On Agents

Finding a good literary agent – which is generally the first step to getting published with a traditional publisher – can be like finding any good relationship: complicated!

Just as every aspiring author is hoping to meet the perfect agent, though, every reputable literary agent is hoping to discover the next great American author. You don’t need connections (with rare exceptions). You just need to write a really good book and present it well (definitely two different things).

But agents are also dealing with unbelievable volumes of submissions, and hoping to get out to dinner with a date or to their kids’ soccer games. So you need to catch an agent’s interest and keep it at every turn – in a way that is PROFESSIONAL, not hokey or wacky or will-this-guy-stalk-me-ish.

The Goal

The Goal: Send as little as possible to lure an agent into asking for more. The minute you move from the to-be-gotten-through pile to the I-asked-to-see-this-so-maybe-its-good pile, the presumption changes. They’ve ASKED to see your work.

(If you want to self-publish, there is a wonderful summary of the options in The New York Times “Tool Kit”: The Joys and Hazards of Self-Publishing on the Web, by Alan Finder.)

The Overview

Here’s an overview of what you need to put together to query an agent:

• A Query Letter/Email (with hook, bio, why you, and thank you very much)
• A Synopsis (or maybe not)
• Manuscript Pages (or, again, maybe not)

I’ll also address here how you put together a list of which agents to query, how many Submissions/how often (and the importance of persistence), what to do when an agent asks for pages, the follow-up, and a few Bewares (aka Run the Other Way If…).

The Query

Your query is your opening salvo, the sole purpose of which is to entice an agent to want to read your pages. You want to make it as enticing and as short as possible. And think of this as a literary first date: brush your hair and wear clean clothes.

THE HELLO

• If by mail, “Dear Annie Agent or Dear Ms Agent:” (a colon is the proper punctuation here because this is a business letter)
• If by email, we’ve all gotten more casual, and “Hi, Agent,” is sometimes used
• Do address a specific agent, and spell the name correctly
• Don’t include anything between the greeting and the hook

THE HOOK AND THE BOOK DESCRIPTION

• Start with one intriguing sentence. Consider a question to invite the reader in, or the first line of your book if it’s a fantastic opening.
• Make the entire description like the shortest possible description that might go on the back of your paperback – not more than two paragraphs.
• Include the title of your book!
• Resist the urge to tell the whole story. If you do, what’s left in it for them?
• Remember, this is a marketing tool. General Motors does not sell a car by saying it’s brown and has wheels.

Like a good novel, a good hook generally gets better with a lot of thought. A query can go through 20 drafts or more. It’s a pain, but it’s necessary pain.

THE BIO

• Again, be short and to the point.
• If you have publishing credits, trot them out. If you don’t, try to get one or two. I once heard an agent say if a writer can’t get published in his or her local paper, she’ll approaches that query with great doubt.
• If there is a reason you are in a particularly good position to write this book, trot that out. (Are you a prosecutor writing a legal thriller, a doctor writing a medical one, a mother writing a book about motherhood?)
• State your education, writing or otherwise, and career.

WHY I’M QUERYING YOU, MR. OR MS. AGENT

If you have chosen this agent because they represent someone whose work you admire (you should–more on this below), say so in one line on the letter: “I am querying you because I understand you represent [author name], who writes the kind of novel I aspire to write.”

Note the “aspire to.” Do not say “I think I am the second coming of Steven King.”

THE THANK YOU AND SIGNATURE

“I hope you enjoy the opening of [Name of Your Novel], and thank you for considering my work.” Or “Thank you for considering my work. I look forward to hearing from you.” [Confident. Unapologetic. Nice. Not arrogant. Professional.]

Best,
Your Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number

A FEW NOTES ON FORMAT

Think of this as a literary date; brush your hair and wear clean clothes.

• (Repeat) As short as possible.
• Absolutely pristine – no typos!
• DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION: EMAIL AND PHONE NUMBER!
• If you’re submitting by mail, use nice letterhead and include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

So Now You Have a Draft of Your Query Letter

Just a draft, though. You know you can make it better. Each time you send it out, try to make it better. Time may not heal all wounds, but it does allow us to see our work with a fresher eye.