First you write. If you survive the demons of self-doubt, the soundtrack of self-consciousness and actually complete a book, play, screenplay, piece of non-fiction or collection of poetry, it's time to find a publisher. Your best bet? Find an agent first. Here's how...
Well, I did it.I snagged an agent. After finishing a novel, okay FOUR of them, in between marriages, in between drafts (and drafts and endlessly more drafts) after revisions based on the suggestions of one kind-hearted kid agent in William Morris’s East Coast mailroom (upon whose every word I hung) and those I took as gospel after inhaling tome after tome on the subject. But it was only after I had come up with what I crafted specifically for a market so it would not be “too soft” or “not convincingly compelling enough ” or a thousand other synonyms for “not right at this point in time”…I picked a genre, read as much as I could of the best of that genre and then with a bank-tight outline, I cranked out a book. That was the TOUGHEST lesson to learn. So that’s where I’ll start my suggestions for success. No promises…who knows whether my newly acquired agent (the best holiday gift I’ve ever gotten) will be able to make a publisher fall in love with my prose. But at least I can tell you what I did to get an agent and a contract in the mail, with her legally binding promise to try. But for starters for this rookie, getting a live agent to bite will hold me for a while.. (When he delivered the contract, I kissed the mailman!)
Study the market you’re after. It’s exactly like medicine, when specialists began to emerge a few decades ago and make news and noise as if Hippocrates himself had come back to announce the dawning of this new era of narrow-casted medicine...Realize that that’s very much like what’s happening in publishing if you want to see your words, thoughts, opinions, longings, wordplay and all-around brilliance between two covers at your local Borders or Barnes& Noble, so spend a day – many hours – on the floor in front of the shelves and tables and especially around the “ highlighted books, stacked or stashed thirty high or thick on a table or a book. Take a hint. This is where the market lives right now, Where does your book fit in? Is it a World War II page-turner? A treatise on the Bush administration’s twists and turns? Chick lit? Spiritual growth? A contemporary women’s mainstream beach read? A literary work worthy of back-cover words from Philip Roth? A compelling tell-all memoir? A guide to traveling in Ecuador? Unlike Hollywood, , where a pitch could be “It’s ‘Pretty Woman” meets “Notes On A Scandal” (okay that may be a bit extreme…) but find the genre. Know where your fits in and read the best and best-selling of the genre you’ve written in,, cover-to-cover and figure out what you’ve got, what’s got to change. Then get back to your computer. This will make your entry into the highly competitive (you knew that part, right?) world of publishing extraordinarily easier and most importantly, more highly targeted.
I broke some rules; I invented some of my own; and I followed others to-the-letter. As an advertising copywriter for twenty years, I did not follow the advice so many “how-to-attract-an -agent” books practically mandate, when it came to writing the query. THE QUERY is your place to make your work sparkle; a straightforward, short letter to most agents may work for some people but my direct response copywriting experience proved one thing: strut your stuff! So while most books suggest direct and straightforward query letters that describe your project. My winning query began with an invitation to “meet” my novel’s main character. Read the blurb on the left inside opening flap of books in your genre and try to “sell” your book, as if you had been asked to write the copy on your published book. Hey, it worked for me!
Agents do not consider writers “pests.” Sure, hugely successful agents are likely not going to seek queries about a book by an unpublished author. But as in any business, agents would have no income if they have no authors’ products to sell. So remember to look for those agencies who are open to receiving unsolicited queries.
The rules agents won’t let you break: how to submit. Writers Digest Books publishes an agent-by-agent guide to finding the best representative for your literary masterpiece. Lists, insider tips and interviews with agents, information about conferences, agent preferences and much more….just google “literary agents” and reel the dizzying information in.
Typos, grammatical errors, an unprofessional approach will land you in the circular file. Another “do not break this rule” rule.
Some agents are willing to accept email inquiries. Some are found in a comprehensive google search; others may take a click over to an agent’s website. The website will spell out submission guidelines. This is definitely how an agent wants to review a query. What’s pretty cool about the Internet and looking for an agent is that turn-around time from some agents may be incredibly quick. The sooner you know, the better you’ll be able to keep making decisions about where to send your work. Most agents, btw, insist that email queries include NO attachments; a fact that has convinced me that attachments are often hard to open. You want everything to go smoothly; follow this rule too.
Craft your query as if your future depended on it. The other night, slumming it, I caught Patrick Dempsey, yes Dr. McDreamy, graciously accepting a”People’s Choice” Award. He said something that struck me as quite beautiful, referring to his young career in teen flicks and this latest opportunity “Grey’s Anatomy’s” creator Shonda Rhimes afforded him. I don’t remember his exact words, but they were something to the effect of “Thank you for second chances…and thank you, Shonda Rhimes, for creating Dr. McDreamy. It has changed my life.” I thought it was a lovely testament to believing in yourself even when you are inches from giving up. And while that may have been a long stretch to make this point: where you’re in your forties like me and finally getting an agent or a comeback kid like Mr. Dempsey, pour your heart into your query. IT JUST MIGHT CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
Your query should: Excite with well-chosen words, phrases… Intrigue with your personality, which should shine through …and most of all, generate enough buzz about YOUR book, even as it simply describes your plot and characters…to make an agent want MORE.
When an agent responds to your killer query, he or she will ask for some variation on the following:
A synopsis, which summarizes the plot and further details the characters…and either the first few chapters of your book. PROOFREAD what you send at this point and even have a friend/loved one read it over, to catch anything you’ve possibly missed.
Sure, the road is a long one, and next to acting, getting a book pubished is a long shot. But who knows? You may have genius or good timing or a combinationg of having the right idea at the right time. Don’t ignore the cultural zeitgeist; pick up issues of “Publisher’s Weekly” at the library, surf the web, join a writer’s group, for support for gossip or hard, cold facts and whenever it’s the least bit appropriate, drop the fact that you’re looking for an agent. Your third-grader’s teacher’s wife may be one. Keep at it…keep sharp and focused and never lose your confidence…and who knows?
Maybe one of these days, you’ll be kissing the mailman!
