Want to publish your manuscript? If you’re not interested in going the self-publishing or assisted self-publishing route, you’ll need an agent. Without one, a traditional publishing house won’t review your manuscript. And, more and more, the small presses won’t either. You’ll need an agent who gets you invited to the publishing party, gets you the best contract for your book, and gets you out of the slush piles and into editors’ hands. But how do you find an agent to represent your work? Or, better yet, how do you find the right agent? I’ve been doing a lot of research on this topic this past year while working on the second draft of White Grrrl, Black Sheep, my novel based in memoir. I’d like to share what I’ve learned with you.
Here is what will give you the best chances of success:
1. Know that agents want works they can sell. Make your manuscript the product an agent can back by prepping your manuscript for publication. Revise and edit your work as far as you can take it. Get readers who give good feedback and listen to them. Read my post on critique groups. Revise and edit again. Get another set of readers, preferably a professional structural or content editor if you can afford one (a Certified Story Grid Editor is a great option). Revise and edit your manuscript again. Have someone reliable proofread your work for typos and grammar problems (a professional proof reader is a good investment as writers become blind to their own mistakes). Edit again. Polish that manuscript until you can do no more. Is this a sell-out? Depends on who you ask, but I bet you want that publishing payday. Do you want to publish your book, making as much money as you can, or do you want to publish for nothing more than closure to writing it? If you can accomplish this first task, you’re already more than halfway to your agent contract where you’ll have the most control of the value of your product/book.
2. Research each agent before you send them your manuscript. You’ll find many scammers masquerading as literary agents and/or publishers on the internet. You’ll find “fresh” agents with no idea what they’re doing. Reputable agents don’t advertise or charge for critiques, editing, head shots, or anything else. They get paid about fifteen percent of your advance and royalties, LATER, when you get paid. They have working phone numbers and postal addresses. They work for you. One way to find agents who are successful is to look at the agents associated with the publications of the books most like yours. Try to be as specific as possible because agents and publishers generally specialize in particular genres and even subgenres (think cowboy romance, crime caper parody, or lesbian historical). Narrow your search as close as possible to the kind of novel you’ve written. Look inside the books you take off the shelves for agent names. Check out the Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents by Jeff Herman. Agent Query and Query Tracker are both free and claim to screen the agents they post but are still no guarantee of a win. Go to www.writersmarket.com. A friend of mine recommends Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Check which has a lot of information but be prepared to wade through the discussion threads for the valuable info. Sound like this will take too much time? My published friends swear this will save you time wasted in unanswered queries and tail chasing.
3. Write your one page synopsis and query letter. Sound impossible to do on your own? Here are some resources:
Jane Friedman on the Novel Synopsis
Query Letters, a Heck of a Resource
Think you need professional help? I am available for synopsis and query letter critiques with reasonable rates. As a Certified Story Grid Editor, I also do full manuscript edits and monthly developmental editing packages for focusing on specific scenes and challenges.
Don’t forget to target your query letters to the specific agent you are submitting. Refer to research above.
4. After you’ve narrowed down your list of potential agents, read their preferred submission guidelines. Find them in the resources listed above or on the agent’s website. Send the agent what they want to see, and only what they want to see. Start submitting to the agents you’d most want representing you and keep track of who you queried.
5. Send your query letters to any and all agents you like. But send the submissions out in smaller quantities, maybe ten at a time. After a couple of months, if you’re receiving rejection letters or no responses, re-evaluate that query letter. Revise and edit your query until it gets agents asking for your manuscript. Gracefully accept the rejections you receive, even if it means investing in psychotherapy, by not writing back to agents, especially to ask for an explanation or argue their decision.
6. Be patient. Ugh, you’ve heard this one before and it’s so frustrating. Why do agents and publishers move so slow? They’re busy, I suppose. A friend of mine recently told me an agent got back to him two years after receiving a query. Good thing my friend signed with the agent who got back to him in two weeks.
7. Even if you get requests for a full manuscript, instead of a partial (generally the first three chapters and a synopsis), send out more queries. If an agent asks for an exclusive on the work, you agree the manuscript goes only to them for a certain period of time (usually 30-60 days and detailed in writing). In this case, stop your queries. If you don’t get a response from your exclusive request before the expiration of the agreement, send a kind follow-up email and get back to querying. Maybe that exclusive will get back to you, maybe not.
