Do agents really read queries?

Yes, eventually, especially the queries which capture their interest, make them curious to know more about the manuscript and/or the writer. Be aware, agents do much more than sit around coffee shops and read queries. They deal with publishers, negotiate contracts, attend meetings, email and phone editors and publishers, return phone calls and emails, distribute royalty checks, and so on. . . all activities which sustain their business. Agents work long hours assisting their clients, selling manuscripts to publishers, and looking for new clients and projects to present. Reading queries is part of their business of doing business.

However, many agents have interns or acquisition people who act as first screeners—Guardians of the Gate. These folks usually can be found near, behind (or under) a slush pile of unsolicited material. As they go through the letters, they make the decision to return, discard, or forward to the boss. So, even if your query isn’t read by the agent you’ve directed it to, it does get read by someone working for the agent. Hopefully, you’ve written it effectively, and it flies right through the first reader’s hands and onto the pile of to-be-read material sitting on the desk, floor, or shelf in the agent’s office.

Email queries follow the same path even though they first appear on the screen of an intern, acquisitions person, or agent. The reader scans the screen, which is 14 to 16 lines of text, makes the decision to read further, request to see more, delete the query and move on to the next, or (and this frequently happens), or send a standard email response, “Thank you very much for thinking of us, but . . .