Get a Literary Agent: The Complete Guide to Securing Representation for Your Work (25 page)

“Read and share. I think it is critical to really read and analyze published books that are similar to what you want to write and really study them to see how the successful authors are doing it. How do the successful authors in your area develop characters? Give backstory? Create tension? Keep pacing up? POV? Voice? Develop setting?”

—Jill Marsal (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency)

“One of the things I stress is persistence. When submitting query letters, persistence is key, but authors must be smart about their approach as well. Make sure you have a well-curated list of agents you are going to query. Make sure they are truly a good fit for you. Keep meticulous notes during the process. And if you get any constructive criticism, do not be defensive and shrug it off—see if you can use it to make your pitch better. So many people give up after a few rejections. Keep the process moving by honing your letter as well as your manuscript or book proposal. And stay positive! This is a hard one, I know, but bitter and frustrated authors send out that vibe and I can always sense it—in person and even in query letters. You are selling your project, so sell it with a smile on your face.”

—J.L. Stermer (N.S. Bienstock)

“Be well-read in your genre and know the market. Don’t give up! In particular, don’t get stuck on one project. Sometimes you need to put a book aside and start something new.”

—Jessica Alvarez (BookEnds)

“The best advice I can give to an aspiring author is to get serious about your career. It’s more than a hobby. You have to be focused and educated. Join writers’ organizations or a critique group. Read, read, read, and read some more in the genre you want to write in, and search the Web on the proper way to format a manuscript and query an agent way before you start submitting. Our agency gets three hundred submissions a week. In order to stand out, your query letter has to be beyond reproach, and when we ask for sample pages, they need to be in A+ shape. If you’ve done your homework, you will be successful.”

—Deidre Knight (The Knight Agency)

“The act of writing may be solitary, but improving your craft isn’t accomplished in isolation. Make the most of your writing resources—attend conferences, take part in the power of writing communities, embrace professional feedback and critiques of your work, and let your ego down long enough to funnel everything into your writing.”

—Kimiko Nakamura (Dee Mura Literary)

“Trust yourself. Trust your instincts.”

—Katie Shea Boutillier (Donald Maass Literary Agency)

“If I had to name five things I’d look for in a prospective writer, they would be:

• Professionalism—ability to divorce your ego as much as possible from the process
  
• Sufficient understanding of books and the book market to know whether your idea works as a book-length narrative as opposed to a magazine article or short story
  
• Creativity and understanding of narrative form
  
• Willingness and ability to take editorial direction
  
• Willingness to do whatever work is necessary to make the work saleable”
  

—Deborah Grosvenor (Grosvenor Literary Agency)

“It might seem obvious, but one of the most important things a writer can do is just
write
. It’s like working any muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it is going to get. Not everyone has the talent or timing or luck to be a best-selling author, but the ones who find the most success are often the ones who are able to write well consistently and learn and grow. To be prolific and successful, you have to write!”

—Stacey Glick (Dystel & Goderich)

“Woody Allen said 80 percent of success is just showing up. It’s different for writers. Eighty percent of success for a writer is working hard. You can’t underestimate how important it is to put in the hours. Read, write, study the business. Repeat. Day after day.”

—Howard Yoon (Ross Yoon Literary)

“Pursue every opportunity to improve your craft, and be patient. Likely your first project won’t be ‘the one,’ but it might be your third (or tenth) manuscript where you find your voice and write the book you were meant to write. Don’t give up!”

—Sara Sciuto (Full Circle Literary)

“Read as much as you can, especially in the genre you are writing in. You need to know your market and your competition as well as what has already been done and what new things you can bring to the table. Do not just write about what you know, because that can often be boring. Write the book you want to read; then figure out how to pitch it when you finish writing. Join a critique group so you are not writing in a vacuum. Keep revising your manuscript until it is in the best possible shape before you start querying agents. Be courteous in your dealing[s] with agents, as we have very good memories and will remember you when you contact us again. Be patient, be realistic, but be persistent.”

—Sandy Lu (L. Perkins Agency)

“(1) Don’t quit your day job! With advances getting smaller as the publishing industry doldrums continue, most authors should not expect to make a living solely by their writing. (2) Learn how to market yourself and create a platform—a website, a blog, write a column for a newspaper, etc. Publishers need authors who can bring a built-in audience to their books. (3) Write about things people want to read. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? (4) I don’t believe in writer’s block. If you write every day, even if it’s a page of crap, the very act of writing (or typing) will begin to get the creative juices flowing. So sit your butt down in the chair and start hammering away at those keys. Books don’t write themselves.”

—Doug Grad (Doug Grad Literary Agency)

“Don’t take rejection personally.”

—David Dunton (Harvey Klinger, Inc.)

“Do it for yourself. Write because it’s your passion, you need to do it, and you have something to say. Your ultimate goal should be to be the very best writer you can be, not simply to get published. Fame and money shouldn’t be your goals; you shouldn’t be talking about a movie deal or why you think your book would make a great reality show. It’s not about perspiration but inspiration. Just because you’ve worked hard on a manuscript doesn’t mean that it should be published.”

—Jennifer De Chiara (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)

“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Any dream is achievable if you work hard enough.”

—Nicole Resciniti (The Seymour Agency)

“Stay true to yourself. Be aware of the conventions of your genre, but don’t try and write something because it’s trendy. If your heart’s not in it, it’s going to feel forced. If you don’t write something that excites you—and if you don’t write from the heart—you’re not going to win anybody over.”

