Agent for a novel

It's not uncommon to have an agent for your nonfiction and a different agent for your fiction. Like the rest of us, agents have their specialties. If he's still selling your nonfiction, I wouldn't take that away from him.

Just look for a new agent for the novel. I don't see why you shouldn't be able to find someone who can sell it.

I've split Muggsie's question into its own thread (was originally posted in How Real Publishing Works in B&BC) and moved it to this topic, because I think it might get more answers here.

- Victoria

He encouraged me to develop a proposal. I did. It was in color with many photos from the 1860's and copies of newspaper articles about my great grandfather.

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It seems to me your agent also didn't know how to submit a fiction manuscript - certainly not like this!
If I were you, I'd learn all about how to submit fiction, beginning with how to write a good query letter, how to find a suitable agent, and so on. You'll find lots of help on this board.
It might be an idea to post a sample of your writing on the Share Your Work Forum, jsut to make sure your work is saleable on today's market. It might need a bit of polishing if you have not written fiction before.
Whatever, good luck to you and hope you hang around AW.

Unless you are set on courting one of the big publishing houses (groups), I would say that you don't need another agent... you can send the work out yourself to the smaller presses that would love a work like yours.

I am also a published author in non-fiction and I work in documentary television. When I completed a novel -- with a lot of historic research -- I just searched for the publishers that would be best possible fit for my novel. I queried them myself, listing my background, and I was gratified by the response. The first novel was published, the second has been accepted.

Also, my agent doesn't get a percentage of either of these books -- my contract states that he only gets a cut of the deals he brings to fruition and since he had nothing to do with this, the profits are all mine.

When you are a published author, it's much easier to get responses to queries on your own.

The only thing an agent can do is possibly get you more money... but I was looking down the road to the film option (which I've secured) and I just needed my book in print.

Look at presses in the West -- where the Pony Express was active... from Missouri all the way to Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, etc. University Presses publish novels too if the subject matter is right.

Go to a really big bookstore and check the shelves for books similar to yours; write down the publishers and the names of the authors.

Go on the Net. Check publisher guidelines for submissions. You may be able to query without an agent. As you have a resume of sales that puts you ahead of the pack in the slush pile.

Find the websites of the writers and ask if they won't impart the name of their agent to you. Most are open to brief, polite letters from other writers.

Good luck--sounds like you've got something really, really cool to offer!

Here's an agent website with some great links for writing query letters:
http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html
And don't forget to check AW's own Query Letter forum, where you can read sample queries posted and the critiques of them:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=84

(password: vista)

Muggsie said:

I am a published author/illustrator/composer (5 biz books, 3 educational curricula, 1 childrens book, tv commercial jingles, etc). I've had an agent for the last ten years. He brokered my biz books (Prentice, McGraw, etc).

Two years ago I decided to write a novel. It took me 14 months (eight years of research—on and off—before that). It's about 500 pages. Based on my great grandfather's trail diaries. He was one of the original 81 Pony Express riders.

My agent has never read the manuscript. Never. He encouraged me to develop a proposal. I did. It was in color with many photos from the 1860's and copies of newspaper articles about my great grandfather. My agent sent the proposal to nine publishers (Simon Shuster, Lyons Press, Harcourt, Random House, etc.) It took 6 months before everyone had replied. No one wanted to read the manuscript. It was not their genre, they said. I was devastated. My agent said he had other publishers he knew about BUT he had never done fiction before. It wasn't his thing. I was even more devastated. So we parted company. I thought I could do a better job on my own.

Now I have to figure out what to do.
Do I find an agent who specializes in fiction? I tried two. Neither was interested in the genre. (or is it me?)
Do I send query letters that end up in the slush pile unanswered?
Any ideas?

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To be honest, I'd think a proposal like the one you describe would scare away any publisher. Novels generally do not require a proposal, and one with photos and the like would probably make the money men choke, thinking it would take a fortune to publish it.

I think you need to write a synopsis, not a proposal. A plain, bare bones synopsis, and be prepared to send teh first three chapters along with it.

You do need an agent used to dealing with novels.

I think it is a fascinating idea, the pony express continues to fascinate and a factual basis would attract the hordes of Western history fans. As one of them I would be looking for some authentication fo the research material given the hundred of people who falsely claimed to be part of this short lived venture. Otherwise it might turn into Frey on horseback...

I think you've got an orginal, strong, fascinating manuscript about the Pony Express that many of the big publishing houses would be interested in.

I don't know the legal ramifications, but I'd get an agent who handles fiction, and use the one you currently have for non-fiction. You write that your agent has never even read this manuscript!? Um, that doesn't sound good to me....you need an agent who is enthusiastic about your work and behind it 100%! Forget about loyalty, take care of yourself and what is best for your career! This agent has obviously done extremely well for your non-fiction, but now it's time to take your career in a new direction, no?

I wouldn't bother with a synopsis at this stage, but I recommend that you write a strong query letter and send it to as many agents that handle this sort of fiction as possible. It will take you a couple of weeks to write a great query, but it will be worth it, as it will generate interest and requests for partials/fulls of your manuscript. You can reasearch how to write a strong query letter all over the web, and at AbsoluteWrite, as well.

And then buy the Jeff Herman book on agents, or The 2006 Guide To Literary Agents put out by Writers Market.

Also there are good listings at: AgentQuery.com and EveryoneWhosAnyone.com (sorry, don't know how to make links work here!)

Good luck!

KundaliniGirl said:

...I think you've got an orginal, strong, fascinating manuscript ...
!

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Caveat. Have you read the manuscript? If you haven't, then you don't know this. Not to insult the poster's abilities, but there is a huge difference between writing fiction and non-fiction. That's why I advised him/her to post a bit on the SYW forums. Non-fiction writers, even great ones, don't necessarily make good fiction writers; fiction is a skill unto itself and if he has not written it before it's likely that the ms needs a bit of work before it can be submitted.

What the OP has is an "orginal, strong, fascinating" THEME for a novel, but it's not enough. For fiction it's the execution that counts: strong characters, strong plot, strong dialogue, and all the various ingredients that go into making a novel work. It's a pity the agent did not red the ms.

It would be a shame for him/her to start submitting before the work is ready, and risk rejection at such an early stage.

PS: You wrote in your post that you've only queried two agents, and were told that it wasn't their genre. That's nothing! Many writers had to query 50-100 agents (even more) before finding one that's willing to handle their work. Also, at agentquery.com, you can use their search engine to research which agents handle different genres.

Good luck!

Why not post the first chapter? To create a quote you can click on the "quote" icon; or else manually. To do it manually you write [ QUOTE ] (but joined up!)
at the start of the stuff you want to quote, and [/QUOTE ] (joined up) at the end. Easy peasy!
Look forward to reading your extract.

Hi Muggsie,
I assume you know how to cut/copy and paste?

Ok, copy the first chapter with your mouse and then go to

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=73

The password to get in there is vista. This is the mainstream/comtemporary fiction forum, you might prefer a different forum on Share Your Work.

You start a new thread, just the way you did this. You can simply paste your first chapter there - you don't need to put it in quotes. Hope this helps!