Roaming South America

Submitting a book to a literary agent

August 20, 2022

This week I started sending out query letters to literaryagents for my book "Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone." Thisprocess is long, slow, sometimes painful, and always not fun, butis a necessary evil if you have any hope of getting your bookpublished by one of the "big 5" publishing houses.

So, what is the process? This is what I have found works best,but I am new at this, so there may be other methods that workbetter for some people.

To start with, YOUR BOOK MUST BE FINISHED, and preferrablybeen through several drafts, and getting it edited professionallyis also a good idea. At the very least, an editorial assessment,and follow the suggestions from the editor. I've seen a couple ofagents asking for editor names. Don't worry about doing a coveror interior formatting, don't worry about proof reading or evencopy editing, all of that will be done by the publisher if/whenthe book is picked up by one.

So, let's get started into the world of submitting queries toliterary agents.

First, create a spreadsheet. This is a must so you can keeptrack of your submissions and not submit to the same agency twoor more times by mistake. Almost no agencies will accept multiplesubmissions, some say if they receive multiple from one personthey will automatically ingnore and reject all submitted fromthat person. So don't do it.

You spreadsheet should have columns for:

• the name of the person you addressed your query to
• the name of the agency
• the website address of the agency
• the email address if you sent the query by email
• the date you submitted/sent the query
• the date you received a response (I do not includeauto-responses, only real-person responses)
• what their response was
• what did you send (manuscript or proposal or queryletter)
• method of submission (email or online on their web form oronline on QueryTracker)
• a column for Notes

Second, get your various docs together. All you documentsshould be in Microsoft Word .docx format. You should have,finalized and fully edited, preferably not self-edited:

• sinopsys
• query letter
• proposal
• and a doc that has the following info (you may be asked forany of this info at any time from any of the agents, they're alldifferent):
• • Where did you find us?
  • What are you various Social Media profiles?
  • A short bio
  • A long bio
  • Other published works (short stories, poems, essays,etc)
  • Describe in detail the good guy/gal
  • Describe in detail the bad guy/gal
  • Describe what happens when the good guy/gal and bad guy/galmeet
  • Log line
  • Tag line
  • Hook
  • A short description of the book (usually under 100words)
  • A long description (often no more than 500 words)
  • Names of your editors
  • Describe your target readers
  • What is the age group you are targetting?
  • Where can your readers be found?
  • Comps (at least two)
  • A list of keywords
  • The bookstore category where you book might be found in abrick-n-mortar store
  • Your marketing plan
  • A teaser excert from the book, usually ends with "Read moreat..."

That's a lot to have to think about and will take quite a lotof time, but it is necessary.

You will also need to have the first chapter set aside byitself for some queries (they will want it pasted into the formor into the body text of the email), and the first 3 chapters aswell. I also had to do the first 5 chapters for one agent. Isuggest you set these aside as individual .docx files so you caneasily copy/paste them as needed, but also attach them to emailsor forms when requested.

Okay, so now you have all the required docs set aside andready to access, open your email client/app. In your inbox createa folder for book submissions. Every message you get regardingany and all submissions go into that folder.

In your web browser, create a folder in your bookmarks, callit Book Submission Agencies, and save/bookmark every agency/agentyou contact in that folder.

Go to QueryTracker.net and set up an account (they're free orpaid, whichever you prefer). This should be one of your firstgo-to sites for searching for agents.

Wow, that's a ton of stuff and we haven't even submitted aquery, yet. We've gotten all our docs in a row, the email andbrowser have folders for saving messages and sites, and we havean account on QueryTracker. You should be ready to startsubmitting queries.

I must reiterate this point - it is absolutely necessary toget your query letter and proposal professionally edited if youhave any hope of being asked for a full manuscript by any agents.They are absolute nitpickers when it comes tospelling/grammar/sentence structure, everything related towriting. If you have any errors on your query page or in yourproposal they'll reject it without a second look.

