Best and Worst Times to Query

After a viewer question about whether authors should query in December, Literary Agents Jessica and James decided to discuss the best and worst times to submit.

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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds YouTube channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.

Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.

James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also accepting submissions in all sub-genres of Young Adult fiction, and is actively looking for Picture Books that make him laugh.

Connect with BookEnds!

[priyaadarkar]

I worked in publishing for 32 years between 1966 and 1998, editing a variety of things from academic books to paperback novels. I came across your channel today. How I wish I had you to refer to back then! Today I am a published translator, but with a push from professional agents like you, who knows, the series of mystery novels whose plots have been haunting me for years might have been written and published by now!

[roaminx]

General compliment. Thanks so much for putting a face on the industry. Providing somewhere to turn to. Level-headed. Clear, anxiety-reducing orientation about representation. And maybe most important, real. The perfect invite to a "Yea-I-can-do-this.". Thanks so much.

[thesafespace]

You picked my question!!! I feel like I won a million dollars. Thank you!!!!

[GothBlocked]

I want to thank you for these videos. They are amazing. I am trying to gather some courage to even submit a query and I had no window on how this process even goes so far. Thank you for all the insights, and your time devoted to these videos.

[ellennewth]

Great advice, as always! I love your enthusiasm and positive attitudes!!!

[JumpCutProYT]

These videos have been well worth the postage for my letter to 🎅Santa thanks guys!

[Luciferwinchester]

Thank you! I was literally just wondering this! Getting ready to query in the new year!

[dcruz]

Preparing two manuscripts for submission in the New Year. Stressing far more than I should and missing all of your brilliant advice already. Hurry back. Cheers!

[Undomiel-]

📚❤ You guys are THE BEST! Thank you! Merry holidays, and see you next year!

[ajdstudios]

I have, I think, a strange question. I'm a British writer based in the Russian Federation. Do you ever get queries from people from a different country to where you're based? How do you tend to deal with those queries? Is it worth it as a writer to target a specific foreign agency, or only local ones?

[marthawilley]

Thanks for the info. Your twelve days of videos have been a great present. Merry Christmas.

[cristiah.j.]

December is for resetting. Great advice. Have a Happy Holiday!

[jimmccleery]

Yup makes sense. Good advice, good to know. Thanks guys always informative.

[tamathacain]

!!! Thank you !!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

[nparrowsmith]

Is it not good to beat the January rush? Presumably my query sits unread towards the top of the pile ready for a refreshed agent?

[erikrinard]

Best I could come up with was "The Dog Days of Summer" and you can theme each video with a different office pet (sorry to hear about Buford! I just saw the blog post from September).

[juliasmith]

If an author gets an offer of representation and they let other agents know to give them a chance to check out the query, how would the author compare agents? The usual commission is 15% (I believe) so what other differences should an author look for?

[cindywilliamsschrauben]

I have learned SO much from you two! Thank you!

[lauradickerson]

Love your videos. They're so helpful and honest. You guys rock.

[forthedoggiesguitars]

Thank you for all the good wisdom and tips!