AGENTS, EDITORS, & YOU: LESSON 5-Agents—a few things you should and shouldn’t do
I’m proud of everyone’s progress in your search for an agent. Your questions have been spot-on, and I appreciate your participation. For those lurking, please let us know if you have any questions!
Today, let’s start with things you SHOULD do in regard to an agent.
1.Remember, agents are people too. They have pets and children and grandchildren. Their job is to represent authors, but they’re people first and foremost.
2.You should introduce yourself. If you’re at a conference, a chapter meeting, or at one of those luncheon tables where they put an agent per table—introduce yourself! It’s also perfectly fine to mention what you write.
3.Send a submission/query to any agent that interests you. It’s not a binding legal agreement. You’re expressing interest until you know more. That’s all.
4.Follow directions when you send your submission/query. Send only what they ask for. Most agents will post this on their website.
5.Have someone proofread what you send. It’s good to start training your “pre-readers.” These do not have to be writers. If they love to read and can catch errors, they will do just fine. If you can’t have someone read it first, wait at least 24 hours, look over it again, and then send.
6.It’s perfectly fine to send an email and/or call to follow up AFTER the appropriate amount of time. If on the agent’s website, it says they will respond after 3 months, give them 3 and ½ months and then contact them.
7.It is acceptable to submit to more than one agent at a time. If an agent expresses interest and asks for an exclusive read, explain that you have sent the query/proposal to several agents but you would be glad to offer him/her an exclusive read of ____ weeks. This is usually 2 weeks to 2 months. During that time if Agent B expresses interest, you will need to stall until you hear from Agent A. Or just be upfront and say you’d be happy to share with them and thank them for their interest but Agent A has an exclusive for a limited time. May you contact them after that time is up?
8.You may ask any question that seems relevant to your business relationship once an agent has expressed interest. What sales have they had in the last year? What authors do they represent? What is their standard percentage fee? Any of these questions are perfectly fine to ask.
9.If an agent rejects you, it’s appropriate to respond with “Thank you for your correspondence. I have also written ______. Could I submit this to you?”
You might have a western sitting on your hard drive and perhaps you’ve submitted a sweet contemporary. If the agent passes on the contemporary, ask if they’d be willing to consider the western.
10.It’s appropriate to ask for an agent’s current authors and contact half a dozen. Ask for a general reference.
Now for things you SHOULD NOT do in regard to an agent.
1.I’ve always heard don’t follow an agent into the bathroom and submit your manuscript under the stall door. This seems silly to me. Who would do that? But people do. You don’t want to be one of those people. Submit in the appropriate way.
2.Do not follow-up with phone calls or emails until the appropriate amount of time has passed. This is where that excel chart comes in handy. You should put the name of the agent, what you submitted, maybe an email address, when you submitted, and when to check back. Don’t check back before that date.
3.This morning I saw someone post on an agent’s timeline on Facebook asking if the person could submit a manuscript. I don’t recommend this. Be a professional. Send an email or letter.
4.Never, ever, ever speak badly about an agent or editor. If you’ve had a bad experience and feel you need to convey that to someone do so in a private manner. And still, it can get back to the agent, other agents, etc. Remember the old saying, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?” It’s a good saying and applies here. Be professional.
5.Do not tell a prospective agent that your mother, dad, best friend or professor likes your story. Just leave that out.
Additional Thoughts
Once you have an agent, do not expect them to send out everything you’ve written. They’ll pick the best manuscript, or the one they accepted you on, and send it out. They’ll pick what they feel has the best chance in today’s market. Trust their instinct.
I recommend having a folder on your computer for your queries to agents/editors. In this folder, keep all correspondence. Also, keep the different files you will be asked for. Some agents want your first 10 pages and a 1 page synopsis. Some want the first chapter and a 2 page synopsis. Some want 15 pages and a 1 page synopsis. Always send what they’ve asked for. And once you create that file with 10 pages save it as
Winds of Glory, 10 pages,
Winds of Glory, 1 pg synopsis, etc.
This will save you a LOT of time and make the submission process much less painful and time consuming. (I’ve been known to cut paragraphs or change font so what I want to showcase will fit into the required pages.)
I wanted to address this issue of agents who “represent Christian fiction” vs “interested in Christian fiction.” You know 2 different agents might mean the same thing from that phrase, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in it. That said, I don’t know if you want an agent who represents only Christian fiction. There are plenty of authors in ABA (mainstream publishers) who write good clean fiction—Lisa Wingate, Ted Dekker, and Debbie McCromber to name a few. Shelley Shepherd Gray writes Amish fiction as I do, and we have the same agent. But she writes for Harper Collins whereas I write for Zondervan. They’re owned by the same parent company. It’s just something to think about.
Synopsis. I’m not sure why we dread this so much. Think of it as a movie preview. Take out the adjectives and subplots and what you have left is a synopsis. It’s the main plot points of your story with a character arc and theme thrown in. There are entire classes on how to write a synopsis if it’s something that you struggle with. Mainly it’s something we get better at the more we do. If you’d like, I’ll look and see if I can find one I’ve submitted, though mostly I submit on paragraph now. There’s also the “one sheet” which is used only in Christian conferences. I do have one of those somewhere if you’d like to see it.
Conferences and Workshops. Few of us have the time and/or money to attend all of these we’d like to. However, you don’t have to attend in order to benefit from it. Look at the email/webpage/conference blurb and note what agents are attending. Those who regularly attend Christian conferences are a good place to start submitting. In your letter you can say, “I noticed you attended the Oregon Christian Writers Conference this year. While I was unable to attend, I am interested in an agent who is actively involved in the Christian writing community. May I send you a proposal for ______.”
HOMEWORK: Google Christian conference. Find 3 and look for what agents are attending. Then go to thse agents’ site. Decide if this is someone you should add to your list.
Schedule your time this week. I like the following formula: 25% marketing, 25% reading, 50% writing. Only have 4 hours to spend on your writing dream this week? That’s 1 hour marketing, 1 hour reading and 2 hours writing. Keep track of your time in a journal and see how you do.
Next Lesson: Lesson 6-Agents—responses to your questions.
I had 2 agents who were willing to answer your questions: Mary Sue Seymour and Sue Brower. Mary Sue has been my agent for the last seven years. Her website is Sue Brower was my editor at Zondervan. She is now with the Natasha Kern agency, which you can read about at I can vouch that both of these ladies are excellent advocates for Christian fiction. I’ll post all your questions and their answers on Thursday.
Quotes:
“I finished my first book seventy-six years ago. I offered it to every publisher on the English-speaking earth I had ever heard of. Their refusals were unanimous: and it did not get into print until, fifty years later; publishers would publish anything that had my name on it.” ― George Bernard Shaw
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
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VannettaChapman,inspirational author of Fiction full of GRACE
Now Available--An Amish Garden
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