Top Ten Reasons You Can--and Can't--Get an Agent

Top Ten Reasons You Can’t Get an Agent

1.     You are approaching the wrong agents.

2.     Your marketing strategy is all shotgun.

3.     Your query letter isn’t working.

4.     Your story idea is not unique enough to stand out in the marketplace or to stand up to the competition.

5.     You have no idea what the competition is.

6.     Your story idea is not strong enough or compelling enough to sustain a book-length narrative.

7.     Your story idea is not well-executed.

8.     Your level of craft is not high enough.

9.     You are not an active member of your writing community.

10. You are not prepared to be an author as well as a writer.

Top Ten Reasons You Can Get an Agent

1.     You know which agents would work for you.

2.     You’ve written a great query letter.

3.     You come highly recommended.

4.     Your work is based on a strong idea.

5.     You’ve executed that idea well.

6.     Your level of craft is high.

7.     You’ve already published in this or other formats: literary journals, digital and/or print publications, etc.

8.     You’ve got a platform.

9.     You are an active member of your writing community.

10. You present yourself and your work in a professional manner.

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

It’s Monday morning, and as I sift through the many submissions in my in-box, as well as those by my own clients, trying to plan the week ahead, I can’t help but think of Evan Marshall. Evan Marshall is a literary agent and author of several novels, as well as The Marshall Plan series of writing books and writing software. I’d been a fan of his for years, but I had the good fortune of meeting him in person not long ago, and that encounter has stayed with me.

I was at the Writers Digest Conference in New York City, where I moderated a panel with the congenial Mr. Marshall and fabulous authors JaneK. Cleland, Libby Cudmore, and Reed Farrel Coleman. The “You Know My Methods, Watson” panel was billed as the “Secrets to Succeeding as a Mystery Writer.”

But the words of hard-earned wisdom revealed there applied to stories of all kinds, not just mysteries. But perhaps the most intriguing story was the one Evan told of his own path to publication. He’d been a big success as an agent, but was not having much luck selling his own work.  When his wife asked him what he’d tell himself if he were his client, he said, “Give the people what they want.”

Evan had been writing whatever he wanted to, without regard to his audience—and failing to sell it. As opposed to giving the people want they wanted—which is what he always told his clients to do (and the aspiring writers who read his writing books, of whom I was one). So Evan changed his strategy, gave the people what they wanted, and went on to sell several traditional mysteries.

If you’re writing commercial fiction, you can figure out what your people want.  Study the conventions of your genre, and then play with them. Tweak them, twist them, turn them on their heads—but do not ignore them. Becasue you ignore them at your peril.

I often meet writers who know their craft and tell a good story, but have not found a publisher, or if they have, they’ve not broken out of mid-list. Often this boils down to a failure to take the audience for their work seriously. They’re not acknowledging the conventions of the genre; they’re dismissing the expectations that the readers of the genre bring to the reading experience. (Note: If your work is often called “quirky,” this could be you.)

So respect the readers you’d love to call your own. They know their genre, and they’ll reject those writers who think they are “transcending the genre” (a phrase bound to annoy the devotees) when all those writers are really doing is playing without a net.

Which is another way of saying: Give the people what they want. 

PS: For more on Evan Marshall, see http://www.themarshallplan.net.

PPS: For more on my upcoming Well-Sold Story intensive at the Writers Digest Novel Writing Conference, see http://novel.writersdigestconference.com/index.php/schedule/well-sold-story-intensive.

Yes, Virginia, the Beginning Does Matter

This morning I got an email from a writer that I found very disheartening. It went something like this:

Dear Paula,

I have written a great novel that I’d like to send to you in the hope of obtaining representation. Now I know that the first chapter doesn’t really work, but the rest of it is very good, and I know that you’ll love it if you read the entire manuscript. Does that really matter? Should I send it to you now or wait until I figure out how to fix the first chapter?

Best,

Aspiring Writer

At the risk of repeating myself: Yes, your story opening DOES matter. Because if the beginning doesn’t work, the rest doesn’t matter. The truth is that few readers—and even fewer agents and editors—will read past a poorly executed first chapter.  That’s why I do so many First Ten Pages Boot Camps and that’s why I’m writing a new book about story openings called BEGINNINGS:  How to Craft Story Openings That Impress Agents, Engage Editors, and Captivate Readers that Writers Digest Books will publish in the fall. Because I know how much the beginning matters—and I want to help as many writers get past that first hurdle in the novel-writing process as I can.

The First Page Sells the Book…

That’s what they say in publishing. So take the time to craft a first page, a first scene, a first chapter that engages readers—and keeps them reading.  Here’s a checklist designed to help you ensure that your first chapter:

•          What actually happens?

Too often the answer to this is, “not much.” Make something compelling happen!

•          Why will the reader care about/relate to the characters?

Readers want to fall in love with the protagonist at first sight.

•          How do you want the reader to feel? What have you done to evoke that feeling?

Art is meant to be an emotional experience, not simply an intellectual one. Make your readers feel something.

•          Have you used all the elements of fiction at your disposal—setting, plot, character, theme, etc.?

So many first pages fail to weave in all these elements—and you need them all to write fully realized scenes.

•          Have you chosen the right voice?

When the voice is right on, readers read on.

•          Does the dialogue ring true?

Bad dialogue kills the reading experience faster than most anything.

•          Are the story questions strong enough to keep the reader turning the pages?

Without story questions, there’s no story—just writing.

•          Is it clear what kind of story you’re telling?

