Wolds Words 2014 How to Find and Catch a Literary Agent
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Transcript of Wolds Words 2014 How to Find and Catch a Literary Agent
Wolds Words 2014:
How to find
and catch
a literary agent
Eamonn Griffin / www.eamonngriffin.co.uk / @eamonngriffin
Session aims
1. Do I need an agent?
2. What does an agent do?
3. Am I ready?
4. Triage
5. How many?
6. How do I make the approach?
7. What don’t I do?
8. How long does it take?
9. It’s OK to say “no”
10.There are no guarantees…
Stage One: do I need a literary agent?
Not necessarily. Not all published writers have agents.
If you’re self-publishing, then you definitely don’t need an agent.
However your expertise is in writing, not in the business angle. You
may not have (or be interested) in the expertise or the contacts to
deal with the publishing industry.
But you’ll get much further with an agent than without, and the fact
of having an agent gives you an advantage over others who don’t.
For example, many publishers do not accept unagented
submissions. Some do, but many don’t.
It’s validation from a publishing professional that your work has
merit.
Stage Two: so what does an agent do?
A literary agent is your intermediary in the publishing business.
They represent you and your interests.
They will approach editors at publishing houses on your project’s
behalf.
Their job is to sell you and your book/s.
This may involve offering editorial notes, guidance and support
before submission to editors. This is an increasingly important
element of the agent’s role.
For this, the agent charges a commission.
The money side of things
Rates vary, though a typical offer to a new author might be
representation in return for 15% of your income regarding UK sales
and 20% of overseas sales and of sales to other media (film/TV
adaptations, for example).
It’s thus in the agent’s interest to secure the best contract they can
for you, as they earn nothing if you earn nothing.
Mo’ money
An agent negotiates a) an advance and b) a royalty rate for your
book/s.
An advance is money forwarded by the publisher to you against
projected sales. It’s a gamble on their part. Most advances are
paid in parts (“tranches”):
1. on signing
2. on delivery of a completed manuscript
3. on hardback publication
4. on paperback publication
Many books do not “earn out” their advance and so the publisher
loses money. If this happens, it’s their loss, not yours. For many
writers, the advance = their payment for the book.
If/once the advance is “earned out” then you’ll be paid royalties
on sales: 8-10% of the book’s sale price (note: not necessarily the
cover price) comes back to the author. This rate usually rises with
sales.
Ebook royalty rates may vary.
Royalties are paid twice-yearly in arrears. They are paid to your
agent, who subtracts their commission, and passes the balance to
you.
The more successful / prestigious / award-winning you are, the
stronger your agent’s bargaining position is on your behalf, and the
better your terms will become.
Stage Three: Am I ready?
Probably not.
Oh, don't be like that.
I'm serious. You're probably not ready.
Meanie.
Is the book finished?
How many drafts have you been through?
Is the book as good as it can be?
Who says so? Who’s read the book? Is their verdict trustworthy and
honest?
Have you written a synopsis of the book? No more than 500 words.
Tell the whole story. This includes the ending.
Think like a bookseller: where would the book go in a shop?
Think like Amazon: how would you list it?
What other books / authors could it be compared to, or suggested
as a follow-on recommendation?
If you've made sure that your book is ready, then let's go.
Stage Four: Triage
You need to make a shortlist of agents to approach.
Shortlist: method 1
Make notes while reading about agents who represent authors you
respect/seek to emulate. Often they’re acknowledged in authorial
notes in books, or will be mentioned on author websites.
If your genre has a membership organisation (Historical Novel
Society, Romantic Novelists’ Association, Society of Children’s Book
Writers and Illustrators as examples), are there agents who are
members or who attend meetings and other functions?
Which agents are attending conferences, book festivals and other
events associated with the kind of writing you’re interested in?
Many such events have “pitch sessions”, where writers can book
short appointments to talk about their project with an agent.
