Mentioning a personal connection in query

To be honest I don't see why you care. Unless of course you are concerned the reason you haven't been asked for partials is because your query is bad, and in that case why not post it in the SYW forum and see.

As for your current situation, the agent now has your partial, and now it is up to you to impress, not name drop. If name dropping can get you through the door, that's awesome in my opinion. But it won't get you an agent. Your writing has to impress the agent. So if they take you on it won't be because one of their clients' is your friend. It will be because they think they can sell your book.

In other words, don't worry about it!

It's different if Joe Blow brings your ms to his agent. Some agents work only with authors who come from referrals.

Hm. Would you really want your prospective agent to look at your project simply because he or she is worried about miffing a friend?

I don't think I'd feel comfortable sending out a query wherein the project had a chance on its legs or not based on the merits of the project, not based on the merits of some mutual friend.

badducky said:

Hm. Would you really want your prospective agent to look at your project simply because he or she is worried about miffing a friend?

I don't think I'd feel comfortable sending out a query wherein the project had a chance on its legs or not based on the merits of the project, not based on the merits of some mutual friend.

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I'm no agent, so what the heck do I know, but lots of agents who blog talk about using your connections on their sites. So it must happen with some frequency. Anne Mini blogs about it and so does Nathan Bransford, just to name a couple.

Of course, your writing still has to be up to snuff.

From Nathan's blog:
The best way to find an agent is through a referral from an existing agented writer. Mine your personal connections and degrees of separation. Go through your friends and friends of friends to see if anyone knows anyone remotely connected to the publishing industry.

badducky,

like what I already said, to me it wouldn't matter. Sure maybe the agent requests a partial, heck a full, because of connections, but it will still in the end be the writing that sells the author. An agent won't simply take on another writer because they happen to be friends with so and so (unless the author is super famous, but that's another issue). In the end, it will still be the work determining who gets represented, whether or not you had help getting your foot in the door.

Names

Name dropping is not only a good thing, it's how a pretty fair chunk of agents out there obtain clients. "Recommended by" is a stock phrase in this business, and nothing will get you read faster than dropping the right name, as long as you;re honest about it. The agent will check.

Let's get real here. It's doesn't matter a damn why an agent or an editor agrees to read your work. The only thing that matters is that they do read it.

And, yes, any agent or editor who happens to be human will also lean to a more favorable view of your writing if it comes with the right name attached.

Your writing will still have to stand largely on its own merit, but do not for a second think name-dropping isn't a huge advantage, won;t get you read, or, should she see anything at all favorable, won't ask for a rewrite when she would have rejected the piece without the name attached.

Jamesaritchie said:

Name dropping is not only a good thing, it's how a pretty fair chunk of agents out there obtain clients. "Recommended by" is a stock phrase in this business, and nothing will get you read faster than dropping the right name, as long as you;re honest about it. The agent will check.

Let's get real here. It's doesn't matter a damn why an agent or an editor agrees to read your work. The only thing that matters is that they do read it.

And, yes, any agent or editor who happens to be human will also lean to a more favorable view of your writing if it comes with the right name attached.

Your writing will still have to stand largely on its own merit, but do not for a second think name-dropping isn't a huge advantage, won;t get you read, or, should she see anything at all favorable, won't ask for a rewrite when she would have rejected the piece without the name attached.

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I echo James' sentiments. Sometimes it doesn't matter how good your writing is with some agents, especially if you have no creds and the agent doesn't want a sample with the query. Let's face it - first you need to get in the door, and if dropping a name helps you get in, by all means do it. To say you wouldn't want an agent to read your manuscript as a favor to one of her authors is madness. The goal is to get the agent to read your stuff and meeting her at a conference or getting a legitimate referral puts you nearer to the top of her stack.

As others have said, though, if your writing is crap, then you're probably just delaying the inevitable....along with putting your friend in an awkward situation.

I concur with those who think it's fine. Actually, not merely fine. It's really a big advantage.

Do you really think your friend/acquaintance would have told you to contact his agent if he didn't have some sense of your talent and competence? So this little bit of endorsement is going to predispose the agent to a better frame of mind, that's all.

I've lost count of how many people ask for the name of my agent. I simply don't tell them. The one time I suggested a writer contact my agent was after I'd read the material and after I'd run my thoughts by the agent. I'll bet your contact did the same.

Being introduced to an agent by a friend is one thing, "mining your personal connections" is quite another indeed.

Lemme link to John Scalzi's blog where he explains why and how this can be a very bad route for many people who are approaching the problem incorrectly:

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=55

Query letters work. The system wouldn't be in place at close to 100% of agencies accepting new clients if it didn't work.

However, believing that knowing this or that person and going to conventions to schmooze can also be the fastest way to end up with no career if you don't know what you're doing, or make some faux pas or misstep.

And query letters? You can sleep on them. Revise them. Toy with them. You can rewrite, revise, and improve them. These are all skills you should have if you want to be a professional writer, anyway. Networking is not something that comes easily to a lot of people, and doing it wrong is murder to your career.

That said, when your writing group buddy quietly hands your stuff off to their agent, or recommends you to their agent, that is a very different sort of thing. It is best done with no prodding on your part. This favor will be offered or not, independent of any action you take. You had also best not ask me because I know my answer already, and I've said it already a few times to a few aspiring writers.

Don't mine your personal connections. That's a big no-no. Make personal connections. Do not mine them.

All interesting points. I'd note that I would never let someone use my name in contacting my agent unless I'd read that person's stuff pretty carefully, and felt that the benefit was there for both parties, author and agent. In that case, I'd probably pop my agent an email and tell him to look out for something from this author, so the agent knows that he's using my name legitimately.

From what I've gleaned reading agent blogs, a referral will get you read faster and give you a couple of minutes extra grace before the agent decides she's not interested. But that's it. The decision will be based on your writing. Don't feel guilty about it. You haven't done anything shady or disreputable.

Jamesaritchie said:

Name dropping is not only a good thing, it's how a pretty fair chunk of agents out there obtain clients. "Recommended by" is a stock phrase in this business, and nothing will get you read faster than dropping the right name, as long as you;re honest about it. The agent will check.

Let's get real here. It's doesn't matter a damn why an agent or an editor agrees to read your work. The only thing that matters is that they do read it.

And, yes, any agent or editor who happens to be human will also lean to a more favorable view of your writing if it comes with the right name attached.

Your writing will still have to stand largely on its own merit, but do not for a second think name-dropping isn't a huge advantage, won;t get you read, or, should she see anything at all favorable, won't ask for a rewrite when she would have rejected the piece without the name attached.

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James, does this go for short stories in magazines as well? Is it helpful to contact a friend who works there, or is that obnoxious?

badducky said:

Hm. Would you really want your prospective agent to look at your project simply because he or she is worried about miffing a friend?

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Sure, why not? I think a huge difference exists between spending one minute considering a one page letter and spending a few hours reading a ms. Have you ever seen a trailer to a movie that seemed uninteresting, and then seen the actual movie and liked it a whole lot? I know I have.

rachel vater once blogged that she gets around 35 referred prospective clients a year, and rarely, rarely ends up signing the person (mostly an issue of being able to only take on so many new clients).

i also read an anecdote about an aspiring author who was referred by an agent's client. agent requested full, but despite repeated follow ups, never responded. the author eventually signed with another agent and was published (same book).

fwiw--your mileage may vary.