Janet Reid, literary agent at FinePrint Literary Management recently kept track of how she responded to 124 novels. It’s a fascinating look at the current market for novels:

Periodically I’ve posted tallies of my replies to incoming query letters. After one of those posts I realized that it might be interesting to keep tabs on what happens when I request a full. I started keeping notes sometime this summer. Between that date and today, I requested 124 full novels. Here’s what happened: Just plain not good enough: 21 (a novel needs to be in the 99th percentile-these were closer to 90%–not bad, but not good enough) Good premise, but the rest of the novel didn’t hold up: 11 Not compelling or vivid, or focused; no plot/tension: 10 …

Read the rest at her blog. Bonus: She also has a list of items that will get you an instant rejection from her (and likely other agents): How to Make Sure Your Query Is Instantly Rejected