Also, you must, must, must, read everything on their web site.I mean everything. You might find some bit of info of importanceburied inside a page that is not the submissions info page. Andthis is one of the longest parts of the job - you go to an agencywebsite, click on Meet Us, and see pictures of 15, 20, or moreagents! How on earth do you know who to send your query to?Hopefully, they'll have a button to filter those agents intogeneral genres. Regardless, you have to actually read every oneof those agents' profiles and come up with one, just ONE, thatbest fits your book. This can take hours. You also will discoverif they want queries by email or by QueryTracker or by their ownform. Finally, when you have picked the one agent for your bookmake absolutly sure you follow their instructions to the tee! Ifyou don't your query will be summarily reject. And, every agenton that site will have different requirements. Even if they'reall on QT they will still have slightly different form fieldsthat you'll need to fill in.

On QT, you must be sure to fill in every form field (box)correctly and with only the requested info, or your query will berejected.

So, you've got everything in order, you did a search on QT andgot a list of 25 agents, you clicked on one, read that person'sprofile, read their website, their wishlist, and everything tellsyou, "Yes, he/she is the one for my book." Now, you fill in theform or send the email, everything is perfect. What next? Youmight recieve an auto-reply simply telling you your form wassubmitted successfully, or not. Now, you wait. One month, amonth-and-a-half, two months, sometimes more, sometimes muchmore. Most agents will have a statement to the effect, "If youdon't receive a reply within 4-6 weeks contact us at..." I seensome that say something like "If you do not hear from us within 8weeks accept our no response as a rejection." Occasionally,you'll see that they ask your to resubmit after a certain amountof time. They're all different, pay attention to their websites!And make notes of all this info in your spreadsheet.

Make absolute certain that everything you submit is edited andproof read, preferrably by a professional, before submitting toan agent. Remember, if they find mistakes in your query they willreject it with no second thoughts.

Do NOT ask the agent to send you a confirmation that theyreceived your query.

Does the email system you use have some kind of anti-spamprocess that forces the other person to click through? BAD newsfor your hope of getting accepted by an agent, disable it for allbook-related message.

Many agents will not send a response of any kind, other thanthe auto-reply you got when you submitted the query, even if theyreject your book. Silence always means a reject. Accept it,that's just the way the industry works.

What about sending a follow-up message?

Generally speaking, don't. Follow-up to a query letter? Don'tdo it.

If you feel the need to follow-up on a query you sent three,four, or more months before, do so by email only, never via thephone. And never, never visit their office. Before you send afollow-up message check their website for specific follow-upinstructions. Also, look for text such as "no response is ano."

For regular queries, do not do follow-up emails, they'll justirritate the agent. They get hundreds of message every week,they're already loaded with more than they can read.

So, let's say you get a partial/full manuscript request froman agent, you sent it, now you're waiting. First, go back totheir website and look for any information about follow-ups andfollow those instructions. If no such instructions exist, then insix weeks or so, you still haven't heard back from the agent,send them a very, very cordial message to follow-up. Then, aftera month and no response, resend your message. If you want you cando this montly forever, but chances of getting a response go downforever, as well. You might send a follow-up if you have excitingnew news to share that might be beneficial to getting your book acloser look - you had a short story published, some poemspublished, you won a writing award, etc.

So, what should you write if you're going to write a follow-upmessage? Something like this would suffice:

"Dear (BE SURE TO USE THEIR ACTUAL NAME!),
I am writing to follow up on my email sent on July 4, 2022,regarding my novel The Follow-Up.
Could provide me with an update on the status of my submission,please?
I appreciate that you are extremely busy, and thank you fortaking the time to read my email.
Kind regards,
YOUR ACTUAL NAME

Let's say you recieve an offer for you book from one of yourqueries, what about all the other agents you send queries to? Itis now time to contact all of them and let them know you book hasbeen picked up by another agent. Yes, all of them, that have notcontacted you within the specified amount of time on theirwebsites. Again, if no response within the specified time, thentheir response is a rejection. But, if their specified timeperiod is three-four months and you receive an offer within thatthree-four month period you should send a message and let themknow that they can move on to another potential client.

