Attracting the attention of a literary agent or editor—for better or worse—is
just like applying to college. Depending on your type of writing (short
stories, novel, non-fiction book), that you hope to publish, there’s an
established application process that every writer must follow. The basic
application—query, synopsis or proposal, and sample chapters—remains industry
standard. Just like applying for college, where the quality of your overall
application (grades, SAT scores, personal essays) determines your acceptance
rate, the same holds true for agents and editors. Indeed, writing awards,
MFA’s, client referrals, publishing credits influence most agent and editors,
but most important is the quality of your writing.
So before you embark on the journey towards publication, make sure you’re the
best student you can be. Write, rewrite, and rewrite some more. Then show your
mom, your friends, and attend a writing workshop before rewriting again. Your
writing must be 150% Grade-A+ quality. Otherwise, you’ll be crushed with a
disappointing acceptance rate. And in the world of publishing, there are no
safety schools.
I want to publish:
It is much easier to sell nonfiction in today’s marketplace than fiction. In
fact, it’s the rare agent who only specializes in fiction because nonfiction
serves as the industry’s bread and butter. Every psychologist, relationship
coach, medical expert, design guru, culinary extraordinaire, talk show host,
politician, ex-Hollywood assistant, and organic farmer has a nonfiction book to
sell. So why not you?
It’s true that literary agents prefer nonfiction authors with credentials and a
platform (professional in-roads for promoting your book). But if you study the
nonfiction books sold by many of the agents in the AQ database, you’ll find
that credentials don’t always mean a PhD or a ten-year gold star career. For
example, spending a year as a university admission counselor gives you the
authority to write a book on “How to Get into College.” Comb your life
experiences and stretch your mind. You might just qualify as an “expert”
nonfiction author after all.
As for the submission process… Agents require a query, describing who you are
and why you’re qualified to write your book, and a proposal, including an
outline, table of contents, and sample chapters. But that’s it. Agents don’t
always need to see the whole nonfiction book because they can sell it to major
publishers on the merits of your credentials and proposal.
So how do you write a nonfiction proposal? Carefully and professionally. There are a ton of books and websites
out there that walk you step-by-step through the process.
We recommend the following resources:
How to Sell, Then Write Your Nonfiction Book by Blythe
Camenson
How to Write a Book Proposal by Michael Larsen
"Non-fiction Writing Resources" on literary agent Steve Laube's website.
Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art by Judith Barrington will help you write your memoir and
Elizabeth Lyon's Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write will help you format it for submission to agents.
The good news about getting fiction published is that there are no rules. You
don’t have to be previously published. You don’t have to be a graduate of a MFA
creative writing program. You don’t have to be the winner of a prestigious
contest. And you don’t have to write like William Faulkner. You just have to
tell a brilliant, intriguing story in 85,000 to 100,000 words. Write a story
that neatly falls into a popular genre category like commercial fiction,
women’s fiction, romance, suspense, or mystery, and you’ll be golden.
Still having trouble picking a genre for your book? Need help understanding the difference between chick lit and women's fiction?
What about the difference between mystery and thriller? Use our Genre Descriptions
to help.
The fiction market is tight. You’ll hear that a lot, so get use to it. You’ll
also find out that it doesn’t matter how beautiful you write. You better tell a
good yarn or you’ll be rejected. A good story with the “oooooh” hook, some
snazzy characters, great pacing, and an intriguing plot will garner agent
representation and a six figure advance ten times faster than the next wannabe
Raymond Carver short story collection. So if you've written a literary masterpiece, be prepared for a lot of rejection.
Are we advocating selling out? Not entirely. We just want writers to mentally prepare themselves.
It's easy to tell yourself that you don't care about being published while you're writing the great American novel.
But four years later, when you're finished with your masterpiece, and you begin shopping it around,
you'll find it hard to swallow all those positive rejections from literary agents who say,
"Wow, you're such a beautiful writer, but sorry, I can't sell your book."
Plot over prose is the mantra of publishing nowadays. Just prepare yourself.
One final thought, novelists… write a query letter and start soliciting
agents, but ONLY if you’ve finished the whole manuscript. Agents will want to
see the whole polished book before they extend representation to a newbie
unpublished author, so don’t query agents until your novel is complete.
| NOVELLAS/SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS |
Publishers want novels, not novellas (adult novels under 60,000 words) or short story collections.
And agents simply follow these orders. While it’s true that agents can sell linked novellas or short story collections to
publishers, it’s often in a two-book deal in which the second book is a future
novel. Although story stories are great for literary magazines, the mantra in
the publishing world is that short story collections don’t sell. So if you’ve
got one to peddle, be prepared for a long uphill battle for your short story
collection.
Don’t get us wrong. It’s not impossible to sell a short story collection to a
major publisher, but it does help if the stories are closely linked
somehow—thematically or through a few reoccurring characters. It also helps if
one or two stories in the collection have been previously published in notable
literary journals. And no—being published on the internet doesn’t count—unless
it’s on The New Yorker’s website.
Don’t take our downtrodden attitude towards short stories as dismissive
poo-pooing of their merit. We fully understand that plenty of contemporary
writers have broken into the publishing scene with their first short story
collections. Aimee Bender, George Saunders, Melissa Banks, and ZZ Packer all
come to mind. We just want all aspiring authors to know that novels are easier
for agents to sell. So don’t sell yourself short—literally.
When we say children’s books, we mean children’s "picture books." Picture books are tricky to get published if you’re an unpublished newbie writer. It’s
a tough market to break into. Reprinted old favorites continue to dominate
booksellers shelf space. Moreover, veteran children’s book authors have become
mini-brands, cornering the market and making it very difficult for new writers to
make an entrance. However, it can be done, and fortunately, writing a 3-8 page
children’s book manuscript is a lot less time consuming than a 300 page novel,
so set to work and explore every viable idea. If one doesn’t seem to be
catching on with agents, try the next one.
When querying agents, send your complete 3-8 pages manuscript along with your
initial query. Don’t ever send accompanying illustrations unless an agent
represents illustrators as well as authors (most don’t). As a first-time
children’s author, it’s unlikely that a major publisher will use your
illustrations or the illustrations of your sister or best friend. They will
hire their own famous big-wig illustrator to put pictures to your words. So
start querying, keep an open mind, and see what happens. With a fabulous enough
idea, anything is possible.
How do I write a query letter?
How do I begin my agent search?
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