Literary fiction literary agents?

achkas356 · May 30, 2012

Hi everyone! Just writing to ask whether anyone might be able to suggest good literary agents to submit my manuscript to, as I'm not sure I've been submitting to the right people. I've submitted to around ten agents so far and had one request for a partial of 100 pages, with the initial response saying that 'the writing is great' and drew the reader in, but that they liked things with a fairly strong sense of plot and they were not sure where the story was going, despite liking the overall concept. Upon reading the first hundred pages, they said that their initial impression held, that they were not very strongly drawn into the story, and to contact them with any future projects. I then emailed the agent to ask whether I could make any changes to rectify this and that any advice would be appreciated. She responded telling me not to change it to accommodate her and that she just liked books with a stronger sense of plot, and that to tell it in an entirely different way for her would be to 'totally gut the story'.

So from this feedback I get the impression that I might not be submitting to the right agents, as if the writing and characterization and all elements but the plotting are working nicely, and this novel is classed under literary fiction which generally values these other things more highly than genre style plots, presumably an agent more strongly drawn to literary fiction would be more suitable? I'm totally up for changing the narrative around as well and working closely with an agent to do so, it's just that sense in the previous agent's email that I should not do so and that it's just not right for her that is holding me back.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, thank you!

jeffo20 · May 30, 2012

First, congrats on finishing your novel and getting it out there in front of agents. Second, welcome to the boards!

Third, I'd say you took a big chance on sending a reply to the agent -- a lot of them don't seem to like it when they get follow-up questions like this from rejected authors, but it seems like it was a positive experience.

If you are writing literary fiction, then you want to direct your queries to agents who represent literary. Otherwise you're wasting your time and theirs with queries for a book they're not going to want to represent. To find out who to go to, get something like the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents, or go to Publishers Marketplace, which has a searchable, sortable database of agents that will help you connect with the right agents. Also, if you know of published books that are similar to yours in style, theme, etc., find out who represents that author and approach them. That info is often listed in the Acknowledgments, or is easily found online. Good luck!

Theo81 · May 30, 2012

Query Tracker and Agent Query are two sites which provide searchable databases of agents.

Also, think of an author who is comparable to yourself (when your book is listed on Amazon, who's going to be in the "people who bought this also liked" column?) and look up their agent (either check the acknowledgements of their book, or Google their name and the word "agent").

Ensure you thoroughly research any agency before you sent stuff out. We have a section here called BRBC with threads devoted to agencies. Check the stickied index thread at the top, but if there's no thread, feel free to start one yourself (provide the url of the people you're talking about to make us happy).

Third, I'd say you took a big chance on sending a reply to the agent -- a lot of them don't seem to like it when they get follow-up questions like this from rejected authors, but it seems like it was a positive experience.

Also, this. It is a rare thing to get any kind of feedback and any agent who does so is doing you a MASSIVE favour. Writing back in the way you did is akin to asking out a girl in a bar, having her say "No thanks, I'm not looking for a serious relationship right now" and saying "That's fine. We don't have to be exclusive. Whatever you want, baby. I CAN CHANGE!!!!!"

If an agent wants you to revise and resubmit, that's what they'll ask for.

Good luck.

Undercover · May 30, 2012

Welcome. Both Jeff and Theo gave you great suggestions. You can search for lit agents on those sites, but I am wondering if it's your story that needs help on.

Every story needs a plot, even in literary fiction. If the sequence of writing doesn't connect somehow and you're writing doesn't have a cause and effect, then your novel is just a bunch of writing.

I'm not saying your story doesn't have a plot, maybe it does. Some stories have sub-plots too to keep the interest going in a complex way. But if an agent is reading 100 pages and doesn't know where the story is going, then prehaps you need to rethink your story before you start querying again.

AW Admin · May 30, 2012

achkas356

Welcome to AW.

I've deleted your post because we ask new members to engage with the community first and create 50 posts before posting work for comment.

Once you have 50 posts, do post your query in Query Letter Hell for feedback.

In the meantime, you can read queries in QLH, comment on them yourself.

And do be sure to read The Newbie Guide to Absolute Write.

In the meantime, welcome to AW.

Miss Plum · May 30, 2012

achkas356, what you got was not "feedback." It was a form rejection.

Read the "Rejection and Dejection" threads and the "Ask the Agent" threads, and poke around the "AW Roundtable" for starters. There's LOTS of info about the business on this site, including referrals to other sites that have the info you're seeking. You probably need to spend a solid week doing nothing but surfing and researching.

achkas356 · May 30, 2012

Miss Plum said:
achkas356, what you got was not "feedback." It was a form rejection.

Read the "Rejection and Dejection" threads and the "Ask the Agent" threads, and poke around the "AW Roundtable" for starters. There's LOTS of info about the business on this site, including referrals to other sites that have the info you're seeking. You probably need to spend a solid week doing nothing but surfing and researching.

I will look at those threads, but, the initial response was not a form rejection, I didn't repost it here but she directly addressed plot details, which unless I misunderstand what a form rejection is would seem to be feedback.

achkas356 · May 30, 2012

AW Admin said:
achkas356

Welcome to AW.

I've deleted your post because we ask new members to engage with the community first and create 50 posts before posting work for comment.

Once you have 50 posts, do post your query in Query Letter Hell for feedback.

In the meantime, you can read queries in QLH, comment on them yourself.

And do be sure to read The Newbie Guide to Absolute Write.

In the meantime, welcome to AW.

Ah sure thing, sorry, I didn't consider it posting my own work, it was more to give a sense of what her response had been addressing. But I'll wait till I have 50 posts to post it again.

Literary fiction literary agents?

achkas356

jeffo20

Tyrant King

Theo81

Undercover

I got it covered

AW Admin

Miss Plum

achkas356

achkas356