Comparison
DraftAndQuery vs Duotrope
Duotrope is a market listing and tracking service built around periodicals and the writers who feed them, while DraftAndQuery is a pipeline for book length manuscripts moving through agents and presses.
Comparison
DraftAndQuery vs QueryTracker: which one runs your query round
QueryTracker is built around finding US literary agents and recording what you sent them, while DraftAndQuery is built around the manuscript and the dates it is waiting on.
The short answer
If your whole problem right now is finding agents who actually represent upmarket suspense, QueryTracker is where that question gets answered, and the log sitting beside the research may be all the tracking one book needs. DraftAndQuery assumes you already have a list and a harder problem: three versions of the same novel, a full out with one agent, partials with four others, and a small press reading period closing Friday. If your submissions span agents, presses and anthologies, and you cannot say from memory which draft went where, this is the side to be on.
DraftAndQuery and QueryTracker side by side
| What you are deciding | DraftAndQuery | QueryTracker |
|---|---|---|
| Center of gravity | The manuscript and every open submission attached to it | The agent list and the record of what you sent each one |
| Shape of the workflow | Version, then pipeline, then response date, then follow up queue | Research an agent, send the query, record the outcome |
| Market coverage | Agents, small presses, contests, anthologies and journals in one pipeline | Oriented to the US literary agent market |
| Manuscript versions | Numbered drafts, and every submission is stamped with the one you sent | Assumes the writer is working from one current draft |
| Dates and deadlines | Stated windows become real dates that open the follow up queue | Community reported timing shapes what you expect |
| More than one project | Separate pipelines per title, pen name or client author | Built for an author working her own querying list |
| Best fit | Writers with several titles or a small press slate in motion | Writers whose main task is still finding the right agents |
| Getting started | Import the spreadsheet you already keep and set the response windows | Search the database and begin logging as you go |
On the right is the kind of tool QueryTracker is and the job it is shaped around, rather than a list of what it includes at any given price. Any product moves on, so confirm the live details on their own pages first. DraftAndQuery is published by MLJ, SASU and this page is written by Jimenez Julien.
Choose DraftAndQuery when
- When two agents hold different drafts of the same novel, the version has to be stamped on the submission rather than held in your head.
- If your list mixes agents, small presses and a contest deadline in November, one pipeline beats three separate habits.
- When a stated window has passed and you are drafting a nudge, the queue should already know which agent is due and what she has.
- If you handle submissions for more than one author or pen name, separate pipelines stop the wires crossing mid round.
Choose QueryTracker when
- If the job this month is finding agents who take your genre, a database built for that search is the right first stop.
- If this is a first book and one draft is going to one list, a query log beside the research is often enough.
- If you want a read on how long a particular agent tends to take, that community view sits on their side of the line.
Research is one job and tracking is another
Building a target list is genuine work: reading interviews, checking who sold what in your category last year, ruling out the agent who has closed to unsolicited queries. That work has a natural end. Once the list exists, the job changes shape entirely and becomes calendar work that runs for a year or more.
The second job is where most rounds fall apart. A writer sends eight queries in January, gets a partial in February, revises chapter three in March, sends the revised pages to two new agents in April, and by June cannot say whether the agent who has the full is reading version four or version six. Nothing in the research phase prepares you for that, and it is the exact gap DraftAndQuery fills.
What changes once the fulls start coming back
A query is cheap to send and cheap to lose track of. A full manuscript request is not. It ties up a version of the book, it usually carries a longer stated window, and it changes what you can honestly say to the next agent who asks whether anyone else is reading. Full requests are also the submissions where a follow up matters most and where writers hesitate longest.
DraftAndQuery treats a full as its own stage with its own clock. The date the agent gave you becomes the date the follow up queue surfaces her, and the note you draft can say which version she has and when it went out. That is the difference between a nudge that reads professional and one that reads anxious.
Moving a list over without losing the history
Nobody wants to retype two years of queries. Bring in the spreadsheet or the export you already keep, map the columns to agent, date sent, materials, outcome and notes, and the past round becomes searchable history rather than a file you never open again. Closed submissions matter later, when an agent who passed on the first book asks what else you have.
The setup that actually pays off is entering the stated response window for each agent or press as you go. Once those windows are dates, the follow up queue builds itself, and you stop rereading guidelines pages to work out whether eight weeks have gone by.
Questions people ask before they choose
Can I use both a research database and DraftAndQuery?
Many writers do, and it is a sensible split. Do the agent research wherever the listings are richest, then bring the shortlist into your pipeline with the stated window and the materials each agent asks for. Research answers who to send to, and the pipeline answers what is outstanding and what is due.
Does DraftAndQuery tell me which agents are open to queries?
It is not a market listing service, so it will not replace reading a given agency page. What it does is hold the guidelines detail you found, the window you were quoted and the materials required, so you are not reopening ten agency pages every time you build a batch.
What happens to a submission that never gets a reply?
You set a close out rule when you log it, usually the stated window plus a margin of your choosing. When that date passes, the submission moves to closed and stops cluttering the live pipeline. The record stays, which matters when the same agent shows up on a future list.
Other comparisons on draftandquery.com
Comparison
DraftAndQuery vs Airtable
Airtable hands you a flexible database and expects you to design the submission system, while DraftAndQuery hands you the system already shaped around manuscripts, response windows and follow ups.
Put the two against your own target list
A comparison table only takes you so far. Bring twenty names from the list you are querying now, the drafts already in circulation and the stated windows you were quoted, and we will set them up live so you can watch the follow up queue fill in. If the other tool turns out to be the better home for this round, that will be just as clear.