One of the questions writers get asked quite a bit (besides if we want to write your story, because you have a great idea for a book that you don’t think you’ll ever write) is “How do I get my book in front of an agent or editor?”
We have all been there. There’s that magical early stage of being a writer. You’ve written a manuscript. A whole 350 or more page complete beginning-middle-end honest-to-goodness manuscript. Wow! Now what? Give yourself a hand. You have to realize how many people want to do that and never get close. They stop at three chapters. Or maybe at one word. Or maybe they don’t even get past the formation of an idea in their heads (and that’s when they give published authors the old shout out– do you want to write my story? No, thank you, we do not. We have lots of ideas of our own. But thanks again. Very sweet of you to offer).
Now that you have a full manuscript, presumably proofread and self-edited and polished to perfection, what do you do? You think about your target audience and where you would see that book on shelves (in the reference section? romance? mystery?). Don’t say it’s kind of a romance and a mystery with a horror twist. Decide. You have to know what you’re selling and where it fits in the market before you can convince others to get on board with you. But it’s unique! It doesn’t fit anywhere! That’s what makes it special! Or, quite possibly, that’s what makes it self-published because you can’t figure out what to do with it, and no one else will do it for you. But presuming you do know that it’s a Regency-set historical romance, or a cozy mystery, or whatever. Let’s move on.
You’re ready to query agents, or editors, but I recommend you start with agents. You need to write a letter describing what you’ve written and who you are, possibly adding what makes you uniquely qualified to write such a book, or any writing credentials. You can find some examples of very effective query letters online. Better yet, you can find great tips of What Not to Do from the agents themselves. Many of them have very helpful blogs. Two of my favorites?
Jessica Faust of Bookends LLC.
Janet Reid, Query Shark. Janet is one of the many fine agents at FinePrint Literary Management. I’m represented by Stephany Evans at FinePrint.
Which brings me to the next point. How do you know which agents to query? Ask around. Find out who represents your favorite authors. A lot of times, authors will thank their agents or editors in their acknowledgements. You can find quite a bit of information just by Googling. (I love Google!). So go forth and query! Don’t be scared. And best wishes.
Do you want to write? Have you written a full manuscript? Sent out any query letters or emails? Or maybe you have a really great rejection story? I love hearing those! Do tell. (Don’t worry– we all have them. Well, maybe not Julia London, but most of us have them). Any questions about querying? Ask away!
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m glad to know I am in the same boat with Stephen King on the rejection letters. However, I will keep sending.
Okay, I’ll talk. I never made to a rejection letter. I wrote to page 100 and gave up. I made a mistake and let someone critique them. It wasn’t pretty – the critique I mean. So I quit. I’m a quitter. There, I said it.
Leslie, you are not a quitter. You’re a busy woman who got stuck with a bad critique. People can be mean. And they can be wrong! It took me a long time to find a critique partner I trusted. I haven’t had one for years, but we were well matched and really helped bring out the best in each other. I’ve critiqued with some who didn’t mesh with me at all. And yes, some mean ones. You might want to give it another go.
I agree with what Sherri said, Leslie–you might want to give it another try.
I knew it! You all get so quiet when we talk shop. I should have broken ranks and revealed what all the stars got in their Oscar swag bags, like I wanted to. Now that’s the stuff that gets you talking.
I have 2 historical romance manuscripts and 1 contemporary manuscript completed. While I am polishing I am also took a class on query writing. I think I have an okay query letter, but I do need to polish it a bit before I send it out. I am currently taking an online Synopsis Writing class, but I am behind on the home work. The intimidation factor is getting to me. So far no rejections because I haven’t sent my query out, but I am sure I have a few before I have an empire like Julia London’s.
I still get intimidated. I struggle with synopses. And wouldn’t we all love to be Julia Freaking London? Taking classes is a very wise move, though. Maybe follow Kathleen’s advice and just send the query out to a few agents to get feedback. You can get stuck in the rut of polishing, polishing, and never feeling like it’s perfect (been there!).
Oooh, I hate the synopsis. And I’ve never had an editor that wanted more than a couple of pages at most. Please. I can’t write my name in a couple of pages. I am a NOVELIST. It takes me FOUR HUNDRED PAGES to figure out what the story is.
I tell my ed that my synopsis are a work of fiction. She doesn’t believe me.
I think you should try sending a couple out to people that aren’t going to stress you out. It’s a lot easier once the first rejection comes back.
Great! My smoke and mirrors trick is working! Muwahahahaha
Mostly it’s just fun to add the freaking to your name.
I love hearing about those gazillion rejection stories, and I’m thinking, “What the heck were the eds thinking? It’s Stephen King!!!” But I guess, it was mainly the genre (horror) not the quality of his writing. I love his stuff and always have.
I have two query letter tips. One, I sent off my first query letters to a couple of my Tier C agents because if my letter sucked, I wanted to know it before I sent it to the agent that I really wanted. Also, I had a great contest quote from my manuscript, and I asked the published author permission to use the quote (she had signed her name to the judging form) in my query. I sent her a copy of the letter with her quote, and she agreed, and it went a long way toward getting me signed with the agent that I wanted.
Good advice, Kathleen.
I love to hear about Stephen King’s 64 rejections before he got to the one who said yes (who was actually my first agent, Elaine Koster, when she was an editor). Or the famous author who actually wallpapered his office with his early rejection letters, but I forget who it was. Maybe Nicholas Sparks (or is that wishful thinking?).
I don’t have any interesting rejection letters. I do have a folder of the early ones somewhere in a box in my attic. I really loved the form rejections. Or the ones where the agent just wrote “not for me, thanks” on my own letter and sent it back to me. I’m sure it was just a time-saving measure, but ouch. Thank goodness for email queries. Email rejections are easier to delete and forget. Ah, but, no wallpapering an office with them.