Query to Agent

andersonkim said:

I am wondering if I should wait to hear back on submissions before I query agents?

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You should generally query agents before you submit to publishers.

Once you have submitted your manuscript to a publisher, an agent wouldn't also be able to submit to that publisher - you have essentially used up your one chance with that publishing company.

How many publishers have you submitted to? If more than a few, depending on your genre, you may have really put yourself in a position where no agent will take on the book unless you get an offer from one of those publishers.

So, if you have submitted to more than a few publishers - and you can add more detail if you want more specific answers (ie, book genre, how many publishers) - but if more than a few, likely you will have to wait to query agents until you have something new that hasn't been shopped around or until you get an offer.

If you get an offer of publication - then you can tell the pblisher you want to find an agent to negotiate the contract and then query agents with a query that says in the subject "PENDING OFFER FROM XYZ PUBLISHER" and if it's a big enough publisher, some agents might be interested. But you would have to query after offer and before accepting the offer.

But absent an offer, if you've submitted it to more have a few publishers (again, depending on genre and how many are left unsubmitted to), write something new to query.

~suki

andersonkim said:

Actually I only have one submission out there, and it has been submitted and rejected by two other publishers.

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So...what is the genre? Because that means those two publishers are out, and maybe the one pending.

Are there enough medium to large publishers in your genre to interest an agent, even if you stop submitting to publishers at these three? I don't know without more info.

But, if you want an agent, my advice is to stop submitting to publishers and focus on querying agents. Once an agent becomes interested, you'll have to disclose the publishers you have already submitted to.

OR, you can play it the other way and keep submitting to publishers, hoping for an offer out of the slush pile, and then if you get an offer query some agents before you accept that offer.

But you really shouldn't query agents at the same time as publishers - every publisher you submit to is one less the agent can submit to. So once there are enough rejections from publishers (or even publishers submitted to), few agents will be interested (how many, I'm not sure and it depends).

~suki

andersonkim said:

The genre is fantasy. I have been going it alone for sometime now, and was just thinking that maybe I do need an agent after all. I have been considering self-publication *cringe* because of the difficulty I've been having.

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I wouldn't consider self-publishing until after I exhausted all agents and all legit publishers, but that's my decision.

I certainly wouldn't go to self-publishing without a lot of research and understanding of what I would need to do to be successful.

If it were me, with only two rejections, I'd consider doing more research on agents and publishers in your genre.

And spend some time in Share Your Work or in the beta readers forum, working on your book, and your query.

But, given your original question, I think you need to research agents and publishers more, and make a targeted plan - whether to focus on agents OR publishers first.

And I would definitely get some critique on the book and query.

Good luck.

~suki

I second posting in the SYW section as well. If you aren't having a lot of luck it might be that there are some problems with your work that could be improved. I also vote for sending to agents before any publishers. Make sure you keep a list of the publishers you've submitted to so that you can share that information with an agent in the chance that one is interested. Also, that's the kind of information that should be shared before signing on with an agent so they could decide whether or not there were still places they felt they could send to before taking you on.

If you want to try for an agent you must immediately stop submitting to publishers. Suki gave you the reasons why. If and when an agent offers to represent you be sure to tell her about the three publishers you contacted--don't mention it in your initial query.