Agent who loves debut authors

CourtneyC · May 9, 2013

An agent who has my full has stated in online interviews and her bio that she loves finding a great debut. I'm wondering how this might translate when she reads my MS.

I'm hopeful that it means she'll be willing to overlook a few typos/extraneous scene or two if the concept is fresh, plot is strong, and the writing up to par.

Perhaps it means she's willing to go through a few extra rounds of revision if she thinks something has promise but isn't quite *there* yet.

Or maybe none of the above, but she just likes the squeal of a newbie when she tells them she's sold their book. :hooray:

Any thoughts?

quicklime · May 9, 2013

it means she loves getting new talent, and the money they bring--unless you have someone like Stephen King in your stable and decide you have enough money you don't want the time and trouble, almost EVERY agent loves taking on new talent.....it pays their bills. No new writers coming in, and older ones leaving, quitting, dying.....would mean a slow decline in their income.

It does NOT mean they are going to accept lower-tier work. That doesn't mean yours is above OR below; I'd have no way of knowing. But agents are in a business. They have to act like it. So their passion notwithstanding, if there are newbie mistakes that will kill the odds of you selling, she is probably still going to remember that she's running a business, and accountable for her time.

If you suspect there are issues there, fix them. That is your absolute best shot at getting out there, not chasing anyone who mentioned liking new authors in a blog, because they STILL have to sell your work to a publisher.

Quick

Donna Pudick · May 9, 2013

Every once in a great while an agent will find a real gem among the debut authors that come his/her way. But those have to be really good, as slogging through rewrites and polishings can pale after a time.

cornflake · May 9, 2013

CourtneyC said:
An agent who has my full has stated in online interviews and her bio that she loves finding a great debut. I'm wondering how this might translate when she reads my MS.

I'm hopeful that it means she'll be willing to overlook a few typos/extraneous scene or two if the concept is fresh, plot is strong, and the writing up to par.

Perhaps it means she's willing to go through a few extra rounds of revision if she thinks something has promise but isn't quite *there* yet.

Or maybe none of the above, but she just likes the squeal of a newbie when she tells them she's sold their book.

Any thoughts?

All agents love finding great debut authors. The old ones drop dead eventually.

No, generally doesn't mean they'll overlook basic errors that should be corrected before anything is sent to anyone. Which isn't to say your stuff has to be completely, not-a-single-typo perfect or it's instant rejection, but if you know it needs editing and revisions, you do that before you send it out.

CourtneyC · May 9, 2013

Hi Quick~
I took "debut" to mean newbie vs. someone already established/published who is looking for a new agent. But, I see your point that she could have meant *any* new opportunity.

quicklime said:
It does NOT mean they are going to accept lower-tier work.

I've seen, for example, Kristen Nelson's "9 submissions in 9 sentences" where she gives reasons for passing that include: Story line needed work & with my current work load, I couldn't give the author the attention deserved.

So "lower-tier" could have a lot of meanings. If the grammar and sentence structure was sub-par, of course I can't see an agent wanting to spend that kind of time.

quicklime said:
If you suspect there are issues there, fix them. That is your absolute best shot at getting out there, not chasing anyone who mentioned liking new authors in a blog, because they STILL have to sell your work to a publisher.

Quick

You are right, of course. I queried her b/c of her sales record, current client list, and genres she is seeking. It was only after she requested the full that I took note of (and began the useless speculation on) her penchant for debut work.

Drachen Jager · May 9, 2013

CourtneyC said:
Hi Quick~
I took "debut" to mean newbie vs. someone already established/published who is looking for a new agent. But, I see your point that she could have meant *any* new opportunity.

Lots of agents mention on blogs or websites that they're looking for first-time or debut authors. It means what it says, they want fresh faces who haven't published before. There's a limited pool of established authors out there and a hungry agent needs to take up and coming talent seriously.

Even established authors often submit manuscripts with some typos, misused words, grammatical problems etc. in them. No, an agent does not expect your manuscript to be perfect. If things work out it is the editor's job to help you with those problems.

However, if your error rate is high, that will probably be a turn-off for an agent. In general the cleaner the better, but it's not really a linear thing.

IMO grammar in the sense of readability is far more important than following the rules of grammar, if you understand what I mean. Some technically well-formed sentences are difficult to read, while others are technically wrong, but easy to read. Abusing grammatical rules can also be about style, which is perfectly fine in a novel.

Winston Churchill put it best, when he said, "This is the sort of English, up with which, I shall not put."

Old Hack · May 10, 2013

CourtneyC said:
An agent who has my full has stated in online interviews and her bio that she loves finding a great debut. I'm wondering how this might translate when she reads my MS.

I'm hopeful that it means she'll be willing to overlook a few typos/extraneous scene or two if the concept is fresh, plot is strong, and the writing up to par.

If the book is strong enough, then of course agents will overlook some typos and extraneous scenes. It's relatively easy to fix such problems; far harder to fix a book which just isn't good enough.

Donna Pudick said:
Every once in a great while an agent will find a real gem among the debut authors that come his/her way. But those have to be really good, as slogging through rewrites and polishings can pale after a time.

Many of the agents I know work with all their author-clients to polish and improve their books before they go out on submission. It's not a big deal, and improving their authors' books to ensure they get the best deal possible doesn't seem to pale for them.

lauralam · May 10, 2013

Yeah, my agent both structurally edits and line edits all of her clients' manuscripts--whether they're debuts or not.

