Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
For those of you who have tried to gain an agent’s attention but not succeeded, this blog’s for you.
Our agency receives thousands of queries every year, which means we have to say no to thousands of perfectly good writers as well as a fair portion of manuscripts that are, to be blunt, dreadful.
But let’s talk about the other side of the coin. Not the number of people we have to choose not to represent but those we select as our clients. What makes us say yes and hum a few bars of “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No”?
A strong sense of what makes a book idea compelling.
Ever sit next to someone at church who is tone deaf but utterly enthusiastic about 
belting out the hymn or chorus? Writers can be tone deaf as well. By that I mean some writers have no sense of what readers will buy. So they come up with idea after idea that just isn’t the right tune sung in the right way. As an agent, I’m looking for writers who can sing on key time after time. They have the ability to write about a topic in such a way that a reader wants to rush out to buy the book.
An understanding of what makes you unique in the marketplace.
If you’re writing romantic suspense, you are so not alone in that venture. What makes your work stand out from all the rest? As I read queries, I’m looking for what makes sense for this writer to be producing. If you have access to an investigator who specializes in gambling fraud, and you place your story at a casino run by an Indian tribe, you have a unique angle to write from.
Personality match-up.
One of the aspects of agenting that I love is that I get to work with the people I want to work with. How cool is that? So when I consider representing someone, I want to not only be enthusiastic about the writing but also about the person. When I talk about a project to an editor, I don’t discuss just the project; I sell the writer more than the project. So remember that if you present yourself in an overbearing way to an agent, that agent isn’t going to fall to her knees and beg you to be her client. Nor is an agent likely to find a writer who asks fifty questions for every answer given a good candidate to represent. We’ve learned that such individuals will take up 80 percent of our time but not make 80 percent of our income–it just never turns out that way. Not that you shouldn’t ask questions of a potential agent, but the person who worries an issue to death at the outset of the relationship generally is showing a lack of trust in the agent. And the author-agent relationship only works if you trust each other. I’m looking for writers I’m sympatico with.
Realistic about the major role marketing and publicity play in an author’s life.
I remember reading a quote from an editor in the 1950s that an author should be heard and not seen. In other words, you should “hear” the author through his writing, with the author as a sort of Wizard of Oz, working the great mechanism of his manuscript but never visible. Today, as you so well know, publishers want authors who are heard and seen. The author needs to be prepared to make a big marketing “fuss” when her title is released. I’m looking for clients who have applied themselves to building an e-mail list, a plan for promoting their books, and a significant online presence.
Stellar writing.
Remember the Pillsbury slogan, “Nothing says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven”? Well, “Nothing says represent me like irresistible writing.” Most agents are suckers for good writing. Sometimes I’ll take on a person based on the writing–and the proviso that he or she will spend as long as necessary building that required platform before I pitch any projects to an editor. But let the knowledge of our love of strong writing encourage you–beyond words.
What part of this winning equation drives you crazy? What part do you relish?
TWEETABLES
What makes a lit. agent say yes to a writer? Click to tweet.
5 qualities every lit. agent looks for in a writer. Click to tweet.
Image courtesy of nenetus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Honest and encouraging! Thank you. I’m currently waiting to hear back about a book proposal, so this is a wonderful look into the backside of the industry. Blessings Janet.
Great elucidation of how the process works, and why. Thank you for this, Janet.
* For me, reading this is a “the truth hurts, but it also sets you free” experience, for I do none of these well. Writing style is dated and ideas are derivative, personality’s so reserved that self-promotion simply isn’t cricket. If I won a Pulitzer I would never be able to put that information on my website. It’s just NOT done.
* But I’ll keep writing, and perhaps my day in the sun will arrive. But in any case, the sun will rise tomorrow, and that is boon and blessing enough.
* Off topic – many thanks to all who prayed for my father-in-law, Dick Schmeisser, after his massive stroke on July 3. The doctors have been in close attendance, and they have a word for what they have seen –
* MIRACLE. He’s back; there’s no need to bring in memory aids, because he has covered three months of ‘optimistic’ recovery in two days. There is still work to do, but he has been restored to a family that thought him lost.
