Wouldn't it be better for agents to find authors instead? Proposed website idea

[rosepetal720]

Querying and the slush pile is so inefficient and time wasting. Agents have to sort through thousands of queries a year, many of them for books they aren't interested in.

What if there was a website where authors posted their elevator pitch, queries, book proposals, and first chapters? Then you could search for what you want.

I'd love to hear an agent's thoughts on this because I don't understand why no one has done this already. Would agents be interested in changing the way they find authors?

 

[Chris P]

Didn't something like this exist at one time? Pitch contests, etc.?

I have my own thoughts on your idea, but not being an agent I don't want to weigh in on something I have no direct experience with.

 

[Woollybear]

Not an agent. Hopefully the agents will pop by.

"I don't understand why no one has done this already."

Lots of people have tried this, I've seen it through the past five years on multiple social sites, and it doesn't work. I think, from talking with agents at conferences, the issue is not the premise of the novel (which is what would fit the MSWL) but that the writing is simply not there yet. Some first pages which are technically fine (formatted correctly, proper grammar, etc) are passed on by agent panels by the third sentence. It's not the premise, it's the lack of perfection in execution.

The notion of a reverse MSWL was raised on facebook in the past three months, which is the most recent time I've seen it, and the people who built something like what you are talking about call their product LitConnect. It's in beta testing now, but for conversation about the idea, you can find it on Sub It Club on FB with that keyword. There are 35 comments discussing whether this approach works or not, and yeah, it's generally seen as a nonstarter, in part because of how many times it has been tried.

Think of kitchen stadium and the level of chef that wins that sort of competition. Every flavor balanced. The plating creative and beautiful. The specified ingredients included. That's what agents want, the next top chef. Most of us are making mom's meatloaf. We think it's delicious, but they know in the first bite that it's just more meatloaf.

The MSWLs are useful, but mostly in the direction of telling us who not to query.

My opinion only, 2 cents if that.

 

[lizmonster]

Many, many, many people have tried this in the past.

Agents don't need it.

Their problem isn't finding MSWL stuff. Their problem is finding stuff they think they can sell.

 

[CMBright]

I'm not an agent.

Agents have wish lists on their sites which writers have access to. I see writers get rejections they think are perfect fits with wish lists in Rejection and Dejection threads from time to time.

As mentioned above, there are pitch contests. There is a thread somewhere in AW on pitch contests, when they start/end, what the focus is, etc.

It is my understanding that most agents still use good ol' query letters to get the majority of their clients.

 

[Cyia]

Finding new clients is something agents do off the clock, and without payment. This is why slush is first read by their assistants, and then screened so that the agent only gets a curated version of the slush pile.

What you're proposing is actually *more* work on the agent's behalf.

Slush *isn't* inefficient, at all. It's a short hand way to get a feel for an author's style, and the overall idea they're pitching. If an agent is already repping a literary rabbit-based epic, then their assistants won't give them more of the same. If the sample is riddled with errors, then the assistant won't pass it along. If the query is for dark academia, and the agent only handles contemporary or cook books, then the assistant doesn't pass it along.

Outliers happen, too. Maybe an agent is tangentially interested in sci-fi, but not specifically looking for it, until someone drops a query for an amazing story with a sci-fi twist that doesn't really fit into static categories.

You're also asking writers to put their unpublished work out in the open where it can be scraped by AI, which is already an issue, but would be worse with this set-up. It also opens *any* novel with a similar premise published after a given project is posted to accusation of copying / idea theft, etc.

If 3 authors post pitches / samples for a sentient tree zombie romance series, and 6 months later an established author's sentient tree zombie romance hits shelves, it's likely that at least 1 of those other 3 will be screaming "plagiarism" online (it wouldn't be, but since when does that matter) because anyone and everyone had access to "their" idea. New / young / unpublished authors sometimes don't understand how long it takes for a book to make it to print, or that sometimes strange floods of the same set-up all hit at the same time. (In general, kids who loved XYZ will grow into authors who write XYZ, so it's cyclical. A few years ago, there was a bumper crop of gargoyle stories, because the authors had grown-up on Gargoyles cartoons, and their stories mirrored that interest.)

And heaven help you if 2 of those similar projects have MCs with the same name, like there aren't a kajillion "Kates" in the world.

 

[nighttimer]

Isn't this simply a case of "Supply and Demand?"

While I'm sure there are agents doom-scrolling on their phones due to a lack of authors to represent, there are vastly more authors simply trying to find an agent who will do as little as acknowledge their existence with a "Not bad, but not for me."

The supply of writers will always be higher than the demand for agents.

Fish don't need to go looking for fishermen, and agents don't need to go looking for authors.

 

[Akvranel]

If I understand, what OP is suggesting is that there be a "master database" website where all authors post their query's / opening chapters and possibly use tags or something to make it easier to find? Then agents go to check it and see if they like said query? Then, if agent liked what they saw, they'd reach out to said author?

Speaking as an author, not agent, I would be weary of such a system. As @Cyia mentioned, I'd be concerned about who has access to my work - who is being given access to my query and pages? Can AI see it? Do I have to pay to put my work on said site / make it more visible (otherwise how is this independent site making money, I would ask)?

A second worry I'd have is becoming prey to scammers who browse the site and make offers on my MS. Or, alternatively, getting an offer with a legit agent whom I personally would not have queried because I thought we were a bad fit. The nice thing about querying (has anyone ever said "nice thing about querying" before?) is that I have control over who sees my pages. Presumably, if I've queried an agent, it's because I have reasonable confidence they are a legitimate and I that would want them to rep my story.

Then, lastly, there is the issue of my story not being visible to the right agents. If I tag my query incorrectly, interested agents could completely pass over it? How do I make my query visible over the (probably) hundreds of thousands hanging out there?

Sure, putting my work on a website and being done with it might be easier, but I don't think it would be better nor do I think it would increase my chances of being noticed.

 

[Unimportant]

I don't understand why no one has done this already.

Oh, they have done this. They continue to do this. And every single time, it's with the same intent and the same business model: to scam authors out of their money.

 

[CaoPaux]

We've even got a name for them: YADS - Yet Another Display Site. You can check out the ones we've discussed in BR&BC here.

 

[rosepetal720]

Well, shoot. I'm glad I asked for advice. Sounds like I need to throw that idea away!

 

[Unimportant]

Well, shoot. I'm glad I asked for advice. Sounds like I need to throw that idea away!

I don't want to drive traffic to a site I think is a scam, so I won't link to it, but you can look up S T O R Y W I S E dot A I without the google-foiling spaces as an example of one I'd run a mile from.

Publishers and agents get more than enough submissions, and use the slush pile to train their interns and new assistants. They don't need an even bigger slush pile to go through on top of that. And authors don't need to be uploading manuscripts to a website that can then get paid to feed those mss into LLMs.

 

[Jennifer_Laughran]

It's been said already, so not trying to beat a dead horse, but as an agent:

-- uh, no thank you, I got enough problems!

 

[Brigid Barry]

It's been said already, so not trying to beat a dead horse, but as an agent:

-- uh, no thank you, I got enough problems!

99 problems but queries ain't one?