If you are a writer, and at least once in your life you’ve dreamed about being published, you are probably familiar with the word agent. Literary agents are the doors to the publishing world; an intermediary between the author and the publishers. If you ever want your book to be published the traditional way, you need to get an agent to guide you through the complicated and stressful path of book publishing.
It’s almost impossible having your book traditionally published if you don’t have an agent. This doesn’t mean that getting an agent will guarantee the success of your book, nor having it published. However, it’ll mean that you are halfway there. And if everything turns out for the best, you’ll see your cover in a library bookshelf, *gets shivers*.
Finding a literary agent who would like to represent you and your book is difficult and requires persistence. Even so, it will definitely make things way easier, since they know the publishing world and how to get a deal better than us writers.
Despite how difficult finding a literary agent is, it’s not impossible. Check these tips and start looking for an agent to make the most of your writing career.
1. Make Sure your Manuscript is Finished and in a Good Condition
You would only be bothering agents if you are not finished with your book. I know, we sometimes think that we can start querying agents and we will be kind of working in advance. So let’s say, their response takes a month, and you probably think your manuscript will be ready by then. NO! It won’t! Don’t lie to yourself, and most importantly, don’t waste other people’s time; it’s the most precious thing they can offer.
Patience will go a long way. Don’t rush your work into anyone without being certain it’s good stuff. Find yourself a critique partner that won’t sugarcoat your fails and do several rounds of edits. Only query agents when you can send the full if they request, let’s say, the same day (it can happen).
I know that finishing a book and wanting it to be published causes anxiety and excitement. We want that to happen, NOW! But, trust me, taking the time to be sure what you have is the best, will take you a long way. Getting an agent is a sort of competition; your book will be competing with the rest of the books that want to be published, so try to make a wonderful one.
2. Identify how your book fits in the publishing world
This is an important step and will help you a lot when writing your query letter and deciding which agents to target. That’s why you need to do this first.
What genre (subgenre) is your book? Is it a memoir? A dark fantasy? A thriller? Be sure you know what genre and subgenre you are writing and try to have a deep understanding of your book. This means that you know its tone, age category, or if it has a unique topic that would call the attention of certain agents.
Why is this important? Understanding this will help you create a strong strategy to query agents. Once you’ve determined these aspects you can search for literary agents that work with books like yours; which leads me to my next point…
3. Search for agents that work with your genre and age category and that have explicitly said that they want to work with a project like yours.
Avoid autorejects. Quick research will be enough to find out if an agent will be at least a bit interested in your project. Many agents will simply not be into your book; not because it’s bad, but because it’s not the kind of book they’re used to represent.
Find agents who have sold or stated their interest in books like yours. Do not pitch just because, but narrow your options instead. For instance, if yours is a YA Fantasy book, there’s no point in wasting time and energy pitching agents who work with crime and political novels. Instead, look for literary agents that have worked with books like yours and that will represent your work well. If you are not sure, you can always check their guidelines.
You can follow some of them on Social Media like Twitter, to find out what they’re interested in. Narrow down your list to about 60 names and prepare for rounds!
Check this website for info on Literary Agents and the kind of books they are interested in representing.
Thanks to the Internet, finding agents to query is the easiest part of this process. Agents post their wish lists on many websites where writers can easily find them. Some of the sites you can check are Publishers Marketplace ($25 month membership), Agent Query (they claim to have the largest free database of literary agents on the internet), and Query Tracker (with more than 1,600 agents)
Looking for Online Resources for writers? Check these 25, they’re FREE!
4. Write a Query Letter
Now you are ready! It’s time to write the query letter. Since you only get one chance to cause a good first impression with each agent, writing the perfect query letter is one of the most important things to get an agent interested in you and your work. Also, agencies receive a huge number of unsolicited manuscripts every week, which means that many of them won’t be read. And almost no agent will accept an unsolicited full manuscript. In order to save their time and yours, it’s advisable to send a good query letter first. However, read their guidelines first to find out if they accept queries.
Check this article for more information about the Traditional Publishing Route.
Despite the fact that I could write a different blog post just to explain how to write the perfect query letter, I’ll leave some tips below:
- Discard handwritten query letters, and go for a professional email instead, fast and free.
