Yet more advice - publisher wants full, (post 26)

Here's some stuff.

An agent is someone who's a middle man between you and publishers. They have connections to editors working at publishers--many connections a writer on their own cannot make. An example of this is some publishers don't have open submissions and will only look at books when submitted by trusted agents (or agencies). An agent can deal with publishers and contracts for you--so you're not getting screwed over in the process.

Though, you don't need an agent. You can submit to some publishers on your own--recommended not to do this until you can't query any more agents. You will have to go through your contract so you're not getting screwed over, and if you don't know what you're reading you can hire a literacy attorney to break things down.

So, like I suggested in your previous thread, focus on one book; query that one book in a large market. Genres are markets, and the wider the market you can sell to the more queries you can send out. So, for instance, don't query to only agents who deal with fairy-tale retellings told in historic times with romance, mystery, and religious themes--you'll probably find no agents to fit to that. Let's say, you query for agents who handle general fantasy, and focus more on the agents who have gotten fairy-tale retellings published, you'll have a good pool to pick through.

Do your research on agents. Yes, they need credentials--anyone can call themselves an agent or editor. There's no degree or license for this. It's best for them to have prior experience as like a long-time intern, understudy, or as an editor and whatnot. Real experience like 10 years working at an reputable agency is great. If you can find them in the Bewares section here, make sure good things are being said.

The steps you take:

Finish you manuscript. Fully.
Figure out what market you'll be selling into (genre). Try to compare genres with similar books.
Create a query letter, send it to QLH for a red-line treatment. Revise until polished.
Find a lot of agents who represent your genre. Not just 5 or 10, but more like a hundred. There's a chance you might snag a great agent on the first query, but many people also go through hundreds of agents until they find the right one, so best to have a pool to go through.
Query in batches. Keep records of when you queried and any rejections/replies.

I highly recommend QueryTracker.com over Agent Query as an agent-finding resource.

Carole Blake's book From Pitch to Publication is great. It tells you in detail what agents do for their clients. She's a friend of mine but I loved that book before we met.

Good agents not only find you deals, they negotiate those deals and make sure you get the best deal possible; and they ensure that your publishers stick to the terms of your contract, which is important.

Authors with representation get better advances, on average, than those without; what's not so often understood is that they get more deals, too, as few authors are able to make their own foreign and subsidiary deals, whereas agents do that every day.

There are lots of agent-search facilities online which are very effective. But don't forget to find out who represents books which are similar to yours, as that can give you a useful insight into who is not only out there, but who is making good deals right now.

Don't forget to have a look at our own AW list of SF/F agents

Sage said:

Keep in mind that the "Bewares" forum is actually "Bewares, Recommendations, and Background Checks." It's worth it to read the thread on any agency in there. The information may be that it's an agency to avoid or that it's a great agency. It may hold information about the current submission times and situations of the agents at the agency. Don't dismiss an agent or agency because it's in BR&BC.

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I'm seconding this. There's just about every agent out there in those forums, good, bad and ugly. It's important to know what you're getting into and the Bewares section does in fact have vital info.

You're already on the right track. In reading your post, I think your question is really, "Everyone seems to have a 'dream' agent. How do I find out enough about a particular agent to dream of them?"

My best answer is a question: "If you were the winner of a contest and could inherit the fan base of the #1 International bestselling author of books that are closest to yours in plot, tone, characterization, etc., who would it be?" Now, what if you were the second place winner of that contest and could ride the coattails of the second bestseller in your genre, who would it be?

Go to Querytracker and find out who represents those two authors. Look at the rest of their client list. If you recognize every name on their list of authors and would consider yourself proud to be on that list, you just found your "dream" agent. It means the agent's tastes in writing are similar to your style, and most importantly, they already know who to sell your book to at publishers!

If there's no one agent who represents the powerhouses of your genre, find a few who you'd like to share shelf space with and look at their agents. If you're writing a truly groundbreaking mash-up of genres, then pick the strongest genres in the book, or try both/all genres.

And finally, if you have no clue who might write what you write, then get yourself to a bookstore, library or Google and start searching for authors. Buy some books or check them out and start reading. Not only will you find great authors and potential agents, but you'll have fun in the process!

After AQ or that QT you might go to the agent's sites and read their bios, etc. Then google them and try to find interviews. (A fair number have been.) That'll help you decide whether you connect with an agent. "Dream agents" to me arise from that research. Ones which are on the same page as yourself and have similar aims. All in all you conclude, "this is someone I want to work with." Then you get "the call" and find out they're totally different than you anticipated ;-)

G'luck. Most important is writing a good book. Then you have the pick of the litter.

