Quick Update on Query Submissions

Many of you have written that you’re not getting an immediate automated response to your query. I just found out why. The responses are generated through Outlook, and they’re only sent when Cathy, our office assistant, has Outlook running. Since she’s part-time, this isn’t a whole lot of hours each week.

So if you send a query, look for a response within 3 to 4 days. THEN if you don’t get an automated reply, feel free to re-send.

Thanks!

Rachelle Gardner

Literary agent at Gardner Literary. Coffee & wine enthusiast (not at the same time) and dark chocolate connoisseur. I've worked in publishing since 1995 and I love talking about books!

7 Comments

  1. Cathy York on April 9, 2009 at 4:10 PM

    >Timothy, Rachelle’s reason for using Outlook may indeed be valid, but the one that comes first to my mind is that I know how to enable rules on my computer, but our network guy would have to update the server, and I work WAY cheaper than he does!

    P.S. I like bonbons, too–especially if they’re dark chocolate.



  2. Rachelle on April 6, 2009 at 8:03 PM

    >Timothy, seriously? I’m supposed to know these things? 😉

    I’ll pass your question along to our assistant who figures these things out while I’m off eating bonbons.

    (I suspect it’s because Outlook offers more variations on the “rules” you can assign to incoming emails for sorting.)



  3. Timothy Fish on April 6, 2009 at 7:28 PM

    >Just to satisfy my curiosity, is there some reason why you’re using Outlook to do it instead of doing it on the web server?



  4. Alps on April 6, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    >Thanks for clarifying, Rachelle. I had sent mine in twice from two different emails because I didn’t receive the reply right away. Sorry about that! Must have been kind of annoying to get a double whammy from me. 🙂



  5. Heidi on April 6, 2009 at 4:53 PM

    >What if someone queried before your new response guidelines? If, say, I queried two and a half months ago and haven’t heard anything, should I resend? I was going to wait until the end of the month to follow up, but it seems like you are pretty caught up with queries, which makes me worried mine didn’t arrive.

    Thanks!



  6. Ralene on April 6, 2009 at 4:51 PM

    >Thanks, Rachelle–boy, do I feel sheepish. lol… I guess I got a little hurried. 🙂 I got a response to my first query now, so I know you got it.



  7. Richard Mabry on April 6, 2009 at 3:57 PM

    >Thanks. Just goes to show that computers still need humans to run them.