Shortlist: method 2
Look at the web page for the Association of Authors’ Agents:
www.agentsassoc.co.uk
Their Members’ Directory is here:
www.agentsassoc.co.uk/members-directory
Shortlist: method 3 – part 1
Get hold of a copy of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. It’s an
annual publication that lists (among other useful stuff) all the literary
agents in the UK. New editions come out in the summer for the
following year.
Website: www.writersandartists.co.uk
Shortlist: method 3 – part 2
Go through all of the agency listings with a pen.
Mark agencies that are interested in the genre of writing that you’re
working on.
Strike out agencies that are not. Many agencies, for example, will
not deal with SFF or children’s books.
Compile a list of possible agencies to approach. Then…
Shortlist: method 3 – part 3
Visit the website for each agency in turn. Do this because: a) the
Yearbook is an annual publication and details change over time
and b) because the website is where the up-to-date information on
submissions will be.
If the agency looks promising, select one agent and one agent only
from that agency to approach.
Carry on until you’ve exhausted your triaged shortlist.
Shortlist: method 3 – part 4
Different agents within an agency will have different outlooks.
Don’t approach an agent who says that their list is closed. This
means they’re not accepting new clients. They won’t make an
exception for you.
Pick the agent who seems the best fit at the agency to you.
Often, younger agents / those new to the agency are looking to
build their list and will be open to new client approaches. If they’re
looking for new clients, the website will say so.
Stage Five: How many do I approach at
once?
As many as you like.
I’d suggest ten a week, every week, until your shortlist is exhausted.
Some agency websites will say that they’re not interested in
multiple or simultaneous submissions. This means they want to be
the only agency considering your work at that time. Feel free to
ignore this, as you’re under no obligation until you’ve signed.
Keep a spreadsheet…
Agency
name
Agent
approached
Date of
approach
Post/email Response
due
Chased? Response
received
Anderson
Agencies
Alice
Anderson
13 May 14 Post 3 months 14 Aug 14
Smith
Agency
Bob Smith 13 May 14 Email 8 weeks Rejection by
email 20
May
Stage Six: How do I approach an agent?
The process is a little different for fiction and for non-fiction writers.
Fiction submissions
Three component parts to the submission:
1. the covering letter
2. the synopsis
3. the manuscript
Fiction submissions : covering letter
The covering letter should fit onto a single sheet of A4.
Professional, contemporary and businesslike. Use a standard sans
serif font (Ariel, 12pt). Left hand justified only. Use line spaces instead
of indents for new paragraphs.
Use the agent's name. Check the spelling.
Four paragraphs: one introductory, one about the book, one about
the book's potential readership, one about you. Think 90% book,
10% you.
You may need to personalize your cover letter to the agent
concerned. No-one likes circulars, so try to make your letter sound
fresh, genuine and personal.
Sign off: Yours sincerely
Work on this. You're a writer, remember….
Fiction submissions: the synopsis
The synopsis tells the story of the novel you're submitting. Introduce
the main characters, the main themes, the chief plots and sub
plots. Give away the ending. Do all this in 500 words.
No, it's not an easy thing to do.
Next time you write a novel, write a synopsis as early into the project
as you can, and keep updating it.
Use the same font and layout as the writing sample/manuscript.
Fiction submissions:
writing sample/manuscript
Typically, agents will ask for the first three chapters / 50 pages of the
manuscript.
Give them what they ask for.
Don't cherry pick your favourite / "best" bits from across the book.
Use a sensible, plain serif font for the MS. Times New Roman is fine, for example, as is Garamond. If the agent specifies something, give them
that.
12pt, double line spacing, printed on one side of the paper only.
Page numbering is a sensible idea. Laser printing is preferable to
inkjet printing.
Non-fiction: enquiry letter/sample
Non-fiction book proposals may be handled differently. An enquiry
letter/email is best first, with the offer of sample material if that’s
appropriate.
Be clear about your bona fides in the topic area. How and why are
you the person to write this book?
It’s much more likely that a non-fiction book idea may be
commissioned on the strength of a pitch than a fiction proposal,
where it’s much more usual that a full-length manuscript will already
exist.
That said, many non-fiction writers may well write their first book
before really considering representation and/or publication.
