Advice on getting an Agent

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THWilliams82
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Advice on getting an Agent

Post by THWilliams82 »

I have been debating whether it's the right choice for me to submit my book to an agent. It is a young adult fantasy novel. Is an agent worth while or should I just send it off to publishers? If so does anyone else have experience with where to find a good agent and/or publisher that accepts unsolicited submissions? :?:
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

Yeah, there's a book that you should get. Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market by Sambuchino. It lists publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts, and it also lists agents currently taking queries, etc. It's a great reference book. It covers young readers through YA. They put out a new edition each year.

Good luck!!
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Post by ALynnPowers »

A lot of publishers (the biggest ones) won't accept manuscripts directly from authors, without representation from an agent. So depending on if you're willing to settle for a small publisher or not really determines whether or not you need an agent.
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Post by THWilliams82 »

Thank-you for your replies. I will check out that book!
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

You're welcome! Keep us posted on your progress!!
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Post by moderntimes »

If you do some internet searching, you'll find several agent guide listings for your particular type of genre fiction. And the book recommended would be a good place to start.

Prepare a good query letter. There are several guides for this online. A query is just like a job resume. You want to be "hired" and you present to the person reasons why.

Do NOT be cute! Do NOT be "clever" or fanciful in your query! Make it straightforward and cogent, to the point:

To the Brightsmart Agency:

I am searching for representation for my new novel, "Janet Dreams," a fantasy romance (79,300 words).

Janet Dreams is unique because it... etc for 1 paragraph. In this para you MUST pitch your book by saying why it should be considered vs all the others out there.

Next para a brief listing of your literary accomplishments (if any) -- be honest. Also do not list your age, gender, religion, any other factors at all. Only your writing experience (omit ALL high school and college stuff, unless maybe you won a literary prize for your senior thesis or similar, but regular college work, omit). If you've been professionally published, especially if you were paid actual money (however small), this is a plus.

Then give your contact info and that Janet Dreams is available for immediate evaluation in either MS-Word or Adobe PDF.

Earlier, prepare a short synopsis (1 page) that reveals the ending. Some agents ask for this. Also, if the agents ask for the first chapter, send it. If they want more (first 50 pages is common), send that.

Pay careful attention to the agency rules and submission requirements. Some may ask for attached MS-Word excerpts, others only want it pasted into the email proper, no attachments. And there are still a few agents out there who insist on snailmail but they're a vanishing species.

It's hard to find an agent but don't despair -- it can be done. I did it and if I can, anybody can.

You should also start submitting directly to publishers who accept non-agented writers. There are plenty of small publishers out there who do. But be careful --- some are vanity houses who will try to charge you fees. NEVER pay a red cent to an "agent" (scam artist) or publisher who asks for up-front fees.

And good luck!
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Post by THWilliams82 »

Thank-you for your help. I will get to work on it and let you know how it goes!
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Post by moderntimes »

Let me also strongly recommend that your manuscript be absolutely perfect, with zero, count 'em, zero typos or grammatical errors. Take whatever time is needed to ensure this before submitting a single sentence, because prospective agents or publisher mentally "click off" each time they find an error and eventually, they think, "If the author didn't care enough, why should we?"

As an example, I finished my 3rd novel last April. By "finished" I mean that I wrote the final chapter and then The End. Next came the really hard work --- going back thru my book and painstakingly tweaking it, as well as ferreting out all errors. This took me till last September. Months.

Also, focus particularly on the dialogue of the book -- dialogue is the lifeblood of a novel. I review mystery novels for a website so I read dozens of them each year. One of the most annoying aspects of some poorly written books is that all the characters sound alike, speaking with the same "voice" instead of varied sentence patterns and syntax. And it's not just slang. If you've got 3 educated characters in a discussion, the reader should be able to pick out who's talking, due to that character's use of language -- longer sentences, abrupt phrases, different verbs and adjectives, figures of speech.

And I've reviewed books where one character makes a "speech" by saying a long set of sentences, everyone listening politely. Then the next character replies, equally long, no interruptions. But that's not how people actually speak. They're interrupted all the time, not necessarily rudely. A real conversation involves spits and starts and repeats. Try to make your characters sound like real people talking.

The best to learn from this is that if awfully written books can get published, the door's open to a good book!

Long ago I figured out how to do this. When I first started writing fiction, I made my characters like puppets and "made" then say things. The result was flat and lifeless dialogue. Later I figured out the "secret" -- set your characters into a scene like real people, let them speak from their own "minds" and you just take dictation. It's tricky at first but you'll soon get the hang of it.

And read out loud. Read your whole book out loud. If to a companion, okay. If to the cat or dog or the 4 walls, regardless, read it aloud. Hearing yourself read the narrative and dialogue out loud lets your ear sense the vital rhythms of the story. If you come to a section where you find it difficult to read aloud, you've probably mis-written that passage. Believe me, it works. The words should flow smoothly and naturally, as Hamlet says, "trippingly on the tongue".

Good luck. And if you want to, post your query letter format here so we can help with it.
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THWilliams82
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Post by THWilliams82 »

Thanks for the awesome tips! Will deff use the reading aloud tip. Will keep you posted on query letters, am currently writing another book so concentrating on that at the moment.
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