How crazy is it if...

ello · Nov 21, 2007

you try to tailor your novel to different agents? Let's say you have a historical fiction that has a solid love story, history, battle scenes, relationships, etc. For an agent that seems to agent more women's fiction, would you beef up the romance aspect or the relationship aspect? If it is for an agent that likes sweeping historicals, do you hone in on the historical side?

The reason I ask is because I get very different reactions from my betas. My male readers want to rush past the female MC's sections to get to the historical sections and my battle scenes while my female readers all want me to include more about the female MC and her relationships. (yes, they divided precisely by gender) I wondered if agents would react similarly. For example, some agents state they are looking for books with strong female protagonists. Should I switch my emphasis for them in my query? If they ask for a partial, should I give them the version with more of my female MC's chapters? Or is it crazy to even think of tailoring at this level for different agents? I mean it would entail drafting a few different versions of my novel. Ok so does that sound crazy to do that?

Cranky · Nov 21, 2007

ello said:
you try to tailor your novel to different agents? Let's say you have a historical fiction that has a solid love story, history, battle scenes, relationships, etc. For an agent that seems to agent more women's fiction, would you beef up the romance aspect or the relationship aspect? If it is for an agent that likes sweeping historicals, do you hone in on the historical side?

The reason I ask is because I get very different reactions from my betas. My male readers want to rush past the female MC's sections to get to the historical sections and my battle scenes while my female readers all want me to include more about the female MC and her relationships. (yes, they divided precisely by gender) I wondered if agents would react similarly. For example, some agents state they are looking for books with strong female protagonists. Should I switch my emphasis for them in my query? If they ask for a partial, should I give them the version with more of my female MC's chapters? Or is it crazy to even think of tailoring at this level for different agents? I mean it would entail drafting a few different versions of my novel. Ok so does that sound crazy to do that?

Forgive me for saying so, but yeah, I think it's a little crazy.

Write the best story for you, period.

I think if you want to tailor to an agent, I'd do it in the query letter, as you mention.

Joe Moore · Nov 21, 2007

Ello,
You have this all backwards. Crazy would be an understatement. Write the best book you can, then do your research in finding an appropriate agent to represent it. Good luck.
Joe

DeadlyAccurate · Nov 21, 2007

ello said:
Or is it crazy to even think of tailoring at this level for different agents? I mean it would entail drafting a few different versions of my novel. Ok so does that sound crazy to do that?

You're forgetting who you're writing the book for: you, first and foremost, and then your readers (of which agents are only a tiny percentage). Write your book. Your betas can write their own.

ishtar'sgate · Nov 21, 2007

ello said:
If they ask for a partial, should I give them the version with more of my female MC's chapters? Or is it crazy to even think of tailoring at this level for different agents? I mean it would entail drafting a few different versions of my novel. Ok so does that sound crazy to do that?

Personally, I wouldn't do either, but that's just me. I had the same problem with my historical. I got complaints from romance publishers that the romance wasn't front and center so they weren't interested. I had no intention of writing a romance. I also got complaints that it was too dark and too many people died. I eliminated one death but that's all. In the end I sold the manuscript to a publisher who liked it because it was dark. The novel became part of an annual highschool reading program and the girls loved the romance. If I had catered to one or the other instead of writing what satisfied me as a writer, I'd have compromised my own voice, something I'd never recommend doing. If you're okay with making those kinds of changes then beef up whichever aspect feels right to you.
Linnea

donroc · Nov 21, 2007

You cannot anticipate every agent's biases. One male agent wanted me to cut all references to military and battles. Some female agents wanted only heroines; my MC is male. Two small independent female publishers loved everything about my novel, and they will be releasing it sometime next year. Believe in yourself.

www.donaldmichaelplatt.com

WendyNYC · Nov 21, 2007

I'd think about tailoring my query letter, but not my novel.

KTC · Nov 21, 2007

ello said:
you try to tailor your novel to different agents? Let's say you have a historical fiction that has a solid love story, history, battle scenes, relationships, etc. For an agent that seems to agent more women's fiction, would you beef up the romance aspect or the relationship aspect? If it is for an agent that likes sweeping historicals, do you hone in on the historical side?

The reason I ask is because I get very different reactions from my betas. My male readers want to rush past the female MC's sections to get to the historical sections and my battle scenes while my female readers all want me to include more about the female MC and her relationships. (yes, they divided precisely by gender) I wondered if agents would react similarly. For example, some agents state they are looking for books with strong female protagonists. Should I switch my emphasis for them in my query? If they ask for a partial, should I give them the version with more of my female MC's chapters? Or is it crazy to even think of tailoring at this level for different agents? I mean it would entail drafting a few different versions of my novel. Ok so does that sound crazy to do that?

