Archived Editorial for 06/04/06

Tales of Finding a Literary Agent
by Rebecca Brown

As I promised in The Shunned Book Synopsis, here is what I've gleaned about finding an agent to represent you to the publishing industry.

A response from a proposal enquiry I sent out:
‘First of all, let me apologize for the delay in responding to your very enthusiastic e-mail -- this was “crisis week” which means I was putting out a lot of fires that needed my undivided attention. [Ed: shows that agents are real people too.]
     Second, it was nice to hear from you because I'm familiar with your Web site & enjoy it a lot. You've also been wonderfully supportive of [one of my authors], which I greatly appreciate. [Ed: shows this agent took the time to familiarize her/himself with my current work. Greatly appreciated!]
     I really took some time to think through the concept of the book you're developing. I recognize that its objective is to allow children of aging parents to focus some of their attention on their parents as people -- what their interests & achievements are/have been, their family stories, etc. -- rather than solely dealing with the health issues or caretaking. It's a very noble objective.[Ed: cites an understanding of my proposal & offers a kindness too.]
     However, what makes this project not the best fit for me, is that:
  1) we already represent authors who have written on the subject of taking care of parents
  2) I've seen many, many proposals for books of this nature, none of which have ever made it to bookshelves
  3) that I think there are already a variety of somewhat similar books that you would be competing against & that would impact publisher & bookseller interest
  and 4) I feel, personally, a bit of discomfort with the topic. [Ed: lists some things I should have known, or researched!]
     Most importantly, I feel that when a writer works with an agent (& a publisher, too) that they all share the same enthusiasm or mindset about the book they are working on together. & as I feel uncertain about my ability to place this & don't feel I'm the right person for this particular topic, I feel your needs would best be served by another agent. I wish I could pass this to my colleague, but he's the one who represented the similar book I mentioned. [Ed: an insight into the relationship between author & agent, brings into focus this agent's ability to represent the subject & then offers a reasonable reason why the agency cannot handle it.]
     Anyway, thanks for sharing this with me & good luck with it!’

I also asked some authors I know who are published by the Big Guns for their input, & here they are:

Long-haired Writer from Wisconsin
by
Michael Perry (www.sneezingcow.com)
Author of Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time & Off Main Street: Barnstormers, Prophets & Gatemouth's Gator & soon-to-be-published Truck: A Love Story
     “I got lucky. It's that simple. I didn't find an agent, she found me. I started freelancing in the late 1980s. Everything from writing newsletter blurbs to typing up copy for used car radio commercials. Whatever it took.
     I had a brief association with an agent in the early 1990s that could be charitably characterized as the classic "learning experience." After paying her retainer & being underwhelmed with her efforts (turned out she was no more of an "insider" than I, & furthermore, submitted at half the pace) I expressed my dissatisfaction. She replied by threatening to sue me for breach of contract. This struck me as uncharitable. Thankfully, one of my pay-the-rent jobs involved writing customer service letters to disgruntled attorneys, & I was able to compose a faux legalese beauty that convinced her to turn me loose & leave me alone.
     I just kept writing, cranking things out, pitching stuff on my own & self-publishing several books to sell from the car trunk.
     In the late 1990s I wrote a magazine profile of a novelist. The piece got killed, but unbeknownst to me the novelist recommended his agent track down "this long-haired writer from Wisconsin." & so she did. A call (or email, I don't remember) out of the blue one day. My life didn't change overnight but the pace & quality of gigs definitely picked up.
     Now my long hair is long gone, but my agent remains. I am overwhelmed & grateful that she's out there pitching for me. I don't call her unless there's business to be done, but I keep her picture taped to the wall by my desk. I have drawn in a little thought balloon that says, "I wonder if Michael Perry is writing?"”

“Writers should be read and not seen. Rarely are they a winsome sight.” -- Edna Thurber

An anonymous editorial assistant
by
Irene Zabytko
     For my first book, The Sky Unwashed, I didn't have a literary agent. I did have a friend at the newspaper where I freelanced at the time who suggested I send on my query & sample chapters to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. I did, & as usual didn't expect anything positive to happen (after many rejections, I was both emotionally cautious & deliberately numb by then).
     Some blessed anonymous editorial assistant saw my work & instead of banishing it to the slush pile to join the other orphaned-without-an-agent manuscripts, actually read it & suggested it to the editor who also actually read it.
     I was asked to submit the rest of the book, & after several months a contract followed. What also followed was my agent. She saw my book listed in Publishers' Weekly as “unagented” & since she liked it (& we liked each other) she became my agent after contacting me. She's still my agent & was responsible for negotiating the terms of my second book, When Luba Leaves Home. Now, I'm anticipating that she will continue to do her diplomatic magic for my next book when I finally finish writing it (soon, soon) & relinquish it to her capable hands & sharp mind.

