Are there agents who read work from unexperienced writers??
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Sat Nam!
If your WORK is inexperienced (i.e. poor spelling, bad grammar, no punctuation, too wordy, etc.), then you probably won't find an agent to look at it.
If you simply have no writing credits, but your work is excellent for its type, then yes, there are some agents out there who want to see what you've written, provided they represent what it is you've written. But DO make sure they represent whatever your genre is.
Blessings,
Siri Kirpal
If your WORK is inexperienced (i.e. poor spelling, bad grammar, no punctuation, too wordy, etc.), then you probably won't find an agent to look at it.
If you simply have no writing credits, but your work is excellent for its type, then yes, there are some agents out there who want to see what you've written, provided they represent what it is you've written. But DO make sure they represent whatever your genre is.
Blessings,
Siri Kirpal
Most agents will look at it, but it has to be damn good to get any attention from the right kind of agent.
If you're unsure about any agent see Preditors and Editors, there are a lot of literary scams out there.
If you're unsure about any agent see Preditors and Editors, there are a lot of literary scams out there.
not really
I'm going to answer the question literally.
No, an agent won't read a novel by an author just starting out. What they will read is your query letter. If you query is good, and if it's a good match, and if they think it sellable, then they might read your novel.
Remember. You could have the best novel in the world, and if your query is bad it's probably not going to get read. Unless your opening paragraph is so wonderful it makes them drop everything else. Which has happened, but it's not common.
I'm going to answer the question literally.
No, an agent won't read a novel by an author just starting out. What they will read is your query letter. If you query is good, and if it's a good match, and if they think it sellable, then they might read your novel.
Remember. You could have the best novel in the world, and if your query is bad it's probably not going to get read. Unless your opening paragraph is so wonderful it makes them drop everything else. Which has happened, but it's not common.
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Agents read queries for FINISHED work. If the query is polished (and properly targeted), they will request pages. Requesting pages does NOT mean they will give you any feedback, though. Some agents do, and some don't, particularly if all they requested was a partial. Remember, the people who send in queries are not paying clients. It takes a LOT of time to read material and give feedback. They just don't have time to do that for free.
Whatever you do, do not send out a query early hoping to get a request for a partial and some feedback. Once you've queried an agent and been rejected, you've burned that bridge for that novel. Do not waste it with a novel that hasn't been finished and polished within an inch of its life.
You have an invaluable critique resource here. I recommend you take advantage of it. If you really want an agent to give you feedback, in May there's an auction run by Brenda Novak. Tons of agents put critiques of partials (and sometimes fulls) on the block. These critiques often go for several hundred dollars (up to $1000), but if you want a critique from an agent, that's the guaranteed way to get it.
Whatever you do, do not send out a query early hoping to get a request for a partial and some feedback. Once you've queried an agent and been rejected, you've burned that bridge for that novel. Do not waste it with a novel that hasn't been finished and polished within an inch of its life.
You have an invaluable critique resource here. I recommend you take advantage of it. If you really want an agent to give you feedback, in May there's an auction run by Brenda Novak. Tons of agents put critiques of partials (and sometimes fulls) on the block. These critiques often go for several hundred dollars (up to $1000), but if you want a critique from an agent, that's the guaranteed way to get it.
Ofcourse they do. Everyone has to start somewhere. The likes of Stephen King and JK Rowling were unexperienced writers at some point and their first peice of writing wasn't declined because of that reason. If agents didn't bother dealing with unexperienced author's then no one new would ever get anything published.
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Another "of course" here.
I was one of them. And I can cite many many many authors who were also one of them. Heck, does JK Rowling ring a bell? She'd had no previous published work, and got an agent on her first attempt.
You absolutely can get an agent with no credits, but the book has to be finished and polished, the query letter professional, and the agent the right agent for your book.
I was one of them. And I can cite many many many authors who were also one of them. Heck, does JK Rowling ring a bell? She'd had no previous published work, and got an agent on her first attempt.
You absolutely can get an agent with no credits, but the book has to be finished and polished, the query letter professional, and the agent the right agent for your book.
Stephen King stuck a LOT of rejections on his famous spike before he got published.
I don't think agents want to hear from inexperienced writers at all. Unpublished writers are another thing altogether.
I don't think agents want to hear from inexperienced writers at all. Unpublished writers are another thing altogether.
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Well, if the writing in your stories is anything like the writing in your posts, I'd have to say no, no agent for you, yet.
But you're young, you have plenty of time to work at it. Keep writing and reading and working on your writing and one day, in the future. . .
But you're young, you have plenty of time to work at it. Keep writing and reading and working on your writing and one day, in the future. . .
Yes, as long as your writing is good. Watch out for typos and word choice. For example, "Unexperienced" in your post sounds clunky IMHO, "Inexperienced" might have been a better choice.
I'm not saying that to be mean or nitpick, I just want to point out that if an agent sees something like that in the query it's a strike against you. But nobody's perfect, so if the rest of your writing is sharp and you've got a great story, you should have an agent requesting things from you in no time. I was inexperienced. I queried 100 agents and got 10 requests for fulls before I chose an agent. The process took about a year.
Once you get up to 50 posts, you should put your Query into Query Letter Hell and let the Squirrels go at it. You'll learn a lot also just by reading their comments on someone else's work.
Keep the faith and good luck.
I'm not saying that to be mean or nitpick, I just want to point out that if an agent sees something like that in the query it's a strike against you. But nobody's perfect, so if the rest of your writing is sharp and you've got a great story, you should have an agent requesting things from you in no time. I was inexperienced. I queried 100 agents and got 10 requests for fulls before I chose an agent. The process took about a year.
Once you get up to 50 posts, you should put your Query into Query Letter Hell and let the Squirrels go at it. You'll learn a lot also just by reading their comments on someone else's work.
Keep the faith and good luck.
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