Though I am primarily interested in short-form writing these days, I periodically submit one of my book-length manuscripts to an agent or agents. I respect my own work (and the effort that went into it), and every now and then, I feel I should show it.
Earlier this year, I saw an article on boutique literary agencies and decided I'd read it. And I finally did. I collected a few names to research there. And I had a few names I collected elsewhere.
I spent a lot of my writing time the last couple of weeks researching, as I said above. Researching literary agents is a lot like stalking them. You hunt them up on-line. You read interviews they've given. You look for their Manuscript Wish Lists. You see if they're on BlueSky or Twitter, whichever one you favor. Maybe you see if they're on Facebook, though that may be where they post their more personal stuff, and that really is like stalking them. You sign up for Publisher's Marketplace for a month (it's going up to $30 a month September 1, by the way) so you can see if they've sold the type of book you're planning to submit to them.
If you're smart, I've learned because I wasn't, you'll go to their agency website first, because that's where they'll announce that they're closed to submissions. Believe me, you don't want to have invested a lot of time and effort in stalking an agent only to find out s/he is closed to submissions.
I started out with a group of ten names this go round. By the time I eliminated the people who were not accepting submissions, who represented only children's authors or nonfiction, who were interested in romance or science fiction, who had never sold a mystery, who hadn't sold anything in several years, I was down to two people.
So this go-round of submissions went out to just two people.
I did do some revising of my submission letter, though, with a new hook/pitch line. That can only be good in the future, right?
Why Are My Submission Numbers So Low? Spoiler: I Don't Know
Well, that's not accurate. I know why my numbers are so low. I don't know why other writers' numbers are so high.
I have submitted 143 Canterbury Road to 19 agents (maybe an editor is included in that number) now. Over many years I have submitted to a little over 100 agents relating to 5 different manuscripts. Some of these agents I have submitted multiple projects to, so that raises my submission numbers a bit.
According to things I've read, though, I have not submitted very widely. I've read about writers who submitted to over 200 agents for just one book, got multiple shows of interest, and then ended up with representation. And a book sale. I've seen that type of thing more than once.
Where do they find so many agents to submit to?
Yes, there are hundreds of agents out there. But writers are advised not to carpet bomb them. We're supposed to target agents who are interested in the kind of work we do. The likelihood of me convincing a nonfiction agent that he's been waiting for years for my comedy about two slacker churchgoers saving a mainstream church from Christian Nationalists doesn't seem great enough to waste both our time with a submission to him.
Even if you had 20 or 30 agents who were interested in exactly the kind of thing you write, submitting to them is a lot of work. Every letter needs to be personalized as to why you are submitting to this particular person. Agents require different numbers of pages with a sub. Some want a synopsis. Agents who use submission forms don't all use the same submission form. You may have to come up with different material for different agents.
To do all that to submit to an agent you know can't possibly be interested in your book seems either foolishly optimistic or inept.
But are other people doing it, and it's working for them? In which case they're not being foolishly optimistic or inept?
But I obsess.
Next Week
Next week I have an essay and a short story to submit. I want to get back to my short story study and plan my workshop attendance for the year and write a blog post. And, finally, get back to some generative work.
That means, of course, writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment