3 Depressing Numbers from a Kid Lit Agent

Jennifer Laughran from Andrea Brown just updated her Ask the Agent post on her blog, and I found something there I thought you should see. Here is is:

A question posted by Drachen Jager:

Hi Jennifer,

I have a question about percentages. You said above that you accept approximately .1% of what crosses your desk (which, I gather, is pretty normal for an agent). What I'd like to know is, what percentage of manuscripts you request make it out of the slush pile and on to your client list?

I have two manuscripts out on requests right now (one partial) and I'm just wondering what my odds are. They've both been out for over a month which I hope is good news since both requests were made within a week of my query (going under the (possibly flawed) assumption that if they read queries so fast they probably have at least looked at my MS).

Thanks! You're doing a great thing here and I'm sure it's a big drain on your time. I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I say we really appreciate your efforts!

Jennifer Laughran's response:

Umm... I have no idea. I would say that I request about 1 full in every 50-80 queries. And of those fulls, I end up repping possibly 1-2%

Don't know about you all, but I need a drink. And a dose of genius.

Dare I say, 'happy submitting'?

Martina