agency lists

There are definitely more than 15-20 agents who want contemporary romance and fiction. What are your search parameters? I'm guessing you should broaden them.

55,000 is way short. It probably is an automatic reject for a contemporary novel--but not necessarily for romance. I don't know much about romance. (Wait. That sounded wrong. )

napp,

the query thing has advantages beyond being "make-work".

1. You become a better writer. This was the one I least appreciated or was even aware of before, and, EASILY, the biggest benefit I got. Want to learn to use your words, EVERY word, with care? Get used to trying to tell half a story in 200 words. (yes, I"m a bitch, I don't even give you the 250. part because if I say 250 people shoot for 320, part because I honestly don't believe nearly any query needs even the 250). Anyway, time spent writing a query is ABSOLUTELY not time taken away from learning to write novels...and this is from a guy who does not go in for the "write short stories first" mantra. But queries really are different, in the focus they require. They're like wrenches for dodgeball.....if you can write a query, you can write a novel. Better.

2. You can hit the same agents, but not all the same agents...many do not take unsolicited subs. Those who do, have a much larger "unsolicited slush" pile than "pile the agents I eat lunch with hand-picked for me" pile.


Not everyone needs an agent. I'm not saying they do, or should. But I AM saying that if you're doing this "because getting an agent, and writing a query, is such a *groan* bother" then you are doing it for the wrongest of possible reasons.

Quick

Unless you are writing category romance (doesn't sound like you are), then 55k is pretty short....

Here's a good list of preferred word counts for different genres:

http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html

Your novel is very definitely on the short end. Many won't consider below 60K for print. Length is less of an issue for ebooks.

Regarding search string, I would suggest searching for commercial and romance. Maybe women's fiction. Then read the individual listings to get a feel for what the agent reps to see if it's what you write.

Another tip is to identify two or three (or more!) books similar to yours, find out who repped them, and then look at their profiles. Find other agents with profiles similar to those.

A,

Target audience: who reads mostly romances? who would you like to read your romances? Where on the shelf will others find your book (and next to which published romances)?

Marketing strategy: what do you think would be a good marketing plan to reach your desired audience? Yes, Facebook and a website are good, but it seems to me they want to know how you will "spread the word" about your book.

A) Word count is way too low.
B) If you search for agents who accept e-queries, it'll only pull up agents who *only* accept e-queries. Leave that box blank as most agents still do accept snail-mail, and many have forms for querying.

A Napp, be aware: the search function at AgentQuery is far from perfect. Some agents participate with the site, some don't. You need to visit tons and tons of agency websites, not just rely on searches.

You should also check out who is buying your genre at Publishers Marketplace (modest fee for a subscription).

Good luck!

A_Napp said:

well... thanks folks for hints and input.
I'm officially retreating because of word count reasons
At least I don't have to ponder anymore where to find an agent, how to best phrase the query ... and so on.

Good luck to you and your projects.

Click to expand...

You're not calling it quits altogether, are you? This is fixable. I'm sure there's something you can do to bring your word count into an acceptable range.

Well, you can always turn it into an young adult novel if you don't want to add to the word count. YA novels run that range of word count no problem.