Get a Literary Agent: The Complete Guide to Securing Representation for Your Work (21 page)

It’s quite a jolt of electricity when you finally hit “send” and the first few agent queries fly through the Internet. At that moment, the world is full of endless possibilities, and your stomach is likely filled with butterflies. Now it’s time to understand what will transpire as your query process begins.

As discussed in earlier chapters, querying six to ten agents at one time is a safe bet to protect yourself. But when is it time to reevaluate the book and stop querying? If your response rate is 15 percent or less, that’s not good—something is not working. Either your query letter or manuscript’s first pages are not getting the job done. It may be time to halt the submission process and overhaul your work to give it a better chance. Again, I know that this is a frustrating step in the process and we are all impatient as writers, but it’s a necessary task to give your work the shot it deserves.

Be aware that agents do indeed Google prospective clients if a query is intriguing. So make sure that “normal,” informational things within your control have a chance to come up for your name in a search—such as social media pages, articles, a website, a blog, and more. While it is much more important for an agent to Google a nonfiction author than it is for her to search for a fiction writer, you should be prepared for your background to be checked out. If you have a common name, feel free to use your middle initial to stand out in searches.

Always e-mail the most recent, polished draft of your manuscript or proposal to yourself. This way, you can access it from anywhere. If you get called away on an urgent business trip across the country, you’ll still be able to access the file online and send it to interested agents, should they contact you while you’re traveling. Besides having access to it on the road, e-mailing your work to yourself is a commonly used and effective means to “back up” the work and save it somewhere else in case your home computer copy is altered or deleted by accident.

Once you start querying, you should, if possible, immediately dive into writing your next novel (or, if you’re writing nonfiction, work on building your platform). There are several reasons for this. First of all, the act of sending your work out may give you a pleasant adrenaline rush that will propel you to create your next story. Secondly, delving into a new project is a great way to take your mind off the stress of querying—and stop you from refreshing your in-box every thirty seconds. Third, remember that agents seek to represent authors for their careers—selling many books over the years. That requires you to write many books. So the sooner you have multiple projects to sell, the better.

If you can’t muster the energy or inspiration to start a new book, this is a perfect time to change gears and take important steps to strengthen your platform. One of the great things about building a platform is that you can do it during “downtime.” Some days, when the writing faucet isn’t on, you should blog and make connections—so you can positively influence your writing journey on that day even though you’re not writing.

Because agents have connections to the top editors of the world, writers may believe that getting an agent is the key domino to fall on their path to a successful writing career—so they sign with the first agent who says yes. But that’s not necessarily the wisest move. The relationship needs to be a good fit to work well. Many writers and agents describe the partnership as a marriage, and you must make sure that you’re compatible in terms of goals and careers as well as each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

If it’s not a good match, you’ll have to break up—and that’s never an easy move. Parting with an agent stalls your career, and it also puts something of a mark on your record. When you leave that agent and contact others down the road, those other agents may wonder what exactly went wrong that caused you to leave Agent #1, fearing that perhaps you were a less-than-ideal client to work with.

So whether you have one agent offer or several, you can be more certain of a good fit if you find out a lot about an agent’s skills, goals, and style by asking them specific questions when you first speak on the phone. But if you’ve done your homework—researching each rep, looking at their sales, and reading online interviews—you already
know
plenty of info before you ever speak to them personally. So all questions below may not apply to you.

1. HOW DID YOU BECOME AN AGENT?
   Learn about her background. You want an agent who has a history in the publishing business. Almost all agents start their career as an intern, agency associate, or editor. This gives them a necessary knowledge base for their job as well as valuable industry contacts. Good agents do not become agents overnight.
   
2. WHAT BOOKS HAVE YOU SOLD RECENTLY?
   By learning what an agent has sold, you learn what kind of titles she has the ability to sell in the future, the breadth of her selling skill, and the depth of her contact list.
   
3. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR AGENCY. HOW MANY AGENTS ARE THERE, AND HOW DO YOU WORK TOGETHER?
   This will help illuminate whether your agent is part of a larger, powerful team that shares resources and contacts. This is one reason signing with a newer agent is not a bad thing at all—because she utilizes her co-workers for help and leads.
   
4. WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT MY BOOK? WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS PROJECT?
   You’re looking for passion and enthusiasm from an agent. Indeed it is the passion and enthusiasm that will keep your agent up late working for you to see your book come to life.
   
5. WHICH EDITORS DO YOU SEE US SUBMITTING THIS BOOK TO, AND HAVE YOU SOLD TO THEM BEFORE?
   If you fear the agent lacks proper contacts to move your work, ask this straight out. The question tests not only her plan for where to send the manuscript but also her connections and clout. Do not expect her to reply with a comprehensive list. After all, this discussion is just the beginning of the beginning. You’re just looking for her to have some targets in mind.
   
6. IF THOSE TARGET EDITORS TURN IT DOWN, WILL YOU CONTINUE SUBMITTING OR WOULD IT BE BEST FOR ME TO WORK ON A NEW PROJECT?
   Some agents only aim to sell books in “larger” deals to sizeable publishing houses and well-known editors. This might not be what you have in mind, so learn her strategy now. It’s an unfortunate situation when an agent fields a dozen rejections for a book and declares it “dead” even though you protest that more markets exist. Sometimes all you want is for the book to find a loving home and get released into the world, but your agent wants “a fantastic deal or nothing.” Resentment can build quickly if you’re not on the same page.
   
