Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA
Thanks for hanging in with me this week as I gave you the inside track. It’s not always easy to hear the realities of this business/art we have chosen. Or has it chosen us?
To close this series I want to encourage you to employ some common sense strategies in attracting an agent. Some of these should probably go without saying, but. . .
Do your research. Don’t contact an agent until you’ve done a Google search, read the agency website, followed their Twitters or any blog they may have. You need to talk to other writers. There be some scary people out there calling themselves agents. You should know about an agent before you make a career-long commitment. Believe me, I do some serious research–some serious due diligence–before I ever call a writer offering representation.
Follow each specific agency’s submission protocol. You can’t believe how many queries I get at my business email. Our submission guidelines clearly state that all queries go to: representation@booksandsuch.com. Why is this important? Each agency has carefully designed a protocol that allows them to handle queries carefully and efficiently. At Books & Such queries that go the correct address get logged in, processed and passed on in a timely fashion. If a query is addressed to me in the subject line but, for one reason or another, I can’t consider that author, the other agents at Books & Such get a chance to look at the query. We do not take queries by mail, queries with attachments, proposals that have not been requested, etc.
Lately, believe it or not, we’ve been getting Twitter queries and Facebook message queries. We’ve also received queries that include a link and ask us to go look at a website. Really? Those are all wastes of time– yours and ours. It’s not the way we do it and we have no system in place to track these or respond to them.
In these complicated days what agent would take on a writer who can’t follow simple instructions? It doesn’t bode well for a long term, reciprocal partnership. And it’s not about our being hard-nosed or controlling– we just want to be efficient and to give each query the careful consideration it deserves. We don’t want to lose queries because they arrived in some wonky way.
Strategize. When you are seeking a literary agent you certainly could contact Nicholas’ Sparks’ agent but what are the chances she could take on a new writer? She has a handful of high profile clients whose careers take an inordinate amount of time to manage. A better strategy would be to query a new agent in a reputable firm. That agent is probably in the process of building his list and may be more open to new clients. In our agency we have two agents with pretty full client lists– Janet Kobobel Grant and me. That’s not to say we are not open for some amazing author who may come along. I’m jus’ sayin’ we have to be ruthlessly picky. But we have two newer agents who are building their lists. Both of these agents are exceptional (or they wouldn’t have been chosen to be part of the team).
Rachel Kent is a twenty-something genius who specializes in books for her own demographic– YA and twenty-something books. Her very first sale was a three-book fantasy series to a prestigious house for a not-yet-twenty-year-old author. Amazing! She is building her list slowly because she has a very discerning eye but if you have a book that fits her demographic you’d query her at Representation@booksandsuch.com and put “For Rachel Kent” in the subject line.
Mary Keeley is even newer to agenting but she is a publishing veteran. We used to pitch our clients’ work to her when she was a nonfiction editor at Tyndale House. She’s also worked with a number of authors during her tenure at Christianity Today. Janet recruited her because she definitely has the eye! We were delighted when she agreed to join the team. If you wanted to query Mary you’d write to her at Representation@booksandsuch.com and put “For Mary Keeley” in the subject line. (Are you seeing a pattern here?)
This strategy could be applied to any agency. Find the agent who’s newer and actively searching. If those agencies are anything like ours you need not be worried about a too-new agent. We are highly collaborative and Janet systematically mentors each agent. You get the power of the full agency behind you. It’s a great strategy. An insider’s secret.
Attracting your perfect agent is much like an executive job search. What other strategies might you employ?
Thanks so much for spending time with us this week and providing your insights. I found this series helpful and enlightening.
Cheryl
I frequent a writing forum and I am amazed at how many writers post their queries because they just can’t understand why every agent hasn’t loved it.
It’s so often the small things. Writing “Dear Agent” instead of writing the agent’s name, missing word counts, having their contact information at the top of an email query instead of after their signature.
Thanks Wendy for a fabulous blog week!
This has been my favorite series of yours, Wendy. Honestly, it’s been like a mini-boot camp!
And I would add for aspiring authors not to be afraid to chat with writer friends about potential agents. Almost every writer I’ve met, either in person or online, has been gracious about sharing tips, websites, and any other scrap of help needed.
Very helpful post again, Wendy. Thank you!
A friend recently told me about an agent I hadn’t heard of, so I’m in the processing of doing my research like you suggested.
A question for you: How long would you say is the average response time for a query at Books & Such? Is it different for each agent depending on their workload? I’m guessing the answer is, “It depends”, 🙂 but is there a standard you all try to follow?
Thanks again for a wonderful week of posts!
Thank you, Wendy, for this week’s blog posts.
