How much do agents actually read?

AlishaS · Mar 24, 2010

Ok I couldn't think of a better title lol so I don't mean read as in for fun and what not.

I was wondering if an agent request's materials such as a full or a partial do they actually read the entire requested material?
Or do they just read to a point where they have found enough reason to reject it despite the fact the ending could be amazing lol

DeleyanLee · Mar 24, 2010

From the various comments I've heard from agents and editors (note: no ' when pluralizing), they can generally tell in under a page whether or not it's something that catches their attention. Sometimes within a paragraph, or even a sentence.

But send them whatever they requested anyway--neither of you know for sure beforehand if your work will make them read beyond that first page or not.

scope · Mar 24, 2010

I assume you're talking about an unsolicited query letter. In general, I'd say that what's said, and how it's said, in the first two paragraphs determines if an agent reads on. So, if I'm close to being right we have about 20-30 seconds to convince them to continue to read on and hopefully request a partial or full of a manuscript we may have worked on for months or years. There are a million reasons why an agent might reject a query and only a few reasons to get them to read on. This is one of the reasons why really good queries are so important and yet so difficult for most to write.

scarletpeaches · Mar 24, 2010

Up to the first random lol.

eurodan49 · Mar 24, 2010

Some agents will stop after a paragraph, others after a few pages. A few will go for a chapter or more, hoping for the diamond in the rough. By then they have a fair idea if is worth reading on.
There are some posts here where the consensus seems to be that story outweighs wordsmithing. But if the writing is not of quality (okay, not necessarily outstanding, but close), agents won’t read just to find if in the end the story is great. This explains how so many bestsellers were passed on.

Chris P · Mar 24, 2010

scarletpeaches said:
Up to the first random lol.

rofl.

Assuming you are talking about a partial or full, they read until they have a reason to stop: amateurish mistakes, boredom, plot holes, etc.

AlishaS · Mar 24, 2010

Ok haha, yeah and I didn't mean the query (Scope) I got passed that and submitted a full. Obviously my query did the job but now I am biting nails wondering if they will even make it past the first page lol.

cate townsend · Mar 24, 2010

I've always wondered the same thing when I've sent material. It would help to know at what point, exactly, they stopped. Maybe that would be a clue to what needs working on.

My agent only read around 120 pages of my ms before offering representation.

Good luck, AlishaS! To keep from biting your nails, work on your next project. That always helped me.

illiterwrite · Mar 24, 2010

It varies. You can usually tell within a few pages. Sometimes beginnings are great and the middle is just a big saggy, so it's worth it to push through. That's ok, as long as the overall writing/story shows promise. If not, it doesn't matter how spectacular the ending is.

Danthia · Mar 24, 2010

They'll read until the story no longer holds their attention.

They asked for the pages because something about the story caught their attention. Despite the myth that agents look for reasons to reject you, they really ARE looking for great books and hope to find one every time they request chapters or fulls.

Also remember, it doesn't matter how amazing the end of a book is if the journey to get there isn't compelling enough to hold a reader's attention. You have to be able to grab a reader from the get go and keep them.

Many agents do say they can tell within a few paragraphs or pages if a writer just hasn't reached the professional skill level yet to be published. Bad writing is obvious.

KTC · Mar 24, 2010

scarletpeaches said:
Up to the first random lol.

oh, squidballs. nice one.

i am not an agent...but i can read the first half page and know if the writer is good or not...if the work is marketable. if i were an agent, i'd stop reading wherever the bad writing begins. number one. then, if the writing is good but the story is not working, i'd stop there. i would want to keep reading only if i saw that what i was reading would put money in my pocket if i decided to represent it.

Maryn · Mar 24, 2010

The last writing conference I attended included a panel discussion of agents. One said, flat-out, that the first outright mistake (not just a typo or misplaced comma, but the wrong word or an inability to punctuate dialogue, for instance) put him on high alert to look for others, distracting him from the story itself. He said he didn't have a rule, but usually where there was one such mistake, there were others, and he tended to reject on the second or third unless a great many pages went by before they occurred. The other agents agreed.

Maryn, who can no longer remember any of their names

Old Hack · Mar 24, 2010

When I was an editor (which seems oh, so long ago...) I would ignore the covering letter and flip straight to the sample pages. I'd read it through and if I reached the end, then I'd look at the outline and then the covering letter.

With a few of the submissions I'd only read the first paragraph or two before rejecting, because the books were clearly not the sorts of things we published.

Sometimes I'd stop reading after that first paragraph because the writing was so bad I just couldn't understand what the writer hoped to convey. I would usually read two or three pages before rejecting something for bad writing, though: and no, I know that's not much but honestly, you don't know just how bad most submissions were.

I very rarely read all of a submission.

DeadlyAccurate · Mar 24, 2010

AlishaS said:
Ok haha, yeah and I didn't mean the query (Scope) I got passed that and submitted a full. Obviously my query did the job but now I am biting nails wondering if they will even make it past the first page lol.

Did you check the agent out in the B&BC forum here? I'll be honest; I'm a little concerned based on your forum post grammar that the agent might be someone to watch out for. Please do check the index in B&BC.

Like the others said, they read until they have a reason to stop. Much the way a book buyer in a store might check out a potential purchase.

kaitie · Mar 24, 2010

There's one agent I've seen who actually always read through requested fulls. Might have been Nathan, but to be honest I don't recall. The vast, vast majority read until they know whether or not it works.

HorsebackWriter · Mar 24, 2010

I've read a few agents say, on average, they read until about page 32 of a full, if the writing is decent. But for most, they know whether to continue reading in the first 3 to 12 pages, if that, with some agents believing 3 pages is pretty generous.

One agent who rejected a partial of mine actually told me that she read to page 36 before deciding against it, because it was more character-driven than plot-driven (an earlier version of my ms) and she was correct.

(Not that character-driven is a horrible sin, but I'd much rather have my work balanced between character, plot and voice. So I tweaked it.)

Another point agents bring up is the first 50 pages -- that for some mss, the first 50 can be deceiving because they are so polished (workshopped to death) in prep for partial requests, that the rest of the novel ends up being an underdeveloped let down.

Overall, it's also subjective. I found this out when I rec'd all different contradictory feedback.

All you need is 1 agent to read the whole novel -- the offering agent. : )

And sometimes that agent will read the ms a few times before offering.

Em

shaldna · Mar 25, 2010

Generally they will read until they loose interest/realise it's not for them.

The key is to keep them reading.

justAnotherWriter · Mar 25, 2010

One agent read my entire MS, which she said was very rare for her, before rejecting it.

It was one of those bang head against wall moments.

How much do agents actually read?

AlishaS

Is swimming with creativity frogs

DeleyanLee

Writing Anarchist

scope

Commonsensical Maverick

scarletpeaches

eurodan49

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

AlishaS

Is swimming with creativity frogs

cate townsend

illiterwrite

Danthia

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Maryn

I Tried

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

kaitie

With great power comes

HorsebackWriter

Dream at a gallop!

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

justAnotherWriter