Getting an agent referral

third person

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I work in the mail room at one of the "Big Six" publishers in New York City and I am in constant contact with people involved in all levels of the publishing industry. Despite seeing these people five days a week however I have mostly kept the fact that I'm an aspiring writer with 4 novels in the trunk to myself. That is, until now--I'm nearly finished with the second draft of my WIP and I'm seeking advice about how to broach the subject of asking for a referral to a literary agent. If I understand correctly referrals aren't given lightly so I want to be prepared for any questions I might be asked and have ready all the materials that may be requested.

I have two reasons for wanting to be referred: with NaNoWriMo happening I feel like my own query will drown in the deluge causing every slush bucket out there to overflow. Tough nuggets, happens all the time, them's the breaks. Sure, I get that, and my sentiment might even come off as selfish if not for my other reason: there's a lot of advantage to working for and having a good reputation with publishing titans, so why not use it to make my dream come true? I'm not looking for some secret, magic trick here and I certainly have no illusion of six-figure advances or becoming mega-rich. I've been writing half my life and it's all I want to do. I seriously feel like I ended up at this job for a reason but I don't want to mess it up. That said, if there are any reasons I should NOT ask such a thing of the people I work with please tell me as I'd love to know before I put my foot in my mouth.

Thanks for any and all advice, all.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Does the publisher you work for publish the type of book you've written? In that case, you could go to whichever editor you like the best and ask which agents they like to work with and tell them why.

If they don't, just pick whichever editors you find most friendly, tell them your situation and ask if they could refer you to agents who like your stuff.

I don't think there'd be any down side to this. But do be sure to write a good query and to polish your ms before even broaching the matter to a publisher or editor. You don't want an editor asking to see the ms when it's not ready.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Toothpaste

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Hmm . . . I am a little confused by this. I'm not sure how often publishers refer people to agents. Usually it's authors referring people to their agents. Or sometimes agents referring to other agents. But I'm not sure how much publishers keep track of where any given agent is at any given moment. Agents switch around so much . . . But of course I'm sure some editors do have relationships with some agents so it's not a totally impossible thing. So that's the first thing.

The second thing is how close are you to the editors at this house? Because unless you have a distinct relationship with any of them it's going to be really awkward just asking for a referral. Also regardless of that you'll need to make sure to ask a specific editor who understands your genre and can actually have the proper insight into what you are looking for.

You also say you want to be prepared for any questions, but I think you also need to be prepared for a no. Chances are if an editor is interested in referring you (which of course requires a great deal of effort on the editor's part, they will have to read your work to assess if you are someone they will put their own name behind) there won't be a lot of questions. They will say yes or no. The thing is . . . editors are asked all the time to help people get their work published. Like how a doctor at a party gets people saying, "So I have this strange rash . . .", editors will hear "So I have this book . . ." ALL THE TIME. What you need to concern yourself is your presentation to the editor, not their potential questions. You need an elevator pitch, you need to come across professional, you need to somehow at the same time make it clear you understand what a big ask you're making and that it is totally okay for them to say no.

It's a lot.

So after saying all that . . .

Here's the ultimate thing.

I don't think you should do this. I think you should send out queries like everyone else does and not worry too much about the pile of reading an agent has. Ultimately the only thing a recommendation can do for you is move your letter up the pile. It won't convince an agent who might have rejected your work to suddenly not. And the fact is, agents read all their queries. So all this will in the end do for you is speed up the process. It won't necessarily result in a more positive outcome. Plus of course this is one recommendation for one agent. Most authors send queries to far more. So this is moving up one pile of one agent who still will make up their own mind regardless of the recommendation.

And I think you need to ask yourself, is it worth potentially coming across as another newbie writer who bugs an editor for help and doesn't understand professionalism, for that one agent sped up process? (further you may wish to ask yourself if it's worth the risk to come across not so great to an editor who an agent representing your work might subsequently submit to?)

The only way I would say do this is if you actually had a relationship with any of the editors. One where you feel like you know them, they like you, they know you're hardworking. I know none of them know you write, so that's already suggesting to me you don't have a particularly close relationship with any of them. But if you do, then maybe you can ask that specific editor. And maybe instead of asking for a referral ask for some general advice. "Hey, could I take you out for coffee and maybe bend your ear about the industry?" that kind of thing.

And that's the thing. You say you believe there was a reason that you ended up at a publishing house to work. Well that reason is far more likely networking and learning, than a referral. Get to know people. Go to office events. Speak with editors. Learn learn learn all you can about the industry. Become friends with editors. THAT is so much more valuable especially come the submission process time than asking for a referral. Long term publishing relationships are gold.

Anyway, yeah. I hope this wasn't too harsh or anything, and this is all my personal opinion which as you can see is VERY different from Siri's, so take it or leave it. Truly. :)
 
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EMaree

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I work in the mail room at one of the "Big Six" publishers in New York City and I am in constant contact with people involved in all levels of the publishing industry. Despite seeing these people five days a week however I have mostly kept the fact that I'm an aspiring writer with 4 novels in the trunk to myself. That is, until now--I'm nearly finished with the second draft of my WIP and I'm seeking advice about how to broach the subject of asking for a referral to a literary agent. If I understand correctly referrals aren't given lightly so I want to be prepared for any questions I might be asked and have ready all the materials that may be requested.