Debuts are good because publishers are always looking for the "next best thing." Plus as an agent it must feel really awesome to help a person's dream come true, and then help them throughout their career.

CourtneyC · May 10, 2013

I'll go into specifics on what I'm hoping for.

My first few chapters are the worst of the book. Maybe it is because I wrote them first? It's my first novel and this has all been a huge learning process.

I've gotten Beta feedback and contest feedback and I've cut the beginning till it bled, and hacked off 10,000 words of backstory. The MS clocks in at 85k now.

My next round of Betas had the same feedback as the first: it reads like 2 different people wrote the book. After the first 40 pages or so, they couldn't put it down and finished in one sitting. The first part isn't bad, it just isn't as good as the rest. It's a thriller.)

I've gotten more than 15% request rate on my query. I've sent it to 35 agents so far. But all except one agent has rejected after receiving the sample (typically the first 30-50 pages were requested).

But, this agent's submission guidelines ask for the first 10 pages, and from that she requested the full. So, I'm just crossing my fingers she slogs through the beginning to get to the "good stuff" and maybe can tell me how to improve the beginning.

My problem is I've hit a wall. The MS is the best I know how to make it with the skill set I have now (which I why I decided to go ahead and query). I've worked on the MS for a few years, taking time off here and there to educate myself on the publishing process, storyline dynamics, query letters, etc. I have a BA in English.

I do have an idea for my next MS, but I'm still ruminating on this MS and how to fix this beginning because I don't want to give up on the story yet.

If nothing else, I've got a bid on on Brenda Novak's auction and am hoping to get some more feedback from that - if I win.

rainsmom · May 10, 2013

Start from scratch and rewrite the first 40 pages. You're not going to get many agents who will say, "Just in case this gets better I'm going to keep reading" -- at least not for 40 pages.

Jamiekswriter · May 10, 2013

Debut author usually means first book.

I agree with rainsmom. If the first few chapters are the worst, delete them. Either start the book "when it gets good" or rewrite the beginning.

Good luck!

amschilling · May 10, 2013

Agree with rainsmom as well. And here's why: typically the first few chapters are the BEST in a book. At least when an agent gets it. The reason? They're the most highly polished, reworked-to-within-an-inch-of-their-life pages in the whole story. So if they're weak, the chances of them thinking, "hmm, I wonder if this gets better?" aren't great. They're a lot better for "Jesus, if I can't get through the parts that got edited the most, what's the rest of it going to look like?"

Delete those pages and rewrite them from scratch. See if that helps. Or as Jamie suggested, look at page 41 and see if that's where it should really start. It's very common on first novels to start the story waaaaaay too early. Start where it gets good, and work the other bits in here and there later.

Phaeal · May 13, 2013

The agent who doesn't want to find a great debut is the agent who's either got a stable already crammed with bestselling authors or an agent who's about to retire. And even then, I bet they'd be tempted if something really juicy turned up.

Note that "great" in "great debut." If I were an agent, the "great debut" would be one that needed very little work on arrival at my desk. That's what we all need to shoot for.

The first version of my debut that I queried had a pretty strong beginning, but I pulled it for rewrite when I had my noob epiphany: Hey, wait! I'm the one who has to perfect this sucker, not an agent.

The next version worked. So, if you yourself start to perceive weaknesses, yeah. Gotta suck it up and stop querying and and figure it out and rewrite.

Who knows? One of the old version subs you've got out might hook an agent with a bent toward revision. If so, the Luck Fairy has pelted you with glitter. If not, you're ahead of the game by already working on the new version.

Or maybe on a whole new book! Because sometimes you just have to put the first one aside and do that thing that agents love to hear you're doing: working on the next one.

CourtneyC · May 13, 2013

rainsmom said:
Start from scratch and rewrite the first 40 pages. You're not going to get many agents who will say, "Just in case this gets better I'm going to keep reading" -- at least not for 40 pages.

I hadn't thought of that, but that's pretty brilliant. I get stuck reworking what is already down on paper. It will be really interesting to just open a new doc, remember what has happened from pg. 1-39, and write it anew. Thanks!

Phaeal said:
...my noob epiphany: Hey, wait! I'm the one who has to perfect this sucker, not an agent.

That is funny because I bet it rings true for most of us N00bs.

Phaeal said:
Who knows? One of the old version subs you've got out might hook an agent with a bent toward revision. If so, the Luck Fairy has pelted you with glitter.

Man, oh man. I was hoping for a glitter bomb!
Thanks, and reps to all!

Quickbread · May 21, 2013

Whether your structure is linear, goes back and forth in time or starts at the end and goes backward, the beginning should feel like the moment when things will never be the same again. Backstory and flashbacks, especially at the
beginning, can really drag on the pacing, too.

Agent who loves debut authors

CourtneyC

Lagrange Point

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

Donna Pudick

cornflake

practical experience, FTW

CourtneyC

Lagrange Point

Drachen Jager

Professor of applied misanthropy

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

lauralam

Moonshade

CourtneyC

Lagrange Point

rainsmom

Feeling like an old timer

Jamiekswriter

USA Today Bestselling Author

amschilling

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

CourtneyC

Lagrange Point

Quickbread