by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel
Have you ever felt like you were trying to hit a marker when it comes to getting an agent and wonder how you’ll get there?
Recently, my 13-year-old daughter and I had the chance to try out archery. I’ll wager it had been since I was 13 when I had last tried to hit the elusive bullseye. The primary area we worked with on with my daughter: “Is she left eye dominant or right eye dominant?” The instructor encouraged her to close one eye and look at the target. Then try the other eye. Because what she saw directed her aim.
Isn’t this so much like what writers go through? What you see for yourself directs your aim but then you wonder why it doesn’t hit the bullseye..
Can I share with you that I get what you’re shooting for and I see why it feels like you’re shooting in the dark sometimes? You see one thing, a literary agent sees another. How do you know who to trust with your writing and to help you accomplish the goals you have?
Let me ask you a question. What do you spend your days learning or doing? Anything you spend time doing you will generally become proficient in and you learn the ropes, the tricks of the trade, so to say. Others trust you for what you see and do.
So you want an agent who has spent years invested in the field of publishing and who knows what’s working, what’s not working, what will help an author take their career to the next level. You expect this of professionals you hire for other needs – and you want this for publishing as well.
The challenge is that there isn’t one standard of “what’s working” that agents have. Agents have specifics areas they see sell well and personal experience with certain genres of books. Not all agents sell all categories of books. So it’s important to find an agent who seems to have interest in the kind of book you are writing. How do you do this?
- Query an agent using about 3-4 sentences on what is different about your book.
- Check out an agent’s social media sites and website to see what books they represent
- Go to a writer’s event where agents gather
- Post on social media or email your subscribers asking if any of them have recommendations
The bullseye is the center of what you bring as a writer and what agents feel confident they can sell to a publisher. Most of the time an agent can tell you by hearing you share your idea or reading a sample of your writing if it’s something they would represent. But we ask for a book proposal because it gives us more details that we need to see in order to consider the bigger picture. The proposal is the business plan for the book, much like a business plan you would write for a new venture.
However, you need to realize the bullseye can change. It can feel like the target keeps getting moved back further and you have a further target to reach. That’s because trends change, the markers move, and the needs change for what publishers look for at a given time.
You could query an agent at one point and they could say they’re not interested, but if you were to go back months later, they may be open. Seasons change. So does publishing.
The best thing you can do is not to get frustrated. And to be respectfully persistent. If you get a no, take the agent’s advice and thank them. Don’t hold it against the agent. If you don’t hear from an agent in the timeframe of receiving another offer or that is stated in the agent’s guidelines, most agents don’t mind you contacting them again.
For me what makes one submission stand out over another is two things. One is how long the writer has established himself or herself. Generally the longer a person has been marketing who themselves as a writer, the better they will offer ways to market their book. If marketing sells books, it just makes sense that an author who has already established themselves will have an advantage over someone who hasn’t. If an agent can only take a certain number of writers, then they will likely take the one who is established.
The other piece that I walk away with is a story or a statement that I didn’t know before. Something grabs me and I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s the difference between hearing similar ideas over and over or sensing that the writer knows how to say something in a way that others haven’t. If I like the writing, I’ll read the proposal and if the writer doesn’t have a proposal and isn’t willing to put the time into writing the proposal that helps me sell the book, then I don’t have the tools I need to sell them to a publisher. And if you’re not going to equip me with everything I need, then we’re not going to get very far with our target.
If you’re serious about writing becoming more than a passion, then agents need to see how you are moving into the time and effort into not just writing but marketing your book. No one cares more about your book selling than you and your agent a close second because of their time invested with you. But since we don’t receive anything from your book until it sells, then you can understand why an agent needs to feel absolutely sure about selling your book to publishers upfront. You can help by making sure you meet the criteria they are looking for.
Blythe Daniel is a literary agent and marketer and has been in publishing for over 20 years. She has written for Proverbs 31 Ministries, Focus on the Family, Ann Voskamp, and Christian Retailing. She and her mother Dr. Helen McIntosh are the authors of Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters (Harvest House Publishers).
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