Read Online Get a Literary Agent: The Complete Guide to Securing Representation for Your Work by Chuck Sambuchino - Free Book Online
Authors: Chuck Sambuchino
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read your tone or see your expression.
Personalize your query to each agent or market. No mass submissions to multiple people at the same time. Make sure that you have the agent’s name spelled correctly. If the agent’s name is “Sam Johnson” and you are not positive of the agent’s gender, use neither “Mr. Johnson” nor “Mrs. Johnson.” Just address the agent as “Sam Johnson.”
Make sure you fully understand the guidelines and are submitting the correct materials—if you’re unsure, do more research.
Make the e-mail’s subject line exactly what the agent requests. If she doesn’t specify, simply writing, “Query: (TITLE)” is a safe bet.
Keep your emotions in check: Resist the temptation to send a response after being rejected such as “Please reconsider!” Keep your e-mails businesslike—and spend your time more effectively.
Whether it’s a print or e-mail submission, don’t type in all caps or all lowercase. Use proper punctuation, and always pay attention to grammar and spelling.
Double-check the mailing address or e-mail address. One wrong letter in an e-mail address is enough to lose your letter in cyberspace forever.
If querying by e-mail, make sure all your font and type size is the same. Since you will be cutting and pasting into e-mail, different sentences can appear different sizes. Send yourself or a friend a test e-mail to check for such an issue.
Make no demands. Anything that seems like a demand (“Respond to my letter within two weeks to respect my time”) is a major turnoff. Even polite requests can be annoying. It’s not an agent’s job to critique the work for you, so don’t say, “I welcome feedback on my query letter and novel.”
Act with humility. No matter your current accomplishments, and no matter how much you think your novel is the best thing since Breaking Bad , you need to stay professional and simply discuss the story. Even if your writing history is impressive, be sure to state your accomplishments quickly and humbly.
Keep a detailed list of submission information—such as where you sent queries and when or if you should personally hear back. This will prevent you from following up with agents too soon or nudging people who have specifically said, “If you don’t hear from us, consider that a no. Do not follow up.”
Unless you have a serious health concern that prevents you from using a computer, submit your book yourself. Don’t have a friend or relative submit your book for you. This kind of communication gets confusing, and the agent may not know who to address in correspondence. Plus, it can give an agent pause to wonder why the writer is not confident enough or able to submit his own work.
Keep exclamation points, bold, underlined text, and italics to a minimum.
Never submit any material for publication that you do not own the complete rights to. For example, don’t submit a fan fiction novel about Batman or other copyrighted characters.
Don’t call. Yes, there will always be that one story of that one guy who called up an agency cold and got an agent on the phone and explained his story and the book became a bestseller. But reps have submission guidelines for a reason. Agents hate phone queries.
If you do use snail mail, don’t try to set yourself apart by using fancy stationery. Standard letterhead and envelopes are preferable.
“It’s not necessary to formally copyright your work before submitting. Once you write it, legally the copyright is yours, so it looks amateurish to include the © mark on a manuscript. You can trust that agents and editors have no interest in stealing your unpublished work. What we really want is to work with you to get your manuscript published and then cheer you on as you write another one.”
—Linda Epstein (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)
CONSIDERING REQUESTS FOR EXCLUSIVES
An exclusive submission is when an agent asks to be the only one reviewing your material at the current time. While virtually no agents ask
Personalize your query to each agent or market. No mass submissions to multiple people at the same time. Make sure that you have the agent’s name spelled correctly. If the agent’s name is “Sam Johnson” and you are not positive of the agent’s gender, use neither “Mr. Johnson” nor “Mrs. Johnson.” Just address the agent as “Sam Johnson.”
Make sure you fully understand the guidelines and are submitting the correct materials—if you’re unsure, do more research.
Make the e-mail’s subject line exactly what the agent requests. If she doesn’t specify, simply writing, “Query: (TITLE)” is a safe bet.
Keep your emotions in check: Resist the temptation to send a response after being rejected such as “Please reconsider!” Keep your e-mails businesslike—and spend your time more effectively.
Whether it’s a print or e-mail submission, don’t type in all caps or all lowercase. Use proper punctuation, and always pay attention to grammar and spelling.
Double-check the mailing address or e-mail address. One wrong letter in an e-mail address is enough to lose your letter in cyberspace forever.
If querying by e-mail, make sure all your font and type size is the same. Since you will be cutting and pasting into e-mail, different sentences can appear different sizes. Send yourself or a friend a test e-mail to check for such an issue.
Make no demands. Anything that seems like a demand (“Respond to my letter within two weeks to respect my time”) is a major turnoff. Even polite requests can be annoying. It’s not an agent’s job to critique the work for you, so don’t say, “I welcome feedback on my query letter and novel.”
Act with humility. No matter your current accomplishments, and no matter how much you think your novel is the best thing since Breaking Bad , you need to stay professional and simply discuss the story. Even if your writing history is impressive, be sure to state your accomplishments quickly and humbly.
Keep a detailed list of submission information—such as where you sent queries and when or if you should personally hear back. This will prevent you from following up with agents too soon or nudging people who have specifically said, “If you don’t hear from us, consider that a no. Do not follow up.”
Unless you have a serious health concern that prevents you from using a computer, submit your book yourself. Don’t have a friend or relative submit your book for you. This kind of communication gets confusing, and the agent may not know who to address in correspondence. Plus, it can give an agent pause to wonder why the writer is not confident enough or able to submit his own work.
Keep exclamation points, bold, underlined text, and italics to a minimum.
Never submit any material for publication that you do not own the complete rights to. For example, don’t submit a fan fiction novel about Batman or other copyrighted characters.
Don’t call. Yes, there will always be that one story of that one guy who called up an agency cold and got an agent on the phone and explained his story and the book became a bestseller. But reps have submission guidelines for a reason. Agents hate phone queries.
If you do use snail mail, don’t try to set yourself apart by using fancy stationery. Standard letterhead and envelopes are preferable.
“It’s not necessary to formally copyright your work before submitting. Once you write it, legally the copyright is yours, so it looks amateurish to include the © mark on a manuscript. You can trust that agents and editors have no interest in stealing your unpublished work. What we really want is to work with you to get your manuscript published and then cheer you on as you write another one.”
—Linda Epstein (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)
CONSIDERING REQUESTS FOR EXCLUSIVES
An exclusive submission is when an agent asks to be the only one reviewing your material at the current time. While virtually no agents ask
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