Post or email?
You do what the individual agent requests on their website.
Many agents are happy to accept either. If this is the case, email
them.
Some specify email only. If so, never post them anything.
Some specify post only. If so, never email them anything.
File formats for email: do what they request. Usually MS Word or PDF
files are fine.
The covering letter goes in the main body of the email.
The synopsis and the writing sample should be sent as attachments
to the email (unless you're given other instructions - occasionally
people like everything in the main body, usually because they're
afraid of attachments containing computer viruses ).
Post
A plain brown/manilla A4 envelope.
Handwrite the agent's details on the cover.
Don't send it by recorded delivery. Standard first class is fine.
Ordinary white A4 printer paper.
Laser print.
Letter / synopsis / sample in that order.
Use a single rubber band to hold everything together.
No fancy closures / folders / staples or suchlike.
Stage Seven: what don't I do?
Don’t be annoying / pushy / impatient.
Don’t be cocky.
Don’t try to be quirky or madcap to get yourself noticed. It may well
get you noticed, but not in the way that you’d like.
Don’t phone or email badgering the agent.
Don’t be weird on social media.
Don’t go to their offices without an appointment.
If you are rejected, don’t take it personally. And don’t try to
continue a correspondence of the “You’ll be sorry…” variety.
Stage Eight: how long does all this take?
A typical advertised response time will be eight to twelve weeks.
Make a note of any response time indicated on the agency
website.
If that response time’s elapsed without a reply, send a brief, polite,
chasing email.
No news is no news. Don’t read anything into it.
That said, you’ll get some responses by return. They’ll probably be
polite and negative.
Don’t read anything into these replies. There’s no need to respond
to a straightforward rejection.
Some may offer more detailed opinions. All feedback is good at this
point. Reply politely and positively to such feedback.
And someone may well ask for you to send them the full
manuscript.
If so, do so by return.
And then the waiting begins again…
Behind the scenes
Agents liaise with editors at publishing companies. The industry is
small, and people know each other. Likes/dislikes, wish lists and
suchlike are well understood.
If you’re heard nothing after submitting, it may be because the
agent is sounding out, however informally, one or more of their
publisher contacts.
However, it’s only realistic to appreciate that the marketing tail
wags the editorial dog.
Your agent may love the book and you, an editor may think the
same, but there are myriad reasons why the book may never reach
the shelves of Waterstones.
That doesn’t mean the book is a bad one though.
So write another.
Stage Nine: It's OK to say "no”.
You don’t have to accept an offer of representation if you don’t
want to.
It’s OK to use an offer as leverage against other agencies that you
have samples with to see if you can get a quick reply back from
them. It’s possible (but by no means certain) that you’ll get another
offer.
But don’t burn your bridges.
Stage Ten: there are no guarantees
Gaining an agent won’t guarantee you publication and it’s
certainly no assurance of fortune and glory.
But writing the best books that you can (while reading a lot) is the
best that you can do to ensure that some day you’ll get a book
deal and that your work will be published.
Some writers strike lucky first time out, for others it takes years. So
stick with it!
Useful books
The Writers’ And Artists’ Yearbook 2015 (2014, Bloomsbury
Publishing)
Bingham, Harry, The Writers’ and Artists’ Guide to Getting Published
(2010, A & C Black)
Blake, Carole, From Pitch to Publication (1999, Macmillan)
Davies, Gill, Book Commissioning and Acquisition (2004, Routledge)
Green, George, and Kremer, Lizzy, Writing A Novel and Getting
Published for Dummies [2nd ed] (2014, Wiley)
Thompson, John B, Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in
the Twenty-First Century (2012, Polity Press)
Useful online resources
The Association of Authors’ Agents: http://agentsassoc.co.uk/
The Bookseller (UK industry publication):
http://www.thebookseller.com
Literary Rejections: http://www.literaryrejections.com/
The Society of Authors: www.societyofauthors.org/
Writers and Artists: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain: www.writersguild.org.uk
Also – Twitter feeds of individual agents, of agencies and of sites like
Literary Rejections.