This is pt 1 of 3 of my personal story of getting an agent and ultimately a publisher. I try not to shade the truth and hope it doesn't discourage anyone. It is the truth and every writer should know the truth.
It's
been almost a year since we started our discussion on writing and the business
of publishing. We have covered a lot of
ground in that time. Personally, I like
to focus on the writing aspect more than the business. Elmore Leonard used to say, "If you
write a good book, someone will buy it."
I believe that is true to a degree, but after talking to hundreds of
unpublished authors, I know that it is not universally correct. That is why today were going to start a
conversation about how to find an agent.
I’m
occasionally approached by unpublished authors who ask for help in obtaining an
agent. This is a tricky situation. I want to read at least part of the
manuscript before I can, in good faith, recommend it to an agent. The Catch-22 is that, if you don't know the
writer personally and pretty well, it's not a good idea to accept unpublished
manuscripts. One of the reasons is
legal, so they can't claim that you stole any ideas from them, the other is
practical; if you're constantly reading other people's manuscripts you don't
have time to write the ones that keep a roof over your head. I can't stress enough what an awkward
situation this is for most authors who truly want to help aspiring writers.
The
first step for a novel is to have a completed manuscript. Not an idea, not a partial manuscript, not
even a rough draft. But a well thought
out, well written, properly formatted manuscript. I understand that content, including dialogue
and plotting are completely subjective, but there are certain criteria that
must be met in the general marketplace.
That includes a reasonable length (which I would say is between 75,000
and 120,000 words), properly formatted by industry standards, which can be
found with the minimum amount of research on the Internet, an opening that
grabs the reader's attention, whether it is by action, interesting setting,
compelling characters or just flat out elegant writing, and a query letter that
succinctly explains who you are, why your background is important to the book,
a brief synopsis of the book and your contact information.
Over
the course of the next few weeks we’ll discuss each of these elements and bring
in help from other published authors as well.
For now, I will tell you my own story on the road to finding an agent
and then publication.
In
the mid-1990s (yes you read that correctly, it was about twenty years ago), I
started to shop my first novel to agents.
Back then that required the exchange of U.S. Postal Service delivered letters
and mailing printed out manuscripts. It
was my first novel, still unpublished, about a group of DEA agents trying to
make a case. I started working on the
novel on June 10, 1989. A little more
than two weeks before the birth of my first child. I had just purchased a Tandy 1000, which was
in 8086 processor and had no hard drive in ran at a whopping 8 mhz.. I had no idea what I was doing, I just wanted
to write a novel that was more realistic than what I was reading at the
time. The result showed me why there
weren't more realistic novels on the market.
That is why it took more than five years before I had the manuscript to
the point that it could be shown to agents.
I give you all this background to show you it has never been easy to
break into publishing.
I
would go to the library, because for the most part this was pre-Internet, and
would read Writers Market as well as
other books related to finding an agent.
I developed several versions of a query letter and a list of potential
agents who were interested in crime novels.
I devised a method of printing up several packets to go out to agents one
after another, as soon as one of them declined further interest. It was both a fatalistic view and a pragmatic
one. In some ways it was soul
crushing. Finally, I got interest enough
to start sending out the actual manuscript.
Time
after time, over the course of several years, I would spend the money to print
out the manuscript at the local Kinko's, the same one I use now on the rare
occasion I have to print out a manuscript, and I would mail it invariably to an
agent in New York. Several weeks to several
months later I would receive the manuscript back with a pleasant, but firm
letter of rejection. I can still
remember my stomach fluttering when I would open the mailbox. It was brutal. It hurt as much as any punch I have ever
taken. Emotionally, it scarred me. I have recovered, but I still remember the
pain acutely. Every writer does. Rejection is no fun.
I
seem to be droning on, but there's a lot to say on the subject, so like any
thriller writer, I'm going to leave you at this point and hope you pick up
again next Thursday when I continue this tale of woe and redemption.
Oh my gosh, you make me laugh. I too started with a Tandy. And yes, to the mail and SASEs. And yes, to waiting and waiting and oh joy, receiving an actual response from an agent. When I did get several requests that ultimately resulted in acquiring my current agent, I discovered I had filed three letters requesting more in my rejected file folder, I'd become so accustomed to rejections.
ReplyDeleteThanks, James O. I'm going through this process at the moment and the long long long wait IS frustrating. You give me hope. Sort of.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun to write. I only broke it up into three segments so I didn't have to write more before Thanksgiving. It is all the truth. No exaggeration.
ReplyDeletefrom Jacqueline: Thanks for this post, Jim. If I had loads of space, I would tell you my little tale, in which everything went pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI was in sales before I became a writer, and I never believed that submitting a manuscript to agents was anything but a numbers game. I bought Jeff Herman's Guide (to editors/publishers/agents, maybe not in that order) as it was the best for really finding out about agents and what they were interested in. From that I started "profiling" and pulled out 30 names - 10 each in my A, B and C group. I also went along to bookstores and read the Acknowledgments page of books I liked, just to see who liked their agents enough to thank them in print. I sent out 10 proposals to my A group of agents, hoping for a hit - I was recovering from a really bad riding accident, had given up my job and I was seriously worried about money! I don't think I could have afforded to send out proposals to the B group! Luckily, I got three hits with the first mailing, so I was able to take my time in making a decision - and I have been with the same agent since then. My advice is not to listen to anyone who advises you to only send one proposal at a time - heck, you've got to look after yourself - send out as many as you can and then send out more - but study the agents, see your book fitting in with their stable of authors/publications.