Young adult novel

[Dimple0229]

Good afternoon fellow writers:

I just read a very interesting post about querying an agent versus querying a publisher. I guess that left my naive 26-year old body questioning: are there agents that accept unsolicited material or query letters?

I guess the post made a very good point when it said that agents have to be pickier because they rely on that book to make them money, so they can pay the rent, have their own profits, etc.

Selection editors of publishing companies, on the other hand, don't have to be as selective because they are on salary.

Anyone's thoughts? Also, are there those publishing comapies out there that do accept direct submissions?

Thanks,
Dimple :)

[Christine N.]

Lots and lots of agents and publishers accept unsolicited material. You just have to know the code. No unsolicted submissions means query first. No unagented submissions means get an agent.

Mosts of the publishers that accept unsolicited material are smaller, but not all. Harlequin, for example, and Tor for another. Althought I think in the case of Tor you should query first, if you want to hear back from them in your lifetime. LOL. Because once you get a "yes, please send us your ms" response from agent/publisher, you bypass the slush pile. It's now "requested material" and goes right to an agent/editor's desk. Where it sits until agent/editor reads it, along with all the other stuff he's requested.

Find the agents and or publishers you want to sub to, and follow their guidelines. Exactly, to the letter.

[Roger J Carlson]

Traditionally, publishers of young adult fiction have been more open to unsolicited manuscripts than publishers of adult fiction. I've heard that this is changing, but there are still an awful lot of them that do.

Many, many agents also accept unsolicited submissions.

Take a look at www.WritersMarket.com (http://www.writersmarket.com/). You'll have to buy a subscription ($29.99 a year). They have a lot of listings and their data on publishers is mostly right (agents on the other hand...). Regardless, it doesn't hurt to call the publisher (or agent) and ask the receptionist if the information you have is correct.

Many publishers and agents now have websites. These usually have submission guidelines. FOLLOW THEM.

[James D. Macdonald]

Selection editors of publishing companies, on the other hand, don't have to be as selective because they are on salary.

Their salaries ultimately come from selling books to the public. People with a history of picking duds don't keep their jobs long.

[Christine N.]

If you don't wanna buy the book, and can't afford the online sub, shoot on down to your local library. They will have a current copy that you can look at an take notes from. And last year's copy is probably on the shelves to be checked out, where you can look at it an do internet research on those that seem right.

Actually, I recommend the Children's Writers and Illustrators Market. It was much more helpful to me than the plain Writers market.

[Cathy C]

Althought I think in the case of Tor you should query first, if you want to hear back from them in your lifetime. LOL. Because once you get a "yes, please send us your ms" response from agent/publisher, you bypass the slush pile. It's now "requested material" and goes right to an agent/editor's desk. Where it sits until agent/editor reads it, along with all the other stuff he's requested.

Just as an interesting FYI on this -- I write for Tor and asked my editor once what the slush pile looked like at their office. She sent me this picture of the corner of her office:

http://img76.echo.cx/img76/1472/slush22wi.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us/)

Now, keep in mind that this is ONE WEEK'S stack in ONE editor's office. A stack like this arrives EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Every Tuesday afternoon, the entire editorial staff of Tor turns off the phones, grabs their stack and trots off to the conference room where every single one of them will sit around the table and start to read submissions. Then, if they haven't whittled through their portion of the stack, it goes home with them at night until it's gone. Unsolicited queries go with them to conferences, on vacation, and follow them home like puppies.

When I started to think about it, I decided that you couldn't PAY me enough to have her job. LOL! I think I'll just keep writing...

But don't pick on the editors for deciding to only take agented requests. It's a hard life, and they are really dedicated.

Okay, off my "be nice to editors" soapbox! :D

Cathy

[Roger J Carlson]

But don't pick on the editors for deciding to only take agented requests. It's a hard life, and they are really dedicated.

Okay, off my "be nice to editors" soapbox! :D

CathyCathy, you should start a new thread (either here or in Ask The Editor) with this information and a catchy thread title like: "What the Slushpile Looks Like". This is very good information, but it's somewhat buried in this thread.