Literary Agents Who Respond FAST

Querying takes time.

Every step involves waiting, waiting, and then—you guessed it—more waiting.

Trust me when I say that I get how hard it can be. As someone who spent more than four years querying off and on (during the pandemic, no less), I’ve experienced query responses that take anywhere from an hour to two years (yes, you read that right, YEARS).

While you certainly shouldn’t choose which agent to query based on who responds quickest, knowing the response times of agents can nonetheless be a great help. Once you have your initial query list pulled together, sending the first batch to some agents who have a history of quick responses can help you determine whether your query package (particularly query letter) is working the way you hope.

Knowing how helpful these lists were for me while I was querying, I wanted to share what I could. Below you’ll find who had the fastest response times for me, as well as general information on response times.

Agents Who Responded Within 1 to 3 Days

Lynnette Novak, The Seymour Agency (Response to pitch contest request)

Bernadette Baker-Baughman, Victoria Sanders and Associates

Ashley Reisinger, Triada Literary Agency

Richard Florest, Rob Weisbach Creative (Full request answer within 24 hours, initial within 5 days)

Agents Who Responded Within 1 Week

Melanie Figuero, Root Literary (Response to pitch contest request)

Carey Blankenship, Belcastro Literary (Response to pitch contest request)

Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC

Patricia Nelson, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

Sara Megibow, KT Literary

Hillary Harwell, KT Literary

Victoria Marini, High Line Literary Collective

Agents Who Responded Within 1 Month

Marcy Posner, Folio Literary (Response to pitch contest request)

Jane Chun, Transatlantic Agency

Sandy Lu, Bookworm Literary Agency

Kristin Ostby, The Greenhouse Literary Agency (Response to pitch contest request)

Claire Draper, Azantian Literary Agency

Mollie Glick, Creative Artist Agency

Stephen Barr, Writer’s House

Mike (Michaela) Whatnall, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC

Stuti Telidevara, Park & Fine Literary and Media

Kursestin Armada, Root Literary

Steven Malk, Writer’s House

Hillary Fazzari, Bradford Literary Agency

Moe Ferrara, Bookends Literary Agency

Query Tracker Response as of May 2024

For those who can afford it, I highly recommend investing in Query Tracker’s premium subscription. It can be really helpful to see the extra information such as the above two lists in a live view, and offers other helpful features.

That’s all for now! Let me know in the comments if there’s a querying topic that you’d like to see covered and I’ll be sure to get to it soon.