“I think I've only spent about ten percent of my energies on writing. The other ninety percent went to keeping my head above water.” Katherine Anne Porter, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

I would have been a very old man
by
Michael Curtis Ford (www.michaelcurtisford.com)
Author of
The Sword of Attila, The Last King, Gods and Legions & The Ten Thousand
     Rebecca asked me for a short & pithy anecdote on finding an agent, & unbeknownst to her, I fear she struck a nerve. “Short & pithy” it's not -- but I hope my experience will prove useful to other writers (& agents who might be reading this!).
     Sooner or later, all authors learn that finding a competent agent is by far the hardest part of getting published, & much of that is due to the bad advice being thrown around -- especially by agents!
     The most egregious example you often hear is “Never send more than one query letter at a time. Wait for the agent's response, and then send out the next.”
     Now I ask you -- if you're unemployed & seeking a job, do you fill out one application, wait for the callback, suffer through the interviews & then -- only after you're rejected -- fill out another application? Of course not.
     The same principle applies when seeking an agent, & even more so, since it's YOU, the writer, who is the “employer,” & the agent the job seeker.
     When I began thinking about agents, I purchased one of those “writer's guides to agents” available in every large bookstore -- a big book that's essentially a data base of hundreds of agents sorted by category: Western fiction, mysteries, chick lit, historical, romance, etc. I went through the list & identified the agents who seemed to fit my category, & then carefully composed a query letter & sent it out -- to 120 agents on the same day. To keep costs down, I chose only those agents who requested merely a letter for the initial contact, & no actual writing samples.
     Not a single agent responded immediately. After a couple of weeks, responses began to trickle in, 80% of them rejection letters, most saying they were not accepting new clients. The remainder expressed cautious interest in my query, & asked for a writing sample, which I promptly sent.
     Most of those then rejected, though a few requested more extensive samples. Eventually, after several months of give-&-take, I received two or three offers, on which I was able to do internet research & ultimately accept the agent I felt most trustworthy.
     But here's the key point: An entire year after my mailing, I was STILL receiving initial responses from agents who'd finally got around to reading my query. & surprisingly (or perhaps not...), two of them who requested samples were extremely offended when I told them I'd already signed with another agent. “Common courtesy!” they huffed. “You sent out multiple queries. It's just not done that way!” They seemed completely oblivious to the fact that, had I taken their approach, I would have been a very old man before finally getting accepted.
     The moral is, remember who's the “boss” -- you! -- & who the seeker. It's a lesson that will serve a writer in good stead throughout his or her career.

“God have mercy on the sinner
Who must write with no dinner,
No gravy & no grub,
No pewter & no pub.
No belly & no bowels,
Only consonants & vowels.” John Crowe Ransom

How to Find a Literary Agent in Five Years or Less
by
Lynn Lott (www.posdis.org)
Author of Pup Parenting, Madame Dora's Fortune-Telling Cards, Seven Steps on the Writer's Path, Do-It-Yourself Therapy, & many more!
     1.  Read all the books available on “How to Find a Literary Agent.” Follow the advice to the letter. Send out hundreds of letters. Wait, wait, wait. Rejoice when you get a letter of rejection instead of nothing. Wait some more.
     2.  Go to a writer's conference. Meet the guest literary agent. Bring a lot of good California wine with you. Hang out, drink wine, shoot the breeze & casually mention you have a book in the works. Get an invitation to send a proposal to the agent. Get an agent. Wait, wait, wait. Rejoice when you get a letter of rejection instead of nothing. Wait some more. Get a letter from the agent saying that you are no longer being represented.
     3.  Submit a book proposal un-agented. Watch it go all the way to the publisher after a glowing report from the editorial review board. Find out the publisher turns the book down. Get a call from the acquisitions editor recommending her agent to you, because she wants your book published. Call the agent. Send in a proposal. Wait, wait, wait. Make calls. Wait, wait, wait. The agent finds a publisher. Wait, wait, wait. You long for information. You complain. Wait, wait, wait.
     4.  Complain a lot to friends about how difficult it is to make contact with your agent & how it is driving you insane. Eventually, receive a phone call from a psychic who has done your chart & her husband's agent's chart. She says the two of you are a perfect match (the agent, not her husband). Email the agent & explain that you are star-crossed lovers who are destined to walk hand in hand through the publishing world, (according to the psychic.) Send a list of projects you'd like to work on & one about dogs that you are sick of working on because it's constantly being rejected. Rejoice when the agent says, “I'll take the book about dogs. It's a winner.” Live happily ever after.
     Send this article to 10 frustrated authors to inspire them to wait, wait, wait!

Thank you Mike, Irene, Mickey, & Lynn -- greatly appreciated -- your fierce & fond Editor.

Rebecca