This photo of the decidedly undaunting St. Martin’s slush pile (the bottom shelf), which Frances Dinklespiel posted about on her wonderful blog, Ghost Word, got me thinking. Of all the author guest posts on 1st Books, only one has used the term “slush.” But I certainly came up from the slush pile, and I expect many of the authors who have guest posted for me have as well.
This St. Martin’s photo isn’t the room packed with manuscripts many of us imagine – or that I used to imagine, anyway. Perhaps that’s in part because, as Frances writes, someone has just been through it. I suspect it’s also in part because most writers approach the publishing world through agents these days.
So I thought I’d throw in my two cents about how to get an agent:
1. Write the best book you can;
2. Write the most intriguing one page query letter you can;
3. Make a list of agents you think might be interested; and
4. Send, and send, and send!
For making that agent list, I recommend making a list of authors you admire (preferably ones who write books something like yours), and then doing internet searches with each author name and the word “agent.” This will usually turn up each author’s agent. If you can’t find the agent’s website, a quick check at aaronline.org will generally get you their contact information.
When you start getting rejections – and we all do – take a look at your query letter and your manuscript again, and try to make them better, and send again.
Losing faith? Some of the posts here that tell inspiring stories of authors getting picked up by agents after many, many rejections include Medical School Takes a Long Time, Too, by Kirsten Menger Anderson (who spent over a year finding an agent for a novel that is now a finalist for the Northern California Book Award); The 46th Time is the Charm; and my personal favorite – and the one that uses the S-word: bestselling author Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s incredibly inspiring A 136-Rejection Overnight Success.
Really, honestly and truly, you do not need to have a connection to land an agent. It’s nice to have writer-pals for a lot of reasons, including for sharing critique and support like I do with my own writing gang, and like the friends in The Wednesday Sisters do when they form their writing group.
But every hardworking agent out there dreams of discovering the world’s next great writer. And if you were an agent, wouldn’t you think discovering a writer yourself through your slush pile would be more satisfying than having someone else find them and recommend them to you? – Meg