Here are some tips from some actual literary agents:

1. Julie Gwinn, The Seymour Agency
   My top tip is to research word count. I get so many proposals andqueries that are either too short or too long. Novellas are35,000?45,000 words. Novels range from 70,000?90,000words, and historical and sci-fi/fantasy can go longer to 110,000words (for world-building).
   My top peeve is when they spell my name wrong or I get the "DearAgent" query.
2. Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary Agency
   Get a query critique group. Before sending out any query, run itby a few trusted writing friends, but not those who?vealready read the book. Find a support network for just queries.These are people you?re trying to sell the book to (likeyou?ll be selling to agents or readers in a bookstore). Arethey intrigued enough to want to read the book? If not, get backto work on the query or, possibly, the book. Is it just the querythat?s not grabbing them, or is it the overall idea?
3. Lauren Bieker, FinePrint Literary Management
   
   • Don't misspel my name.
   • Querying me with a genre that I have explicitly said I do notrep.
   • Querying with a story that is "unlike anything the world'sever seen". If you can't find comparative titles for your book,neither will any publisher/marketing team.
   • Following up hourly/daily on a query (yes, this hashappened).
4. Gina Panettieri, Talcott Notch Literary Service
   I think not paying any attention to what I actually represent andthe requirements for a query are my biggest pet peeves becausethey waste so much of our time as a team. If my assistants spend50% of their time wading through queries that are forinappropriate material and another 25% having to ask foradditional details, like the word count or the sample pagesbefore they can actually make a determination, that means there'sthat much less time for the really appropriate projects we shouldbe focusing on. So, it hurts everyone. We don't have as much timeto read, consider and reply on works that were queriedcorrectly.
5. Juliet Mushens, Caskie Mushens Agency
   Get someone else to proof-read your letter before sending itover?when you?re really close to something it?seasy to see what is supposed to be there, but I lose track of thenumber of submissions that address me by the wrong name, or haveother big errors.
6. Laura Crockett, TriadaUS Literary Agency
   Tips
   
   • Query letters are truly like a book jacket. The book jacketsof published work give you enough information to understand thegroundwork/backstory, a character to focus on and their first bigobstacle that sends them on the journey, and then a hook to getyou to open the book and discover for yourself. Then there's amini bio on the author. That's exactly what a query should looklike?concise, thorough, enticing.
   • Know your market! It's so great to read books released in thelast few years that's within your target audience and genre. Ithelps you become a better writer, it shows the agent you areup-to-date on readers' interests, and it helps both of youprovide comparative titles when pitching to an editor down theroad on submission. If you're writing YA fantasy, you're readingthe latest YA fantasy; if you're writing adult historicalfiction, you're reading the latest adult historical fiction; ifyou're writing middle grade mystery, you're reading the latest MGmystery.
   • Do not begin a query letter with a "what would you do if"question or "you would/know" declarative assumption. I'm awareit's an attempt to hook me in, but it's more of a road block andyou don't want that so early into the query letter. Like writingessays in school, you wouldn't (and shouldn't) begin the essaywith a question or a "Webster's Dictionary defines ___ as"statements.
   Peeves
   
   • A query letter is ultimately a business letter or a jobinterview. I loathe it when the query letter is full of typos,grammatical errors, misspelling my name and/or addressing as"Dear Agent," or has more focus on the writer's bio and lessabout the manuscript. The query letter needs to be polished andprofessional. Otherwise it leaves a negative impression?orat least the impression the writer isn't ready for this businessyet.
   • It's great when the writer does their research on the agent'sreading interests, but overfamiliarity with the agent's personallife and commenting on it in the query is a huge no-no.
   • Many times querying writers treat the query as an opportunityto teach. My manuscript explores themes of love and loss throughthe lens of __, much like my inspirations [60yo book] and [neverheard of this long-dead author]. This isn't an English class. Ican determine what the themes are when reading the manuscript,and if I offer representation I will ask you what inspired you towrite this story.
7. Josh Getzler, Hannigan Getzler Literary
   