Readers play favorites with genre; they want to know what kind of story they’re reading right away.

•          What makes this story different from others of its ilk?

You need to set your story apart from the brand-name competition in your genre—and the sooner the better.

•          Have you gotten the point of view right?

The misuse of point of view is one of the big reasons I pass on stories, even when everything else works.

•          Is the scene well-written and well-edited?

Professionalism counts.

If your story opening passes this checklist test, then you may be ready to shop your work.  Good luck—and happy querying!

NaNoWriMo's Over: Now What?

Okay, so you’ve pounded out a first draft of your new novel, thanks to that intense writing marathon known as NaNoWriMo.

That’s great! Congratulations! But before you drop everything and go looking for an agent or an editor or a publisher to publish your NaNoWriMo masterpiece, STOP!

I know, I know, you turned out 50,000 words and that’s swell. But you’re not ready for prime time yet. Because you are only halfway there.

As I tell writers all the time, over and over again, the people who get published are the people who:

1)      Finish,

and

2) Revise.

So good for you! You finished. Now you have to revise. The good news is, compared to creating an entire story out of the thin air of your imagination, revising is a cinch. In fact, it’s actually fun.

Think of it as decorating. You’ve built the house; now you get to fill it with furniture and books and art and love.

You get to make your house a home. Go for it—and then write that query letter.

For more on revision and query letters, use code PMQHANDS for an extra 20% off:

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QUERIES BY THE NUMBERS (Or, why I haven’t responded to your query letter yet)

Don’t hate me because I’m behind in answering your query. It’s not personal; I have thousands of unread queries in my in-box. Not because I’m lazy or I’m inept or I hate writers—just because I got 1000 queries my first week as an agent and they’ve kept on flooding my in-box ever since.

And I am not alone. In my unofficial survey of agents who actually consider unsolicited queries (not everyone does), I gathered enough data (in an admittedly non-scientific manner) to offer up the following statistics regarding queries. These are the odds you are up against when you send a query:

•      The average agent gets 5,000 to 10,000 queries a year

•      The typical agent represents 30 to 50 clients

•      Which makes the best case scenario in terms of your query resulting in representation: .01% chance

•      And the worst case scenario: .003% chance

What’s the takeaway here? Don’t rely on queries alone. Network with agents, editors, and your fellow writers at conferences and genre association meetings; press your published pals for referrals. Find other means of pitching your work; relying on queries alone is a risky proposition.

And whatever you do, don’t get peeved at publishing professionals who 1) don’t respond; or 2) don’t respond in the way in which you would prefer. Give us a break. We are drowning in inquiries, and we don’t get paid to read queries. We get paid if and when we sell our clients’ work.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some queries to read….

Top Ten Things You Should Never Say to an Agent

1.         I’m calling to tell you about my story.

Don’t query by phone. Or text. Email queries, referrals, and conferences are the best ways to approach an agent. But you should check an agent’s website for submission and query guidelines, and follow those to the letter.

2.         Dear Sir/Madam,

This tells me immediately that you have no idea who I am or what I represent.

3.         Dear Paula Munier,

This tells me immediately that you know how to do a mail merge, but not that you know how to write. For more, see #1.

4.         Dear Paul,

This tells me immediately that you have no idea who I am or what I represent, right down to my name and gender. It also tells me that I can expect a careless manuscript full of typos, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies.

5.         I know you don’t represent “insert genre I don’t represent here,” but mine is different.

Most agents specialize for a reason: Namely, they know what they can sell, and what they can’t. Why would you approach an agent who doesn’t sell what you need selling?

6.         You can sell my 210,000-word story as one big novel or seven 30,000-word books in an epic series.

Ignoring word-count guidelines is the quickest way to discourage any professional from reading your work.  If you don’t know the word-count guidelines for your genre, look it up.

7.         All my beta readers love it.

This is almost the same thing as saying that your mother loves it. For all I know, it could actually be the same thing, as your mother may very well number among your beta readers. This means less than nothing to me, unless your mother and indeed all of your beta readers are bestselling authors in your genre. In which case, you have most definitely buried the lead.

8.         I’ve attached my full manuscript as a word doc.

Agents have overflowing inboxes. And attachments can be computer viruses waiting to happen.  Do not include any attachments in your queries unless specifically requested to do so.

9.         I’ve attached my entire manuscript as a pdf.

Microsoft Word documents are the industry standard. Submitting a pdf screams paranoid aspiring amateur author and/or (perhaps justifiably) paranoid screenwriter turned novelist. Neither (necessarily) inspires confidence.

10.      Here’s my book on a flash drive for you.

Save your time and money. Flash drives may be lighter than hard copies, but they are just as likely to get lost or tossed.

Post Script: It goes without saying—but it happens often enough that I’m going to say it—that you should never insult the publishing professionals you meet on your quest to get published, agents included.  It’s a small world, and what goes around comes around. I’m just sayin.’

Top Ten Reasons Your Story Isn't Selling

1)      Not enough happens.

2)      There’s nothing unique enough about your premise, plot, or protagonist to set your story apart from what's already out there.

3)      The prose is dense and inaccessible.

4)      Your story is not grounded in setting.

5)      The protagonist is not likable or admirable and readers can’t relate to him/her.

6)      You don’t show, you tell.

7)      The beginning is too slow, the middle is too boring, and the ending is too rushed.

8)      The dialogue doesn’t sound like real people.

9)       The story is not told in a strong voice.

10)   The protagonist does not drive the action and/or change enough over the course of the story.