Calling all QueryTracker Bloggers

I would like to start by linking to all the QueryTracker users out there who also blog. So if you would like me to add you to the list just leave a comment and let me know.

(And, since I'm new at this whole blogging thing, if anyone has any pointers, I'd appreciate that, too.)

I cheated, what can I say?

I admit it. I cheated. I just started this blog and needed some content, so I hopped over to my website and copied some of the stuff from there. But now I'm out of things to copy so the rest will have to be original. Now what do I do?

What is QueryTracker?

QueryTracker is not just another list of agents. In fact, our agent list is secondary to the real purpose and power of QueryTracker.

QueryTracker is a model for what I like to call "Social Data Gathering." Which means our users each contribute 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.

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 can reveal, on an agent-by-agent basis:

• The overall number of queries sent to each agent and their accept/reject history.
  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. This feature requires premium membership.
  
  
• Agent response times.
  By tracking sent and received dates (for queries and manuscript submissions) we can soften some of 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. This feature requires premium membership.
  
  
• Newly added, we are now collecting data about manuscript word count.
  This will tell you which agents think certain books are too long, or too short, and help you to find agents who have already accepted manuscripts of the same size as yours.
  
  
• We continue to expand.
  New ideas for data gathering and reports are always being recommend and implemented, and the site continues to grow both in features and users.

Why is Query Tracker FREE?

Query Tracker is free because it needs to be free.

Besides tracking the status of your query letter, Query Tracker 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.

Query Tracker 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 Query Tracker for free and put to rest permanently the question of money.

Of course, maintaining a website like Query Tracker is not free for me, that’s why I had to place advertisements on the site and I included a donations button.

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 agent 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.

While I’m at it, why not make the website insert the literary agent’s name and address right into my query letter for quicker and easier printing. After all, I’ve got real writing to do, I don’t need to waste my time typing in addresses. And don’t even get me started on self addressed envelopes.

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 query writing. What if you could see samples of the last ten queries which a given literary agent had read and liked? What if every user posted his or her query letters, then linked them to the agent where they were sent and indicated what response, if any, the letter received? With this information it would be possible to see the types of queries the agent liked, and either modify your letter accordingly, or move on to a different agent who has shown interest in work like yours. 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 and therefore faster and easier.