   • My top tip is for an author to be sure that the agent you arequerying actually represents the kind of book you are writing!Nothing tips me off more quickly that a submission is random thanwhen I get a picture book or a Christian genre novel, both ofwhich I explicitly state in my guidelines that I don't rep (manyother folks do, and brilliantly; but I don't).
   • On the (positive) flip side, when an author makes referenceto books I have repped, and then show why I therefore might likehers or his, I look at it with a positive eye (whether or not Iend up liking the material itself).
8. Paige Wheeler, Creative Media Agency
   Tips
   • Queries tend to need to pick up fast, even faster than thebook itself, so a solid hook to draw the agent in is a nice wayto ensure at least a little interest.
   • Sending to as many agents as you can is not a bad strategy,but you should still take the time and care in craftingindividualized letters.
   • Comparative titles are always nice to see in a query andhelps determine right away what kind of novel the author wasgoing for.
   • Similarly, figure out what genre categories your work fallsunder and include that in your query.
   • It?s not a bad idea to seek out recommendations foragents to submit to. If you know other authors, that?sgreat! If not, looking/asking around online can be helpful,too.
   • Just because you don?t hear back from an agent within amonth or two, that doesn?t mean they?re notinterested or are ignoring you. Persistence is key: sometimesthings get looked over or stuck in spam, etc. Many agents willspecify how long to wait before inquiring about an unansweredquery, so look for that, but don?t hesitate to reach outagain.
   • Proofread your query letter as carefully as you proofreadyour work; it?s the first sample of your writing that wesee.
   • Your synopsis should be as engagingly written as yourmanuscript.
   • Make sure your work has a strong opening.
   Peeves
   
   • Honestly, just seeing grammatical errors and simple typossometimes makes me think the writer didn?t take the time toproofread their query or even the novel. It?d be great ifmore people took the time to do that.
   • Kind of along those lines is when people don?t eventake the time to individualize letters. Saying ?DearAgent,? or something vague just seems lazy.
   • I really dislike when the sample (sometimes the whole query)is attached as a file or you are directed to a link. Usually youhave to download the file to view it which is superannoying.
   • I wish there was a standardized font/font size to use inqueries. Most of the time it?s fine, but sometimes the textis super tiny and I have to magnify the page to read it.
   • We know you?re excited about your work and you believein it, but exclamation marks can read as unprofessional.
   • Queries that don?t follow an agent?s submissionguidelines can make a bad impression. It sends the signal thatthe author can?t (or won?t) follow directions.
   • If asked to send a synopsis, having a confusing or incompletesynopsis is a turnoff. A compelling and concise synopsis willdefinitely help a query stand out from the rest.
   • In the query itself, don?t spell out the entire plot ofyour book, keep it short and simple.
   • Don?t mention or pitch multiple projects in the query.Just focus on the project you are currently querying.
   • Overconfident authors who think that they have the story ofthe century.
9. Janet Reid, JetReid Literary
   Five things that drive me crazy:
   • Not sending pages
   • I've heard tell there are agents who don't want pages.
   • I'm not one of them.
   • Show me you can write. Most of you can't write queries forsh*t. Give yourself a fighting chance with something you CANwrite: novel pages.
   • Not telling me the start of the story/the precipitatingevent/anything about the plot
   At some point you need a plot on the page.
   The query is a good place to start.
   Effusive compliments/ANY compliments really
   I don't want someone who talks like I walk on water.
   Sharks swim. There's a difference.
   And I want someone who wants to be on my team, not revere me.
   It's brutally uncomfortable to read balderdash like "you're oneof the greats."
   Repeatedly sending what you think is a query (and isn't) in themisguided assumption that I haven't already read it and discardedit because you didn't tell me about the book.
   Telling me you're a previously published author as though that'sa big plus
   Unless you've sold one million copies, it isn't.
   Compounding this is when you don't include any info about the newbook leading me to think that you expect me to want you, not yourbook.
10. Abby Saul, The Lark Group
    My top peeve is writers not knowing what word count isappropriate for their genre. I often get queries that sound likethey could be interesting but then say they are 45K or 150Kwords.
    Too short or too long of a word count will sink your query (andyour book) before an agent can read a word.
11. Kristina Perez, Zeno Agency
    Keep your query letter short and sweet. A greeting (personalisedis nice but not necessary), a 200-word pitch of your book, and ashort bio that is relevant to your project. And follow theagent's directions for the length and format of the material theywant to see!