Are Agents Willing to Sign New Authors in Tough Times?

I know of one agent that says she only needs one paragraph to know if she'll reject a potential client. It takes a little more reading before she'll decide whether she wants to accept that client.

I'd like to say "boo!" on that agent but, the fact is, legitimate agencies are overwhelmed with submissions. One very good agency (and one that says they're looking for new writers) received over thirty-eight thousand queries... as memory serves... and only looked at 88 of the offered manuscripts. They signed, I think, two of the writers. Ah, life.

Book sales have been impacted by the economy but not everywhere. (Harlequin's sales are up. Penguin's sales are up.) But whether books sales are up or not, your manuscript needs to be perfect. There are too many hungry writers willing to do the work if you're not. Count me among their number.

I enjoy this blog site -- http://pubrants.blogspot.com/ -- and I think it gives some great info on pitching, sales, contracts, agencies and the like. You might give it a try.

yeswecan said:

Q: How much must an agent read to know whether or not they want to sign a potential client? How likely do they read the whole ms.? Does a ms. have to be 99% perfect or are they willing to iron out any problems?

Are they less willing to work w/ writers in this slow economy or due to lack of time?

Click to expand...

Answer to all: it depends.

Yeah, I know, not helpful. Different agents use different criteria and stop reading at different times. So yes, your manuscript has to be as perfect as you are able to get it. That doesn't mean you'll be rejected because of one typo on page 98, but it does mean catching those six extra commas in the first paragraph and the incorrect use of its/it's in the second. Polish it within an inch of its life.

Not all agents work with writers to improve their manuscripts, tough times or not. It's just not how they work; they take a salable manuscript and sell it, they don't edit. Then there are agents more than willing to offer editorial feedback, whether it's before or after representation. It just depends on who you query.

But yes, as has been said in every other recent thread on this same topic, agents are still signing new authors. And new authors are still selling to editors.