* I have carried messages from the dying; but it’s ever only one message, really. “Tell her I love her.”
* Dick Schmeisser came back from the shadows to deliver that message himself. I stand in awe of his strength, and of God’s grace.
Your off-topic update, Andrew, is awesome news. Go God!
Thanks for sharing, Andrew. God’s grace is amazing!
Andrew, I’m so thankful to hear that good news! Something similar happened to my grandfather years ago … he ended up recovering miraculously. The only problem he had after months had passed was that his foot was heavy on the gas pedal. 🙂
Andrew, this is the best news I’ve heard in DAYS!!
That is great news. Glad, glad glad. Praises.
Wonderful! Thank you for reminding us that miracles do happen.
Such awesome news, Andrew. Praise God!
excellent news!!!
Janet, as I read this I truly marvel that I’m fortunate enough to be represented by a great agent who is part of such a well-respected agency. I’m not sure I display each of those qualities, but you can believe I’m going to try even harder in the future to demonstrate them. Thanks for this post.
We feel fortunate to have you as a client, Richard.
This is so helpful! Thank you from sharing.
What drives me crazy? Balancing writing the book with building the platform. I work on platform, and it slows progress on the book. I get deep into the book and forget the platform.
* I do both and skimp on my quiet time with God. “This can’t be right,” I pray.
* Christ balanced ministry and meditation, people and prayer. “Lord, give me the mind of Christ.”
I keep having to rediscover it’s all in how I structure my day, first setting aside time to be with God, then writing on my calendar when I’ll do deep dive work, and filling in with periodic social media for set amounts of time as a break during the day.
What drives me crazy? Finding time to do it all. I have a blog and try to stay active on social media, but I’ve yet to create a website. I tried three times, and I can’t get it right. In my mind, I’ll try again in September.
What part do I relish? Brainstorming ideas and writing.
Janet, thanks for sharing today.
I want to be like Cinderella’s glass slipper–the perfect shoe and the perfect fit. 🙂
And so you shall be some day. You have one of the most important qualities of a writer: perseverance.
Thank you, Janet. 🙂
What part drives me crazy? Without a doubt, the need to build a platform.
.
What part do I relish? That would be “understanding what makes you (i.e. me) unique in the marketplace”. Of course, I’m not sure I know how to make a potential agent understand that uniqueness without coming off as a braggart. But I guess, when I query a novel with an American family touring China in 1983, I need to put in the query letter that this follows the itinerary our family followed on a trip in China in 1983. But like I said, too much of that seems bragging. It would require holding to a fine line, I would think, and still be very difficult for you to draw out that uniqueness.
David, your family’s trip through China is a big part of what qualifies you to write the book. Nothing bragging about that; it’s fact. And an important one. You’d be surprised how many writers would write such a book without ever having been on a plane, let alone travel to such a place.
I guess there could be worse songs flitting through my head right now, Janet. 😉
*Thank you for such a great post. The thing that probably drives me craziest is trying to figure out how to do it all. The setting up a website and getting addresses for an email list are the trickiest. Though, I am working on a way to begin collecting addresses.
*I love the writing aspect. When I begin my first draft, I love watching the story come onto the page, hearing the characters talk to me and reveal themselves on the page. 🙂
Know that you aren’t alone with the part that drives you crazy. It’s hard work to, in a sense, “be all things to all men.”
Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow…in effect, all things for all men.
* Walk in His Word, mate, and you’ll be right.
Janet (or anyone!) I have what may be an off topic question – please forgive me, but I am at a loss. Truly.
* The publisher for BPH wants me to do some more book signings, four years after the thing came out. Is this good, bad, or just what publishers do?
That would be highly unusual, Andrew, but good news!
Janet, thank you for the feedback. I didn’t know whom else (or in what other forum) I might ask. It certainly surprised me to get that voicemail, and though I’m really not well enough for public appearances, I have to find a way.
* I’ve had a bit of feedback that BPH is developing a niche fan-base (or a cult following?). Not something one would have expected.