I'm going to add something to all these posts: As Ken said, do a search also on each agent and agency. Cross-reference. This is important since I've noticed over the years, that both AgentQuery and QueryTracker have some out-dated information, such as links that go nowhere or authors who are not represented by said agent.

Best of luck!

stormie said:

both AgentQuery and QueryTracker have some out-dated information, such as links that go nowhere or authors who are not represented by said agent.

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... also, they may say an agent is open to submissions, but if you go to their sites you find out they're closed to them. So definitely check for updated info, too, as Stormie suggests.

Manuscriptwishlist.com has some great info -- agents post what types of manuscripts they're looking for. If they request your genre, then you can do a little bit more research on the agency and find out if they're a good fit.

Also, make a list of authors you like, who write in the same genre or share your writing style. Just googling '[Author Name] Agent' will give you a great list of potential agents. Then you can follow them on Twitter, read interviews they've given, and soon you'll know who your Dream Agents are

thisprovinciallife said:

Manuscriptwishlist.com has some great info -- agents post what types of manuscripts they're looking for.

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Neat site. But that faded typeface. Yikes !

Two debuts that are similar . . . maybe. But a bestseller and an up-and-comer? Bring it on! Someone will have to inherit the throne when the bestselling author stops a series--especially when the fan base is for the genre, not just anything the author writes. Agents love finding the next big thing. I wouldn't worry. In fact, I got my agent by a bestseller recommending me to the agent as the successor to her throne. I haven't quite achieved it yet, but it takes just the right series at just the right moment. I'm still putting out new series, so who knows?

I wrote this a long time ago, but it's still true. Basically, it's OK if your book matches in CATEGORY and TONE, but not theme. Or, CATEGORY and THEME, but not tone. Or, TONE and THEME, but not category.

http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-siblings-are-good-twins-can-be.html

Category = Is it YA, MG, Adult Fantasy, Literary Fiction, etc.

Tone = in this case I mean Funny/Dark - Historical/Contemporary - Literary/Commercial

Theme = in this case, basically "what the book is about" - werewolves, ballerinas, etc.

If you feel like the MS and query are ready to go, then I would say it's time to query.

I will add that my query list had over 200 agents on it (and I queried about 180 of them), so 20 seems a little low even for something that's not quite finished yet. However, that's a good starting number if they are all solid agents that you have no doubts about. (Some of mine were good agents, but I wasn't sure they would fit well with my MS, but I figured it never hurts to ask.)

Good luck!

If it feels ready to go, I say go for it! Your query and synopsis are in shape, you've had multiple rounds of beta-reading (and done your share of critiquing!), etc, so I think you're ready to query if you feel like you are. I agree that twenty sounds very low. I would aim for fifty to one hundred, personally. And I would suggest querying in batches of five or so every week.

Good luck!!!

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Yes. It's fine to query now.

Do it in batches of 10 or so. Or even less, because the fewer you do, the less likely the thing is to get caught in spam filters.

Oh, and be prepared to expand your agent list.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

CathleenT said:

I went to QLH and I have a kick-ass query and a synopsis. QLH rocks! Although that's a little like self-promotion because I've become a QLH critter myself. It's like going over to the Other Side.

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Welcome to the Dark Other Side.

To echo the others: If you feel it's ready then it's ready; also, increase your list of agents.

Good luck.

CathleenT said:

Okay, thanks again, everyone. One more post on format, and then I'm ready. Yippee!

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I've gone all nervous for you! Best of luck and keep us posted and all that stuff

I've read, here, from time to time, that you could think about doing a "test" batch of queries. If you get more agents on your list, you can sort them into your 1st-tier, 2nd-tier, and 3rd-tier picks. You won't, of course, query any agents you wouldn't actually consider signing with—that would waste everyone's time—but you'll naturally have some agents you're more excited about (rep comparable works, have more experience, etc.).

Some people say to start at the very top of your list and work your way down, but I've seen others say you don't want to burn through all your top picks with an untested query. So those people have recommended doing a first batch to a few from each of your tiers and see what the response is. If you get a good request rate, you're good to go querying only from your top tier. If the request rate is poor, your query might need more tweaking.

It's a bit of a risk, either way. And agent Janet Reid has said there's no right way to do that—only the way you do it and then, the way you'll wish you'd have done it.

In that blog post, btw, she warns authors off the whole "dream agent" mentality. It's interesting food for thought if you've managed to get your heart set on anyone in particular.


Good luck! It's always so exciting when someone starts querying.