receive that dreaded form rejection that lands like a punch to the gut.

After weeks of obsessively refreshing your mail… finally, a response. Your stomach knots. You open it.

Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite right for my list… or I don’t have the editorial vision… or I didn’t connect with your writing… or…

The disappointment is instant, it feels personal, it is soul-crushing. You tell yourself rejection is part of the process, but that doesn’t soften the sting. It still hurts.

I know, because I’ve been there.

Photo by Edge2Edge Media on Unsplash

My Querying Numbers – The Story Behind the Stats

When I started querying my debut novel, I had no idea how this publishing journey would unfold. I’d read the statistics, the horror stories, the tales of overnight success. I had no illusions about the difficulty, but knowing something and feeling it are two very different things.

Here’s how my querying statistics played out:

• Total queries sent: 63

• Rejections received: 34 (including 14 ‘Did Not Respond’ a.k.a GHOSTED)

• Outstanding queries at time of my offer: 20

• Quickest rejection: 90 minutes

• Full manuscript (MS) requests: 9

• Revise and Resubmit: 1

• Longest full MS request: 3 months

• Quickest full MS request: 10 days

• Longest full MS rejection: 4 months

• Longest full MS acceptance: 3 months

Some of these numbers make me laugh (or is shrivel up inside with shame more accurate.) Can anyone beat 90 minutes?

Some of them nearly broke me… waiting four months for a rejection from someone who read your whole novel is a unique form of slow torture. Particularly when it comes with no feedback at all.

End of July

I sent out five queries thinking that my manuscript was ready, then went away on holiday. When I returned, and re-read my novel, I realised it needed a deeper line-edit which resulted in my cutting 6000 words.

A waste of time querying too early?

No.

One of those agents requested the full manuscript, but not until November!

September – November

I sent the bulk of my queries in small batches of five… enough to make steady progress, but not so many that I'd risk making mistakes or burning out. Each submission (and rejection) drained my emotional energy, and I didn’t want to rush the process.

I’d already created a detailed spreadsheet of literary agents I’d researched while editing my novel, logging their query wishlists, submission guidelines, and preferences. I only queried agents actively looking for books like mine: upmarket fiction, book club reads, underrepresented stories, intergenerational family sagas with secrets, or post-WWII historical novels.

Each batch contained a mix of agents from larger and smaller literary agencies, as well as independent agents.

Then, in early October, it happened… my first full manuscript request. It was then that I started to believe, but querying is a long game. I had no idea then that the very first agent to request my manuscript would be the one I’d sign with four months later.

Now, you might be wondering why I didn’t assume that I would receive an offer of representation as I’d had multiple full manuscript requests by the end of November. Well, the odds on being made an offer are much the same as making it out of the slush pile in the first place. Yep, 1-5%.

Patience, it turns out, really is the name of the game.

December

By December, I only had 25 agents left to query, and the weight of rejection was getting harder to shake. Even though the holiday season seemed like a good time to send out more submissions (especially since I was off work), I decided to pause querying for my own mental wellbeing.

At this point, I’d received five full manuscript requests which built up my hope, but one agent had already passed with the dreaded I didn’t fall in love with it, and the other four had been silent.

That silence was brutal.

The longer the wait, the more your mind fills in the gaps. Was my manuscript sitting at the bottom of a pile? Had they lost interest? Did it even stand a chance?

Doubt crept in. I started to wonder if I would ever find an agent or if it was time to start thinking about giving up.

January

I started the year by pinging off another batch of queries during the last few days of the holidays. A huge batch. Nearly all of these were outstanding by the time my offer came through as most agents have a window of 3-4 months to consider a submission.

I was three chapters into writing my second novel. I figured I just needed to finish the querying process with my debut so that I could put it out of mind as my ‘learning manuscript’ and focus on my next book.

Then I had the type of life-changing news that you don’t write about in a blog or post about on social media. Suddenly, finding an agent felt completely insignificant.

When the email finally arrived asking for a call to discuss representation, the email I’d spent months waiting for, I barely reacted. I was numb. It took time for it to sink in, but when it did, the joy of knowing that I had a partner with the vision to take my book to the next stage wipes the months of agony from my mind.

February 14th, 2025

On Valentine’s Day, I signed with Louise Buckley from the Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency. The very first agent to request my full manuscript turned out to be the agent.

During our call, when she spoke about falling in love with my characters and story, I knew she was the right champion for my book.

Find out about what happens after you sign with an agent in my next newsletter.

My writing journey started years before I wrote my first scene, you could say that I’ve been writing this book all my life. Want to know more? Read about my journey here and find out about my mistakes.

A few more publishing stats for those that like to know the numbers. The wonderful Jericho Writers have lots more information if you want to dive in deeper.

Average advance from a publishing house: £5-10,000 and 75% of authors don’t earn this out (writers aren’t in this for the money).

Usual agent cut in the UK: 15% domestic (up to 20% on film/TV and global rights).

Query response rate: This varies hugely between agents and agencies, but at least 50% of queries (if not more) receive no response, not even a form rejection email.

Average number of queries an agent receives each year: 2000, but this can he higher or lower depending on the size of the agency and the agent’s experience.

Average number of new clients an agent takes on each year: 1- 4 depending on the size of their existing list of clients, who understandably receive the bulk of the agent’s time.

Average number of books an agent sells to a publishing house: the best agents sell 10% of the books they submit.

Of course these numbers are averages, and things are much tougher in publishing for minority groups, but they give you an idea of the odds stacked against aspiring writers.

My advice? If you’re in the query trenches right now, feeling stuck, feeling invisible… keep going. Your yes is out there, waiting for you. And when it arrives, it’ll be worth every agonising minute of the wait.

Did you know about how hard the process is for aspiring authors? What are your thoughts?

If you’re in the trenches, what’s the best or worst response you’ve ever had?

Let me know in the comments - I love hearing from my readers!