I'm about to query a new book I've written and a couple of the agents I want to query are agents who rejected my last MS. Should I reference this in my new query? Not that they rejected it, but that I have queried them before. Is there an industry standard way to do this?
Reverentially,
Rejectoid
Dear Rejectoid,
That's a good question and like so much of publishing, it depends.
If you got a form rejection or worse, a no-response-means-no, then don't mention it. It won't add any value to your new query.
If you got a personalized response or the agent requested pages, then yes, you should mention it. If they were interested enough in your previous work to talk to you about it or request pages, then they're likely to remember (or to look back to remind themselves) you and that could be beneficial.
There is no real standard way to do this, but something along the lines of, "you requested the full manuscript of my previous novel, The Long Car Journey." If they suggested you query them with your next project, reference that too as it means they liked what they saw enough to think you have potential.
Hopefully that helps!
X O'Abby
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