Hey Fellow Writers,
Got a question and need advice on how to proceed.
So I connected with this agent via LinkedIn (actually a VP of what I can tell is a relatively new literary agency down south).
I messaged her via LinkedIn her about the projects that I was working on: a fantasy series, and a kid's technology series of books.
She then gave me her GMail email address and asked me to query her for both projects.
Which I did. Standard email queries with the hook, the market, my credentials, etc.
Her response was for me to send her book proposals for each project.
The proposals would include:
Whew!
But what really confuses me is that aren't book proposals just for non-fiction books?
I understand that theses days the onus is on the author for a lot of the marketing and publicity of their books—to the point where authors just throw their hands up and self-publish (since they're doing all of the work anyway they might as well reap all the profits).
And I have written book proposals for non-fiction books before, so I know what goes into them.
But I was under the impression that when you query a literary agent about a work of fiction, they usually ask for a few sample chapters, maybe a synopsis—kind of like in the spec screenwriting process of landing an agent.
Anyway, I checked out her credentials and she's only been the VP of this agency for 3 months, before that she was a copywriter for a church along with being an editorial intern for a publishing house for a year. And before all of that, a freelance writer for 12 years.
The literary agency website is also a bit flimsy.
First of all it is a sub-directory of a sportsman club domain (e.g. newenglandsportsmanclub/literaryagency...).
No dedicated domain name like: www.thisisalegitlitagency.com?
Also, shouldn't her email address be: [email protected]? Not a generic GMail address?
I've always been wary of doing business with people who only have GMail (or generic email addresses). I'm a big proponent of dedicated professional domain named email addresses. There are way too many scammers out there that use GMail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, etc. Unless, I know them personally, I err on the side of caution when it comes to domain/organization named email addresses.
Which may have been my first mistake...read on and you'll see.
I looked her up on the Bewares list and there's nothing listed for her or the agency.
But, when you go to the website, such as it is, half the pages end in a 404 not found, and what is up there is pretty sparse: some writers and synopses of their works (one of whom whose personal website makes no mention that the "agency" actually reps him). And the staff bios on the website are non-existent: just name and title (including the VP lit. agent in question).
So, what's the deal here?
Should I waste my time writing a humongous book proposal(s) for an ostensibly sketchy literary agency and VP; or, look elsewhere for representation.
If this agency is bogus, then what would be in it for them to receive a book proposal from me?
Should I contact publishers directly instead and let the lit. ag. come to me? As suggested in the Bewares thread.
What do all of you think?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Best,
Nick
P.S. After I field some learned opinions here, I may reveal the name of the lit. ag. and the agency, if I feel that they are indeed not legitimate.
Got a question and need advice on how to proceed.
So I connected with this agent via LinkedIn (actually a VP of what I can tell is a relatively new literary agency down south).
I messaged her via LinkedIn her about the projects that I was working on: a fantasy series, and a kid's technology series of books.
She then gave me her GMail email address and asked me to query her for both projects.
Which I did. Standard email queries with the hook, the market, my credentials, etc.
Her response was for me to send her book proposals for each project.
The proposals would include:
- Author Bio
- The Manuscript(s)
- A Statement of Platform (web, pub. history)
- Marketing Plans (for the books/series)
- Where The Book(s) Fits in Terms of Competition
- How I Did My Market Research (concerning similar books)
- What Did My Market Research Reveal
- How Are My Books Different from the Rest
Whew!
But what really confuses me is that aren't book proposals just for non-fiction books?
I understand that theses days the onus is on the author for a lot of the marketing and publicity of their books—to the point where authors just throw their hands up and self-publish (since they're doing all of the work anyway they might as well reap all the profits).
And I have written book proposals for non-fiction books before, so I know what goes into them.
But I was under the impression that when you query a literary agent about a work of fiction, they usually ask for a few sample chapters, maybe a synopsis—kind of like in the spec screenwriting process of landing an agent.
Anyway, I checked out her credentials and she's only been the VP of this agency for 3 months, before that she was a copywriter for a church along with being an editorial intern for a publishing house for a year. And before all of that, a freelance writer for 12 years.
The literary agency website is also a bit flimsy.
First of all it is a sub-directory of a sportsman club domain (e.g. newenglandsportsmanclub/literaryagency...).
No dedicated domain name like: www.thisisalegitlitagency.com?
Also, shouldn't her email address be: [email protected]? Not a generic GMail address?
I've always been wary of doing business with people who only have GMail (or generic email addresses). I'm a big proponent of dedicated professional domain named email addresses. There are way too many scammers out there that use GMail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, etc. Unless, I know them personally, I err on the side of caution when it comes to domain/organization named email addresses.
Which may have been my first mistake...read on and you'll see.
I looked her up on the Bewares list and there's nothing listed for her or the agency.
But, when you go to the website, such as it is, half the pages end in a 404 not found, and what is up there is pretty sparse: some writers and synopses of their works (one of whom whose personal website makes no mention that the "agency" actually reps him). And the staff bios on the website are non-existent: just name and title (including the VP lit. agent in question).
So, what's the deal here?
Should I waste my time writing a humongous book proposal(s) for an ostensibly sketchy literary agency and VP; or, look elsewhere for representation.
If this agency is bogus, then what would be in it for them to receive a book proposal from me?
Should I contact publishers directly instead and let the lit. ag. come to me? As suggested in the Bewares thread.
What do all of you think?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Best,
Nick
P.S. After I field some learned opinions here, I may reveal the name of the lit. ag. and the agency, if I feel that they are indeed not legitimate.