—Rachael Dugas (Talcott Notch Literary Services)

“If you pitch a project to me (or another agent) and my response is something along the lines of ‘this isn’t right for me,’ remember this: It isn’t personal. I’m not attacking you as a person, and I’m not even attacking your writing. There are plenty of books out there that I love but that I also know I wouldn’t be the right agent for. More important than finding an agent is finding the
right
agent.”

—Brooks Sherman (The Bent Agency)

“If an agent passes on your manuscript but tells you they would love to look at a revision, they mean it! They think you have talent and they want to see more from you. However, the flip side of a request like this is that they probably feel there is still a lot of work to be done before they could successfully market your project to editors. Give yourself the greatest chance by always sending agents your very best work.”

—Shira Hoffman (McIntosh & Otis, Inc.)

“Watch what you say online. I know it seems like common sense, but you wouldn’t believe the number of people who blog, tweet, or post inappropriate things online. It’s better to just not do it; if you post and delete, it’s still archived. An online presence is an agent’s or editor’s first impression of you—make it a good one.”

—Kathleen Ortiz (New Leaf Literary and Media)

“Spend a lot of time writing your query letter. Read a book about it; take a class on it; do whatever it takes. Your query letter is your first impression—don’t make it your last. You also want to take a long, hard look at your first twenty pages. Cut out every sentence, paragraph, or word that is extraneous; show no mercy, because your readers certainly won’t. And lastly, don’t be afraid to quit and try something different. Not every project is going to be a winner, and you’re not going to make it a bestseller by willing it to be so. Besides, if you don’t sincerely believe that your next book will be better than your last, then being a professional writer is probably not going to work out for you anyway.”

—Evan Gregory (Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency)

“Research! There’s an overwhelming amount of information out there on publishing.”

—Sara D’Emic (formerly of Talcott Notch Literary Services)

“Writing is rewriting—make your work the best it can be before you try to market.”

—Kimberley Cameron (Kimberley Cameron & Associates)

“Start marketing yourself right now.”

—Bree Ogden (D4EO Literary)

“Join a writing group. There are few things more valuable to a writer than an honest and insightful reader. Family and friends are often too biased to give real criticism. A writing group can help give you a broader perspective on your manuscript, help you see what’s working and what’s not—all while providing support and encouragement. Even when the group isn’t meeting, the process of editing each other’s books will have made you better at self-editing.”

—Adam Schear (DeFiore and Company)

“It’s always tempting to write something that seems trendy. Much of this business is about the selling aspect, so writers often think that if they write what publishers seem to be publishing or what seems to be appearing on bestseller lists, then they have a greater chance of getting a contract—but I honestly don’t think it’s the wisest way to go. Sure, a writer needs to be aware of what’s out there, both so you’re not reinventing the wheel (i.e., writing a book that’s essentially already been published) [and] so you know how to position your book—but you really need to write what you write best. This means if you’ve never written for the YA market and have little sense of that audience, then starting now probably doesn’t make sense, nor for that matter does reinventing yourself as a political writer if you don’t already have a column or blog that’s well known in that arena. You’re not likely to ‘fool’ publishers simply by trying to do what’s hot.”

—Felicia Eth (Felicia Eth Literary Representation)

“I think there is a gap between what writers think is ‘market ready’ and what an agent or editor does. Without getting professional feedback, it’s difficult to bridge that gap. If you want to be traditionally published, use freelance book editors, preferably who have industry experience, to polish your work before approaching an agent or editor. Freelance editors can be costly, but I think they save writers time and money in the long run.”

—Elizabeth Kracht (Kimberley Cameron & Associates)

“Great writers also need to be great readers. To stay on top of the market, read as many recently published books in your genre as you can.”

—Molly Jaffa (Folio Literary Management)

“Follow your dreams. Keep your fingers crossed—and try to have fun.”

—Linda Epstein (Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency)

“I definitely see too many people trying to be something else. I used to make the mistake of listing Roald Dahl as one of my favorite writers from my childhood, but I’ve found that just inspires a bunch of Dahl knockoffs. And trust me; it’s tough to imitate the greats. I get far too many emulations of Dahl, Snicket, Rowling, and whatever else has worked in the past. It’s one thing to aspire to greatness; it’s another to imitate it. I want people who can appeal to me in the same way as successful writers of yore, with a style that’s their own. I see too few writers willing to take chances.”

—Chris Richman (formerly of Upstart Crow Literary)

“Be patient. If you are looking for instant gratification, our industry is going to disappoint you.”

—Cameron McClure (Donald Maass Literary Agency)

“I think authors can drive themselves crazy worrying about ‘marketability.’ I don’t think new fiction authors are going to connect with readers unless they write about something that’s meaningful to them. Writing for the market usually doesn’t work. To me, the most important thing when looking at a debut novel that doesn’t fall into an obvious commercial genre is how well and deeply it engages the reader.”

—Alex Glass (Glass Literary)

“Revise, revise, revise. And read what is out there and doing well. You really do have to know your market.”

—Elisabeth Weed (Weed Literary)

“My best piece of advice for writers is to keep writing. The more a writer writes, the better his or her skill becomes. And I also find that when an author derives joy from whatever he or she is writing, that joy comes through in the writing. So try to enjoy it, and that pleasure might speak directly to your readers.”

—Faye Bender (Faye Bender Literary Agency)