This is a great discussion, and I think I just figured out the KEY difference between "the pile of emails agents get" and "the pile of emails everyone else gets and answers promptly."
Imagine that of your 300-1000 emails per week, 85% of them are from people you don't have a relationship with. They don't work with you or for the same comp…
This is a great discussion, and I think I just figured out the KEY difference between "the pile of emails agents get" and "the pile of emails everyone else gets and answers promptly."
Imagine that of your 300-1000 emails per week, 85% of them are from people you don't have a relationship with. They don't work with you or for the same company. They don't work for a client company. Are you still obligated to answer them as promptly as the emails from the 15% with whom you have an existing business relationship, and whose emails are regarding a part of your job that you are already doing?
"Queries" aren't in the same category as "emails from people I am contractually obligated to be responsive to. Queries are in the category of "someone would like to sell me toner." You probably need toner--eventually. But you have some good toner suppliers already. And you'd love to find another supplier, because you do have one open printer with no toner, but it's also really important to spend most of your time printing things, not evaluating new toner brands.
Queries are SALES EMAILS. While yes, agents are paid by writers, agents select those relationships they want to build from a pile of sales emails. An agent's primary job is "make money for and with the relationships I already have." "Make new relationships to potentially make money in the future" is important but secondary.
As an IT person, your 1000 non-spam emails are all part of your primary job. The sales emails from people who would like to sell you toner might one day get dealt with when you need toner.
I love this analogy. I'll take it one step further and say that an agent's needs for toner change over time. Sometimes, especially when agents are starting out, it's TONER TONER I LOVE TONER GIVE ME ALL THE TONER TONER IS THE BEST THING EVER! As an agent's client list grows, it becomes, Toner is a thing I need and want and love but I only need so much of it right now. OF COURSE queries are not a faceless office supply with only one utility. We know that there are PEOPLE on the other side of queries that have put blood, sweat, and tears into their work. But queries, as Allison said, are only one part of the job.
Yup. Those poor toner sales folks are people too - but their expectation from me is definitely different than the person on the second floor. They *know I'm unlikely to answer them. (I'm with you - I love that analogy - but then, it's Allison, so ya gotta expect pure gold when her fingers hit the keyboard :) )
The trick is - we both know what to expect (unlike that poor writer who was panicking that their agent might be ghosting them ;) ). I'm excited to hear what the 'expectations' are for your various classes of communication, and how your time gets allocated - appreciate you taking an interest in the subject. While everyone will be slightly different, it will unquestionably help a lot of folks be a little less manic about watching the second-hand tick away from the moment they press "send" ;)
Thanks for the time you spend in giving us glimpses of 'the other side of the keyhole' - We're forever learning useful things from you!
This is a great discussion, and I think I just figured out the KEY difference between "the pile of emails agents get" and "the pile of emails everyone else gets and answers promptly."
Imagine that of your 300-1000 emails per week, 85% of them are from people you don't have a relationship with. They don't work with you or for the same company. They don't work for a client company. Are you still obligated to answer them as promptly as the emails from the 15% with whom you have an existing business relationship, and whose emails are regarding a part of your job that you are already doing?
"Queries" aren't in the same category as "emails from people I am contractually obligated to be responsive to. Queries are in the category of "someone would like to sell me toner." You probably need toner--eventually. But you have some good toner suppliers already. And you'd love to find another supplier, because you do have one open printer with no toner, but it's also really important to spend most of your time printing things, not evaluating new toner brands.
Queries are SALES EMAILS. While yes, agents are paid by writers, agents select those relationships they want to build from a pile of sales emails. An agent's primary job is "make money for and with the relationships I already have." "Make new relationships to potentially make money in the future" is important but secondary.
As an IT person, your 1000 non-spam emails are all part of your primary job. The sales emails from people who would like to sell you toner might one day get dealt with when you need toner.
Exactly Allison. And I don't think most folks have an awareness of just how much of an agent's mail is cold-call spam. :)
I love this analogy. I'll take it one step further and say that an agent's needs for toner change over time. Sometimes, especially when agents are starting out, it's TONER TONER I LOVE TONER GIVE ME ALL THE TONER TONER IS THE BEST THING EVER! As an agent's client list grows, it becomes, Toner is a thing I need and want and love but I only need so much of it right now. OF COURSE queries are not a faceless office supply with only one utility. We know that there are PEOPLE on the other side of queries that have put blood, sweat, and tears into their work. But queries, as Allison said, are only one part of the job.
Yup. Those poor toner sales folks are people too - but their expectation from me is definitely different than the person on the second floor. They *know I'm unlikely to answer them. (I'm with you - I love that analogy - but then, it's Allison, so ya gotta expect pure gold when her fingers hit the keyboard :) )
The trick is - we both know what to expect (unlike that poor writer who was panicking that their agent might be ghosting them ;) ). I'm excited to hear what the 'expectations' are for your various classes of communication, and how your time gets allocated - appreciate you taking an interest in the subject. While everyone will be slightly different, it will unquestionably help a lot of folks be a little less manic about watching the second-hand tick away from the moment they press "send" ;)
Thanks for the time you spend in giving us glimpses of 'the other side of the keyhole' - We're forever learning useful things from you!