- If you send any adjunct file make sure it’s a PDF or a Word. Get the Layout right. Think about your project as a book. Keep it Times New Roman with normal margins and name the document appropriately. Ex. Alison in Storyland – Patricia Noche (first 10K words).doc
- Don’t try to be original or funny. Be natural and professional.
- Check your grammar and spelling.
- Make a personalized query letter and don’t fill the fields CC y CCO. If you want to query other agencies, do it separately. Tell them why you are querying them in particular, and why they’ll like your book.
- Try to be concise. 250 to 300 words is O.K, no more than that. Agents receive hundreds of query letters a month and you would save them time if you go to the point. It’s enough with a presentation (do not include any award at least you did something really impressive), and a description of your book. Never forget to include your contact info!
- Attach the materials they ask for in the guidelines. It varies, but it’s usually a synopsis of your book (a brief summary of your story including the end), the first chapter or sample chapters (usually the first three chapters), and in case of nonfiction, a nonfiction book proposal (a more extended and complex document, usually 20 to 30 pages in length minimum).
5. Prepare for rounds
Once you’ve decided which literary agents to query and have written your query letter it’s time to send them, finally!
Send them in batches. Don’t go one at a time; this will take too long. However, be sure that the literary agents you query don’t ask for exclusive submissions in their agency’s guidelines. Some people suggest doing this in batches of five and some others say to go for 15 agents at a time. I think it’s up to you, just don’t spam every agent in your city at the same time. Whatever you decide to do, keep a record, it can be either in a notebook or a computer.
Read their guidelines and see how much time they usually take to answer. This is important since most agencies would only answer your query letter if they are interested in requesting the full book. That’s why, if during that period of time (that is probably stated in their guidelines), you haven’t heard anything from them, it would be advisable to move on to the next round of agents.
In the case of exclusive submissions, make sure you don’t send your work as an open-ended exclusive. Agencies that ask for exclusiveness, usually set up a period of time between 30 to 60 days, in case it’s not clearly stated, you should state it in your query letter. If after that period of time you haven’t heard anything from them, consider it a rejection and keep querying.
The most difficult part here is waiting. So take advantage of this time to start new writing projects. Write short stories or start another novel to keep your mind busy and away from anxiety. If you are writing a series, do not start writing the second book until the first one is sold.
Are you looking for the next idea to write a novel? Check this article on tips to get awesome ideas for a book!
6. Embrace Rejections
You are going to be rejected even if your book is good. Perhaps you’ve written the next bestseller, but that won’t mean you won’t be rejected. So, get used to the idea, and don’t let that discourage you. If it’s of any consolation, J. K. Rowling’s masterpiece (The Harry Potter series, just in case you live under a rock) was rejected by tens of agents, before it became the successful saga that we know today.
You are going to be rejected, and that’s a fact. So be persistent, and don’t give up! Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Rejection after rejection can affect our self-esteem and lead to depression. Keep in mind that these rejections are not personal. Sometimes, this desperation is what gets writers being scammed. You feel like everyone that reads your query letter will reject it, so why not give an opportunity to that agent that asks for a ‘critique fee’ to read your manuscript. NO! A bad literary agent is worse than no literary agent. And no agent will ask you for money, they only make money on your book, after its sale.
Some agents will take the time to explain what went wrong, so take that as an oportunity to improve your work.
What if more than one agent would like to work with you?
This is where it gets interesting. First of all, keep in mind that if agents request the full manuscript, that won’t mean they will work with you, but that they liked your query letter and they are interested in your project. So, this means you can send the full if requested to more than one agent, and wait for their response. Once they’ve read your full manuscript and decided to finally work with you, it’s time to choose which literary agent is best for you and your book (in case more than one is interested in it).
Try to choose a literary agent that will be optimal and a good fit for your book. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Is this agent compatible with your future projects?
- Do you feel comfortable with the contract?
- Is their working style similar to yours?
- What’s their track record?
- Are you in agreement with their vision of your book?
Don’t rush and take your time to find out what’s best for your writing career. It’s your time to choose, so make sure you got this one right.
Summing up…
If your dream is to publish your book the traditional way, you need to find an agent to get you the best deal. Finding a literary agent to represent you and your book is almost as difficult as getting your book published, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. With a wonderful book, a good query letter, and a mixture of patience and perseverance you’ll be a step closer to get the perfect agent for you and your story.
What do you think is the most difficult part of getting an agent? Have you tried to do it before? Let me know in the comments.