I get a lot of questions from other writers in regards to follow ups. When should you follow up on a query? How (and how often) should you follow up on a letter of intro? I’m curious how others handles follow ups, so please chime in with your two cents.
For me, it totally depends on the publication and the timeliness of my idea. If the writer’s guidelines say I should wait six weeks before following up, then I generally wait six weeks. If an editor writes back to say she’s presenting the idea at an editorial meeting that week, I’ll follow up after that. Often we don’t get a timeline, so I might wait 2-4 weeks. If it’s an idea I’m really psyched about, I might send two follow ups about a month apart.
The first follow up might go something like this:
Hi [editor's name],
Just wanted to follow up on the query I sent last month (copied below for your convenience). I’d love to contribute to [name of magazine or website], and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Best,
Susan
The second follow-up might read like this:
Hi [editor's name],
Just wondering if you’ve had a chance to consider the query I sent a few months ago? I’d love to contribute to [name of magazine of website], but if I don’t hear from you by [date], I plan to shop this idea elsewhere. Thanks for your consideration, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
Susan
I hope that you’re taking the time to send follow ups, because I’ve gotten several assignments this way. Sometimes the editor misses the first email or it gets stuck in a spam filter or she starts to draft a response and gets distracted. What’s your follow-up formula?
Hi Susan–I'm wondering if you could do an open thread about what to do when an editor asks to "hold onto" an essay/article – a sort of acknowledgment that they like it but perhaps not enough to commit? This has happened to me several times and so far, it always ends w/them not taking the piece. So I'm wondering how long one should allow an editor in a good publication (assumption here is that you would like to get published there) to hang onto your stuff w/out a firm commitment?
@Delia: Great idea! I will definitely use this topic for an open thread. I think next week is open, so you should be seeing it pretty soon!
Hi Susan, I do pretty much the same as you…except when I don't. That's the most frustrating because, like you, I've had a number of assignments come in off follow-up emails. I usually follow what they say on their writer's guidelines and/or mediabistro's "how to pitch" info. I usually don't call, do others?
Hi Susan–I generally try to wait a month. Historically I noticed that if the editor wants it, they're usually pretty prompt in replying. However, I just read your post and there was an editor I was hoping to hear from but hadn't. It's been about a month, so I followed up and bingo! She's interested in my idea! So thanks for posting this as a reminder to stay on top of editors. P.S. I'm wondering about sending more than one story idea at a time–how common is this? Perhaps some of your other readers could help me with this.
Susan,
Follow-up is a nuanced art, but it is as important as you say.
And good things can come from it. Yesterday, I followed up on a national magazine query and received a response this morning. The result: No sale, but an invite to query the front of the book, which I immediately did.
For what it's worth,
Tim
Before I landed my agent, I generally did not follow up on queries primarily because I assumed that if the agent did not respond, they weren't interested. Though many agents still respond with rejections, my timeline was if I didn't hear within three months, I assumed it was a pass. I've also read this on many other sites, too. So I didn't follow up.
When I did finally accept representation, I emailed only the agents who had requested my work and thanked them for considering me. I did not email anyone who I hadn't had a request from.
Since I deployed to Iraq, I received a rejection from an agency I had queried Last February. Really? February? I thought it was pretty surprising but hey, they made the effort to let me know and I thanked them for their notification.
Just my thoughts!
Jess Scott
http://www.jessicascott.net
That's interesting that you get work from querying again so long after the inital date, think I'll add that to my bag of tricks. I've always felt that a month is a long time in this line of work but it wouldn't hurt to try, thanks for the tip!
Yes, I do the follow-up thing, too. Only trouble is my last two follow-ups came back with bad news – both pubs had lost their freelance budgets, one for the remainder of the year and beyond. They were my regular gigs, too.
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Delia's idea is great! I've got opinions on that, but I'll wait for your post, Susan.
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