7. WHAT CHANGES DO YOU THINK THE MANUSCRIPT NEEDS BEFORE WE SUBMIT?
   If the agent has grand thoughts on revising the work pre-submission, you need to know that before you sign with her. You don’t want to sign a contract and have her surprise you by suggesting you “cut 50 percent of the book.”
   
8. ARE YOU AN EDITORIAL AGENT?
   Having an agent that offers editorial suggestions and gets her hands dirty in the editing process can be very important to some authors.
   
9. MAY I CONTACT SOME OF YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS?
   Most agents will be happy to pass along a few names and e-mails. But if your agent happens to represent a famous
   New York Times
   best-selling author, don’t be surprised if you don’t get
   that
   phone number. Some agents, though, are more reluctant to pass along names and info. They like to make each of their clients feel extremely special and important. If multiple writers considering the agent start calling that client, it reminds the client that he is simply one of many authors in the agent’s stable. (Later in the chapter, I’ll discuss what you should talk to an agent’s current clients about.)
   
10. ARE YOU, OR ARE OTHER AGENTS AT YOUR AGENCY, MEMBERS OF THE AAR?
    Again, as discussed in
    chapter four
    , if an agent says no, that is by no means a deal breaker. But hearing her say yes is always nice.
    
11. WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP YOU SELL THIS BOOK AND SECURE THE BEST DEAL POSSIBLE?
    This is a great open-ended question for two different reasons. First, it immediately shows you’re a helpful, proactive writer who wants to be involved. If the agent had any doubts about you, those doubts may dissipate for the time being. Secondly, this question gives the agent an opportunity to honestly convey suggestions and thoughts concerning how you can truly make a difference moving forward. Perhaps she’ll say, “Start a website so editors know you’re a professional.” Or perhaps she’ll say, “I can probably sell the book as is, but if you can find a way to trim five thousand words, I’ll have an even better chance.” Listen to what your agent suggests, and take her concerns seriously.
    
12. TAKE ME THROUGH THE PROCESS OF WHEN YOU SUBMIT TO EDITORS. HOW INVOLVED AND UPDATED WILL I BE?
    This question allows your agent to be up front concerning how many phone calls and spreadsheets you will get during the process. When you know what to expect, you will not feel like you’re being left out of conversations—or bogged down with information.
    
13. IF, FOR WHATEVER UNFORESEEN REASON, YOU WERE TO STEP DOWN AS AN AGENT IN THE FUTURE, WOULD I BE PASSED TO A CO-AGENT?
    The first thing an agent will say when asked this question is probably “I have no intention of leaving, so this is not a concern.” But don’t give up; press her for an answer. You deserve to know if, in the event of any circumstances leading to the agent temporarily or permanently leaving her work (such as, God forbid, a major illness), you will have the safety net of being passed to a co-agent. If the agent works alone and has no co-agents, you can ask if she will refer you to agent friends in the industry.
    
14. IF YOU SWITCH AGENCIES, WOULD I TRANSFER WITH YOU?
    If your agent is part of a larger agency, do not skip this question—because this area gets real tricky real fast. Agents switch agencies all the time. But the agent may have signed an employment contract that says if she leaves, her clients stay with XYZ Literary. If you make a deep connection with an individual agent, it’s not an ideal situation to know you legally cannot stay with that agent should she find employment elsewhere.
    
15. WILL YOU REPRESENT EVERY BOOK I WRITE?
    Just because an agent signs you does not mean that she will be willing to send out
    everything
    you write. She has signed you based on the strength of the book you submitted, and the ideal scenario is that everything you continue to write will also connect with her in some way—but that isn’t always the case. An agent should be forthcoming with you if she doesn’t feel that your most recent material is marketable or appropriate for her editors, as it is her reputation at stake. From an agent’s point of view, it is very, very difficult to gain an editor’s trust—and an agent doesn’t want to lose such an important relationship simply because a client pushes her to submit something she doesn’t want to submit. So ask an agent about how future books will be handled. Some agents, if they don’t connect with a book, will offer editorial notes on how to make it better. Other agents will simply “pass” on the work and invite you to send your next book when it’s complete. Obviously these two approaches are extremely different, so make sure you know what you’re getting into beforehand. And if you believe in a book that the agent does not, you have to know if the agent is kosher with you sending it to publishers on your own.
    
16. HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I’LL BE PAID FOR THE BOOK?
    Most writers will not ask this question during the initial conversation, and I consider that a
    good
    thing. I only include the question because some authors—most often nonfiction author-personalities and up-and-coming media figures—may want to know this up front to see if the book will be worth their time. That aside, it’s next to impossible for agents to speculate how much money a first book will garner in an advance from the publisher, especially a novel. (Money estimates are easier to pinpoint when dealing with a sequel or second book, because the track record and payment for the first book can help paint a clearer picture.)
    

    Here’s the danger and complication involved in asking this question: When my agent and I began to pitch our first nonfiction book together, I asked this question at some point, and the answer I received was a healthy amount. But then several key publishers passed on the work, and our target estimate suddenly dropped 40 percent. More publishers said no, and the estimate continued to drop like a rock. We finally got one offer on the book, which we would eventually turn down. The amount? One thousand dollars. Needless to say, our target estimate was that figure many, many times over. I learned a valuable lesson from that experience even though the book never got published: Have loose or no financial expectations going in, because you never know what the offer will be.