I’ve learned so much! Your posts also remind me that agents invest even more effort, time and wisdom in the query process than we authors do!
As I send out my queries this week, I am trying to follow protocol and also to direct my queries to new agents. Newer agents are difficult to find! Thank you for the info about Mary and Rachel. I understand that Mary’s strength must be non-fiction. Does she ever take on novelists?
I went through the query process successfully years ago and was hoping I wouldn’t have to do it again, but writing for the CBA is a whole new ballgame! God’s teaching me…
Again, Wendy, thank you for taking the time to educate us about the process!
I love the Books & Such blog! Thank you for the online continuing education course. Today’s post raises a question.
What is the protocol for an author with an agent to refer another author to that agent (or agency)?
Thanks.
Bill
I concur! Wendy, thanks so much for this week’s fantastic series. I’ve enjoyed your insights about finding an agent (even the less palatable details) and I appreciate the time you take to respond to comments. I’m a fairly new Books & Such subscriber and now I’m itching to plunge into the blog’s archives.
Thanks, Wendy, for the reminder and explanation of how our procedures work here at Books & Such. Our guidelines spell out that because of the amount of queries we receive, we can’t respond to everyone. If you haven’t heard back from us in a month, your query doesn’t fit what our agency currently is looking for and we won’t be able to represent your project.
If we have requested a proposal, we try to get them read and assessed within 6-8 weeks. (We’re behind right now because of the Christmas holiday).
If you have an agent and a friend whose work you’ve read, if you think your friend is a fabulous writer, you can send us an e-mail endorsing the project. We do pay closer attention to those queries. No guarantees, of course, but we value the judgment of our clients.
However, we get a lot of queries telling us this and that person suggested they contact us. Don’t write that in your query unless the person actually read your material. Trust me, we can tell.
Bill, a referral from one of our clients it is outside the normal query process. If you think a writer would be perfect for us, we pay close attention. My clients usually call or email me with a recommendation and alert me to watch for the submission.
I agree that talking with other authors can be a good way to learn about agents. I’ve also emailed agents before conferences to help clarify what they may or may not be accepting. I just say that I’m preparing for the conference and would love the chance to meet them, but don’t want to waste their time. I’ve gotten responses each time that have helped guide my planning.
And since you brought up the agent focus/query issue … I primarily write for the juvenile/middle grade market and corresponded with Etta a few months ago. I had hoped to pitch a project someday, but then she moved to land of well-deserved retirements. 🙂 Can you say whether Books & Such will be looking to add another agent to handle children’s projects?
Thanks again for all the inside looks this week. I’ve been hit-and-miss with some of my blog reading lately, but you pulled me back here every day!
Leigh–
We’re not currently looking at children’s and middle grade manuscripts, but anything could happen in the future. Our website will have any information, if that changes.
Thanks for the response, Michelle. That’s what I thought, but the teacher’s kid gene is too embedded for me to ever pass on an opportunity to ask a question!
This series this week has been fantastic. Thank you, Wendy, for taking the time to write these posts and answer our questions. (And Michelle for answering questions here today!) Thanks to Books&Such in general for consistently being so willing to encourage and share information!
I am very blessed to have Rachel Kent as my agent. A wonderful, professional young lady. 🙂
This information on what you as an agent are looking for from a writer is invaluable. Your honesty makes the impossible seem possible. Thanks.
Another great post, Wendy! Thanks.
You close with: What other strategies might you employ?
I think by getting to know agents and editors on Facebook/Twitter helps as well but by no means DO NOT query them there! That never even crossed my mind. Lol.
Another fantastic week – my favorite series are almost always the ‘what we look for’ / ‘what we hate’ series.
So far have been consistently pleased to see my thoughts and actions have tended towards the former!
A couple big things I’ve been turning over in my mind were confirmed this week! Looking forward to the next couple months even more than ever!
Once upon a time, I was that impatient glory seeker writer at eighteen years old and too impatient to put in better effort into my manuscripts and wait, doing my time, as other successful writers have all ready done. Now I’m 36 years old and I have slowed down, doing my research, following the advice, and reading BEFORE submitting. I don’t do simultaneous submissions anymore. I submit to one person at a time. Thanks for some great advice!
I’ve been away from this blog for too long. Thank you, Wendy, for this fantastic information all this week. It’s especially useful and so timely for me.
and who only works 40 hours a week anyway? it becomes rather obvious why every week many agents seem to fall a little bit further behind on response-times.Plus it doesnt help when people send queries without doing even a moment of research. But one can hardly expect an author to understand the economy when they wont even take a few minutes to do research on the agents to whom they are submitting. Maybe the latest find-an-agent-or-die craze will settle down soon and querying will return to normal.