There’s so much to this writing business. Healthy perspective is gained over the course of time. You’ve given me more to think about that needs thinking about! Thank you.
For everyone who responded to the update on my father-in-law…thank you so much.
* Please, take this to heart in your lives and in your writing, that God is indeed immanent in the temporal world, and that as unlikely as it may seem, WE are the main object of His affection.
* Why did He make us? Not that He needed us, but that He WANTED us, above anything else, and was willing to make the sacrifice from which He stayed Abraham’s hand.
Andrew, thanks for that reminder and that reason for joy, even when circumstances aren’t good. How awesome that God wanted us.
What drives me crazy? Me!
*Me, when I listen to self instead of God.
*Me, when I worry about not having a platform instead of utilizing the great ideas God has given me today.
*Me, when I waste an hour editing one page.
*Me, when I dwell on how far I need to go, instead of acknowledging how far I’ve come.
What do I relish? My creativity, my passion for writing and my insane determination to never give it up.
Thanks for a thought provoking post, Janet.
LARA! Don’t DO that.
* I have two abscessed teeth, and laughing hurts, and when I read your first line, I bloody well started laughing!
* You OWE me for that!
😀
Haha. I’m so sorry, Andrew. And you also made me laugh.
THX, Lara. I am in trouble here.
Lara, you know what I love about your comment? You’re not trying to blame others. Looking to ourselves (and God) as the solution to what drives us crazy is surprisingly freeing.
Thank you, Janet. Somedays it’s tough not to climb on that pity party band wagon. I have to keep reminding myself this journey isn’t really about me and my road isn’t all that rocky.
Greetings! Hello from my own few square feet of dry land…although stateroom 2954 was pretty sweet.
Time to re-join the real world…
*
What drives me crazy?
We don’t have that kind of time..
What do I relish? The new ideas, the writing, and creating characters and a storyworld that only existed in my head until I got brave and started typing.
OK, I’m desperate, and unapologetically off-topic.
* Home remedies for an abscessed tooth? I’ve been using red wine as hot as I can stand it as a rinse (and spitting it out), and it’s barely effective. I’m out of morphine. Tempted to take a hammer and chisel to my face. (Can’t afford a dentist, wish I were Canadian, Jennifer M., please adopt me!).
* If anyone has a suggestion, I would be grateful, and Janet, please forgive this digression, but I’ve got no other community. And this is kinda bad.
Ground cloves! My dentist used all kinds of pricey meds on my tooth and ground cloves (suspend them in olive oil) right on the tooth, cured it.
Got olive oil, The B will bring home ground cloves. Thank you Jennifer!!!!
This is an enlightening post, and I am so glad to have discovered you on Twitter. As for what I relish, I will say I’m one of the rare ones, for my idea of big fun is marketing and promotion, and the thing about it is once an author gets in the traffic, the bigger the arena gets. But I am a Southerner, and we’re a gregarious lot! You’ve given me much to consider here, in this business of introducing myself to an agent. With my first two books, I went straight to a publisher, but have been told repeatedly that for my third, I need an agent. Reading this post has taught me so much. It has shined a light on the importance of compatibility, and I loved what you’ve written about personality match-up.
Claire, welcome to our blog. I hope you’ll continue to find helpful insights into publishing here.
The author who relishes marketing is a gem.
I loved your comment about Southerners being a gregarious lot. Indeed you are!
I’m all over your blog because you’re speaking my language! I’ve decided that the thing about writers is nothing comes close to mattering quite like the written word. We’re like musicians in this way, and it may be the very nature of what it means to be an artist. And, as there is no “there” to get to when one devotes themselves to being a writer, being as it is an ongoing process of growth, blogs such as yours are a gift! I am so glad to have found you, and be it known I sent y’all my query letter just the other day! I will now exercise the self-restraint necessary not to doubt its merit (after reading your post!) As you remarked, compatibility is the key ( and God’s will and timing- let’s not forget this!)
I love your enthusiasm for what you do, Claire.
cool website https://www.booksandsuch.com/ thanks