Yeah, referrals are an awkward business—most folks will only do it for very close friends whose books they've beta read and know well enough to confidentially refer, so if you don't have that sort of relationship I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. Also, a lot of clients don't feel comfortable making referrals until they're established with their agent (book on the shelves, book earned out, or whatever) and some of the biggest agents just flat-out don't take referrals from their clients.

(EDIT: And yeah, as Toothpaste said, only authors do agent referrals... and even then only rarely. If your coworkers aren't authors, you're barking up the wrong tree.)

But hey, why don't you take a step back and ask if any of these pros would be okay to beta read your book? It sounds like you don't have a big writing support network, because you've been hiding your work for so long, so why not focus on building that up before you worry about querying?

I have two reasons for wanting to be referred: with NaNoWriMo happening I feel like my own query will drown in the deluge causing every slush bucket out there to overflow.

IMO: This is just a myth writers use to hold themselves back. It crops up every year for a dozen different occasions (my query will get lost in the New Years resolution rush/the pre-book fair rush/it'll get lost because of Frankfurt/and so on)... but the truth is, a good query doesn't get lost. It gets requests. If an agent's inbox management is truly abysmal and they miss it, they'll see it when the response deadline passes and you nudge it.

there's a lot of advantage to working for and having a good reputation with publishing titans, so why not use it to make my dream come true?

If this is your goal, why not try good ol' fashioned networking? You're jumping the gun a lot here by seeking agent referrals before anyone even knows you write books: try making friends with your coworkers first, and for the love of all things bookish, don't do it while blatantly angling for a referral.

If you befriend someone with a clear goal for what you want to 'gain' from that relationship, people will smell the ingenuity on you and steer clear. So take it step by step: make friends, share your work, critique theirs, and if it's good enough for referral that will likely happen organically over time when they get wowed by your super-duper book.
 
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third person

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Thank you Siri, Toothpaste, and EMaree--you've given me a lot to consider. I think, in even creating this thread, I was looking for people to tell me not to do this because it IS a bad idea. In that regard I really appreciate what you all have said. I'll instead creep out of my shell and be more open about who I am and what I'm there for (it's a minimum wage job and I'm qualified for so much more, but getting to know these people and gaining a reputation in the pub world from inside of arguably the largest publisher there is = extremely valuable to me) and things will happen more organically than "who can I laser-target to get me x thing".

Professionalism. That's what I have to keep in mind. Thanks again!
 

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No problem!

Also don't forget you're allowed to query your work to agents whenever you feel it's ready. You really truly do not need an inside edge. I didn't have one, so many of my author friends didn't either. Ultimately it's about the work (and also about timing and luck, but mostly about the work :) ).
 

Siri Kirpal

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Just as a note: I did receive agent referrals from an editor at a publishing house I was interested in. But I was at a conference, and the editor had worked with those agents in other contexts.

Glad the others talked you off a ledge.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

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I agree with what has been said, but also would add (cautiously) that there is a difference between asking for a recommendation ("Who do you like to work with? I'm preparing to start querying agents.") and a referral ("Introduce me to X Agent.")

If you really are friends with some of these editors you might ask them if there's anyone they really like or who consistently put the right kind of work (i.e. things the editor is looking for and not MSs that are the wrong genre or category) in front of them. But *only* if it's someone you really are friends with. Not just someone you see in the coffee room who also happens to like PokemonGo/Star Wars/Stranger Things.

I meet a lot of authors at small SF/F conventions who, almost within seconds of introducing themselves, try to put their business card in my hand. (I'm an author, btw, not an agent/editor.) But some folks get really caught up in the networking thing and it's really tedious trying to talk to them because everything is "Check out my website/There's a free sample of my book here/Like my FB page/etc." They don't feel like fans, they come across as hustlers and that's not a good way to network. (If you haven't told anyone you're an author then I'll bet you're not doing that now, but... just as a heads up. Don't do it like that.)

Best of luck with your querying.
 

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Don't worry that your query will be lost among all the NaNo queries. Good agents read all the queries they're sent, and you wouldn't want to work with a bad one, so it won't be a problem.

Yes, editors do give referrals. Last year, when I was looking for a new agent, an editor who likes my work kindly gave me a list of about eight names to try, and urged me to name-drop her name when I sent my work out.

I queried all of them, and a few more agents I'd found that I thought would be a good fit.

Out of those fifteen or so agents I queried, six or so decided they couldn't rep me but thought colleagues of theirs might be a better fit, and so they referred me to those colleagues.

So yes, referrals are helpful. But you really don't need them. And they won't get you an agent more easily, they'll just get your query read a little more quickly.

Don't worry about referrals. Just write the best book you can, then write the best query you can, and send it out to small batches of agents who you think could fit well with you and your work. You don't need help. You just need good work, and to submit it appropriately.