8. Re-evaluate. If your query letter continues bringing in requests for your partial or manuscript but they’re getting rejected or ignored, what do you think the problem is? I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you that it’s probably your manuscript. Yep. Are you getting rejections with the same noted reasons over and over? Great! You know exactly what needs development if you want to get published. Sure, have a drink with your writer friends and complain about selling out, “I’m an artist!” Then, sober up and focus on storytelling. Listen to your responders and revise accordingly. Then query again.
Please don’t let this process lead you into destructive behavior or thinking. Don’t kick a hole in your office wall. Know that you’re not alone in this nail biting climb toward your goal of securing an agent and getting published. It sucks, but it isn’t personal. If an agent doesn’t want to represent your work, it doesn’t mean you suck. Pick up the pen again and don’t let yourself fall prey to those scammers. A reputable agent, like a spouse, is worth all the work you might have to do to find the right one.
Want to read more on how to get an agent? Check out these links:
The Real Secret to Getting an Agent
About the Author
Thanks for a succinct article. I have done a lot of “how to get an agent” research myself and came to similar conclusions. It was nice to see all the information gathered in one place. (Plus, lots of great links! Some I had been to before, and others were new to me.) I am sure I will be back to read more.
Thanks David! If you have other resources that you think might be helpful for others, please let me know. I’m always looking for more information. Best of luck and hard work to you!
Here is a free e-book I found very helpful: “How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent,” by Noah Lukeman. It had all the basic advice you mention above, plus some really practical ways to be methodical about this daunting endeavor. All the best back to you! Time for me to write some more query letters!
Thanks David.
Greetings Rachelle,
Thank you so much for your insight. I am in the process of creating a memoir about what “Lupus” has been doing to a young woman of just 28 years young. How much suffering and debilitating this disorder has done to her. The cause and effects on her family and friends. Do you have any insight for myself a first time memoir writer? Also, how do I go about publishing my memoir by myself. Thank you for your time in this matter.
Thank you so much for this. I am working on a memoir of my husband and I. It is a story of homelessness. As of right now I have 39 pages. Organizing the pages right now. Can you give me any tips. And any tips about getting an agent? Thank you
The best way to get an agent is to have a finished and professional level manuscript. If you are at 39 pages, my best advice is to hone in on genre and get your first draft down and then use the Story Grid teachings to edit your manuscript. After you’ve gone through a few drafts, the best idea is to hire a structural editor, someone who can evaluate your story on a professional level. Then you’ll edit a few more drafts. When you get the story as far as you can take it, hire a proof reader or find someone with a high level on knowledge in grammar and punctuation. Have them read for typos and the like. Then start submitting to agents.
Hello Valerie, Congratulations on starting the journey of telling your story. It’s a rewarding and challenging process. I am available for free thirty minute chat sessions for potential editing clients. In a half hour we can go over the questions you have about the process of writing a book and I can send you my cheat sheet for writing a “Big Idea” non-fiction book. The key to writing a good memoir is making sure you have a clear beginning, middle, and end; the character begins one way and ends another with everything in the middle challenging or necessitating the change. Stories are about change. In your story, disease and time are likely the antagonists. They force the protagonist to make decisions in order to et what they want and/or need. We can talk about how that applies to your specific story. You can email me at rachelle.s.ramirez@gmail.com to schedule the call. I am also available to assist with developmental editing, the assistance you might need in structuring your manuscript and editing it to publishable quality. You can find the details on those services on my Editorial Services page of this site or email me at the same address. As far as publishing a book, that might be putting the cart before the horse. But I have resources available to walk you through that as well. The best way to self-publish a book is to finish the book to your highest ability and to get help to improve what you can’t see in your own work. Sounds over simplified but there is a lot more to finishing a book than there is to starting one. It is estimated that one in about one thousand people who want to write a book begin one. One in one thousand of those who begin a book go on to finish a first draft. One in a thousand of those that finish a first draft will go on to complete a final draft. Get to the end, make it the best book you can and the rest will fall into place quickly with the help of online communities and self-education. Publishing a good book is easy compared to creating a book you are proud of that resonates with readers. You might want to read some of the articles I’ve written at The Story Grid. The Secrets of the Worldview Genre applies well to the Big Idea non-fiction book and is a good starting point.