New guide lays out when writers should nudge literary agents — and when to leave them alone

A new excerpt published by Jane Friedman distills one of the most anxiety-producing parts of the submission process: when writers should send a follow-up to a literary agent, and when silence is better treated as an answer. The guest post, drawn from *The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents* by Alyssa Matesic and Patrick McDonald, focuses on the narrow but important practice of nudging — short messages asking whether a query arrived and whether a reply may have gone astray.

A nudge should be timed, not impulsive

The central message is that authors should not rush to follow up. Before sending anything, the guide advises checking an agent’s reply rate on QueryTracker. If that rate is 20% or lower, the implication is that the agent rarely replies at all, so a nudge is unlikely to change anything. The post also recommends reading comments on the agent’s QueryTracker profile to see whether other writers are waiting, whether anyone who nudged got a response, and whether the pattern suggests that the agent is effectively using an implied rejection policy.

Timing matters just as much as the agent’s visible track record. Writers are told to compare the reply time posted on an agent’s website with the typical reply time shown on QueryTracker, then wait for whichever is longer and add two additional weeks before considering a follow-up. The advice goes even further: if writers want to be cautious, they should wait a few more weeks, since agents are often several weeks behind on queries.

Email follows one set of rules; QueryManager another

The excerpt draws a distinction between nudging by email and nudging through QueryManager. Email can fail in either direction: a query may never arrive, or a reply may be sent but never reach the writer. In that case, the guide says to respond to the original query email in the Sent folder, keep the original message quoted, and put “Follow-Up” into the subject line after “Re:” and before the rest of the title. The suggested note should be brief and polite, asking whether the agent received the query or whether a reply may have been missed.

If that single nudge gets no response, the guide advises against sending another one. At that point, it recommends treating the silence as a silent rejection rather than continuing to follow up.

QueryManager is treated differently because the system logs queries in a database and immediately confirms receipt. Since the platform records replies as well, writers can check the status page even if an email message never appears. For that reason, the guide says a missing response on QueryManager does not usually mean the submission was lost. Instead, it means the writer should wait longer. The excerpt recommends nudging only after more than double the usual reply time has passed, on the assumption that the agent is simply behind.

Not every QueryManager account accepts follow-ups

To nudge through QueryManager, writers should go to the query status page, choose “Contact” from the top menu, and then select “Contact Agent” and the “Other” option. But the guide notes that agents can enable or disable that function. If the “Other” option is missing, that means the agent is not accepting nudges through the platform.

The excerpt points readers to QueryTracker.net/message for more information on using QueryManager, and it cites survey data suggesting that nudging has mixed effects. According to the survey, 55% of agents will not review a query any faster after a follow-up, while 37% will read it sooner and still remain open-minded.

The same patience applies after a partial or full request

The post also turns to a later stage of submission: what to do after an agent requests a partial or full manuscript. Here, too, the guide argues that a lack of response does not necessarily signal lost interest. Agents may be balancing queries from prospective clients against manuscripts from existing clients, and full manuscripts take far longer to read than a single query.

Survey findings in the excerpt suggest that 55% of agents take between two and eight weeks just to begin reading a manuscript that has been sent to them. The advice is to remain patient, especially during summer vacation or holiday periods, and to wait 10 weeks before checking in. A sample follow-up is provided for that stage as well, using simple language that asks whether the agent has had a chance to review the manuscript and leaves the door open for a response.

For writers trying to interpret silence, the piece offers a useful reminder: the absence of an answer is not always a rejection, but following up too soon can work against the very relationship a writer is trying to build. The article’s broader value lies in making the unwritten etiquette of querying more visible — and in showing that, in publishing, timing is often part of the message.