Please, God, don't ever tailor your novel to anybody. I mean, Jesus. Back up.

mikeland · Nov 21, 2007

It's been said already, but do not under any circumstances create different versions of your novel.

However, you can tailor each query to the agent's interests. Emphasizing one thing or another can lead to request for pages. Just make sure you're not overemphasizing an aspect that won't come through in the sample.

My understanding is that when agents request a partial of a manuscript, they always want the FIRST 50, 100 or whatever pages. Others can chime in here, but I was under the impression that the writer does not pick and choose chapters. The agents want to see how you draw the reader into the story.

If you are getting such a stark gender split on the book from your betas, that may be a sign that one more rewrite is needed. Sounds like you have very strong sections in the book, but that they may not be meshing as well as they could. Like others said, you write the book you want to write, not for one gender or the other. But you might want to try and parse out why your readers are finding it so easy to skip sections.

ello · Nov 21, 2007

Well, I was trying to "think outside the box" as every corporate management meeting drums into your head. It's all about creative thinking and I had this crazy idea that this might be a creative way to market my book. You see I had one agent tell me they loved the female MC's opening and wanted more of it while not liking a second MC's storyline and then I heard the exact opposite from another agent. Both agents are great agents at excellent agencies. One ultimately passed because they thought the part they didn't like was too much a part of the entire story, the other one is still mulling it over, although I know enough not to hold my breath.

So, I thought as I'm getting ready to begin my next agent mailing bombardment, I would tailor based on agents track records of those who seem to favor sentimental relationships versus plotdriven stories. Not that I thought I would get it right, but I have been doing alot of publishers marketplace research and agentquery research on who reps what and I thought I was getting some kind of feel for it. Having different versions of my novel right now is how my drafts have turned out. Because when I finished my first draft, I had 110,000 words (which included alot of the relationship development story) and when I finally edited it down, I had 85,000 words. But as I'm writing these words I realize that an agent that really likes my book but wanted more or less of any of these elements would work with me to edit the book properly.

OK - so enough crazy talk. Clearly creative thinking and out of the box thinking doesn't exactly apply to writing a book!

Thanks to everyone for their input. I shall behave myself.

ello · Nov 21, 2007

Hi Mike, I just saw your comment after I posted. I think I have the same problem that ishtar mentioned previously in that I have a love story built into my storyline but it isn't the main plot line. The split seems to be those who want the romance front and center and the others who want less of it. At this time I think I have arrived at a happy medium but then got the two agents comments and so now, like you said, have begun to reedit again. Sigh. Editing can get so very tedious.

mikeland · Nov 21, 2007

Yeah, I hate editing too.

And nothing is more frustrating than getting comments that directly contradict each other. I have a similar situation with the novel I have out for query right now. Some think it is too dark, some not dark enough. Just shows how subjective the whole business is.

But you're getting serious reads at top-notch agencies, so you've clearly got a good project. And don't write off an agent who has given you comments and is still "mulling it over." The fact that the agent contacted you but didn't reject you has to be a good sign.

amber_grosjean · Nov 21, 2007

If we all tailored our stories to fit everyone, there would be too many similar stories and no one would get famous lol. I agree with everyone here, write the best story you can with what you have in your mind. Your beta readers have different opinions and just basically proved a point, not everyone can be satisfied but there will be enough out there that can be. Just write your query letter that fits each agent if you know what they like. When they ask for a partial, giving them the first few pages or chapters is always best but include the synopsis so they know what will happen next to get the big picture.

Amber

wayndom · Nov 21, 2007

Tailoring your query letter to individual agents makes sense.

Tailoring your novel to agents is not only a bad idea, it smacks of prostitution.

Gray Rose · Nov 21, 2007

If you feel you have an unbalanced novel, by all means edit it. Right now I do not understand whether you are proposing to write *two* different edits, one for the male and one for the female audience, or if you are trying to figure out which of the two paths to take in your edit. Working on two different edits and producing two versions of the same book is crazy, but has been done before. The Serbian writer Milorad Pavich has published his Dictionary of the Khazars in two variants, 'male' and 'female' (however, the difference is only in one paragraph).

If you are trying to choose which kind of edit you want to commit to, and if you are really not sure, all kinds of considerations are legitimate, I feel - including what agents would look at your book. One of the approaches you could try is write two variants of the query and see which one is more "you" before you start editing.

Best of luck!
Rose

job · Nov 21, 2007

I'd figure the time and energy you'd put into writing two versions of one book might better be used on the next book ...

maestrowork · Nov 21, 2007

Change your ms. according to an agent? Even if you think it's doable, how do you even know what an agent likes or dislikes? By gender? By genre? It seems to be a futile attempt even IF you can pull it off.

To me, it seems like your problem isn't whether your male readers skip the MC's section and go directly to the battle. Your problem may be that your story may be lacking focus. Is it a love story, or is it a historical war story, or...? What do you think your story is? Make up your mind.

It's okay to tailor your query for different agents but to me, that's a risky approach. What if you tailor your query and make it sound like a "romance" and the agent finds out the love story isn't really the main plot, etc.? There's a tremendous risk with setting up the agent's expectation. To me, the right approach should be to figure what genre your story really belongs, and target the right agent for the ms. (instead of the other way around). One size doesn't fit all here, and changing your ms. to suit an agent's taste seems to be a disaster waiting to happen.

Wraith · Nov 22, 2007

I agree with everyone else. Your book might need another edit for focus, but that focus should be the one you alone want for your book. Maybe those elements don't blend very well, which again can be done in revision.

But agents are individuals with individual taste and tailoring your book for them is the same as tailoring your book for anyone else - family, friend, whatever. When it gets published, your book will be around longer than the agent. And will reach many more different people. No book is everyone's cup of tea, but it should be your cup of tea primarily.

Good luck.

ello · Nov 22, 2007

Thanks to everyone - I had begun working on my second WIP when I stopped to pick up my first one for re-edits after the comments received from agents. I agree Maestro that it is almost impossible to guess at individual agents preferences correctly enough to tailor to their tastes. But I do think I can provide some subtle nuances in my query to pique their interests.

Thanks Wraith, I agree about the tea - although your cup looks like hot chocolate!

I don't think the book lacks focus, I just need to figure out how best to edit. Like I said previously I had one agent tell me the opening chapter with my Female MC was my best chapter while the next chapter with my male MC was very dry, the other agent said the exact opposite. How do you reconcile advice like that? How do you edit effectively? That's why this whole idea of having two different drafts popped up. But I realize I can't worry about it and the only thing I should worry about is eagle eyeing the whole draft again to get rid of any "dry" or "ho hum" sections.

Has anyone else had experience with editing their manuscript after having varied agent reactions?

maestrowork · Nov 22, 2007

ello said:
Has anyone else had experience with editing their manuscript after having varied agent reactions?

Yes, after a few positive responses from agents and a publisher ("the book started too slow"), and some "soul searching," I re-edited my ms., cut about 15,000 words, and rearranged the first part. It sold.

Wraith · Nov 22, 2007

ello said:
Thanks to everyone - I had begun working on my second WIP when I stopped to pick up my first one for re-edits after the comments received from agents. I agree Maestro that it is almost impossible to guess at individual agents preferences correctly enough to tailor to their tastes. But I do think I can provide some subtle nuances in my query to pique their interests.

Thanks Wraith, I agree about the tea - although your cup looks like hot chocolate! I don't think the book lacks focus, I just need to figure out how best to edit. Like I said previously I had one agent tell me the opening chapter with my Female MC was my best chapter while the next chapter with my male MC was very dry, the other agent said the exact opposite. How do you reconcile advice like that? How do you edit effectively? That's why this whole idea of having two different drafts popped up. But I realize I can't worry about it and the only thing I should worry about is eagle eyeing the whole draft again to get rid of any "dry" or "ho hum" sections.

Has anyone else had experience with editing their manuscript after having varied agent reactions?

It's coffee.

I don't know about the reactions, but my guess would be the two chapters are too different. Books with multiple pov can face that problem of one side of the story being more gripping/interesting to the reader than the other. Or maybe the female MC sequence has a romance feel while the male MC parts seem like a historical without much transition/blending, which is why there is so clear like/dislike on the part of agents. I don't know, but try to do that edit for yourself, watching out for flow and dry sequences. Maybe those were not the agents for you. Hope you sort it out.

How crazy is it if...

ello

Cranky

Joe Moore

DeadlyAccurate

Absolutely Fazed

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

donroc

Historicals and Horror rule

WendyNYC

fiddle-dee-dee

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

mikeland

Call me Pookie

ello

ello

mikeland

Call me Pookie

amber_grosjean

AW Addict

wayndom

Gray Rose

Beware of the Thorns!

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Wraith

The demon in your inkwell.

ello

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Wraith

The demon in your inkwell.