Searching for an Agent

When people discover that I've written a novel, they're fascinated. They ask me lots of questions, which I'm happy to answer. Almost invariably, though, they also ask me if it's been published yet. They assume that once you've finished your book, the hard part's over; publishers should be falling all over themselves to get your stuff into print.

Ah, if only it were that easy....

Writing your novel, while a significant milestone, is only the first step. (Let's ignore for a moment the many, many revisions you've probably gone through.) Very few publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts or (God forbid) book proposals. First, you need to search for an agent to represent your novel. This involves finding someone who is (a) willing to represent the type of novel you've written, and (b) accepting new clients. Each agent has different requirements for solicitation. Some prefer only a synopsis; a few like to get the first ten pages; one or two accept the first three chapters.

You write your synopsis, sweating blood to condense your hundreds of pages of finely developed characters and intricate plot twists into one sparkling page. You hand craft your query letter, making sure you're witty--but not clownish--and bold--but not ostentatious.

You get your packages ready, submit to three or four agents at a time (making sure you note in the query letter that you're sending out multiple submissions), and sit back and wait. And wait. And wait. After about three or four weeks, you send out another three or four packages, rinse, lather, and repeat.

And you collect the rejection slips. Until you hit that one agent that is the perfect match who is willing to represent your novel to the publishers.

This is only the second step. Your agent will probably have a number of suggestions and recommendations. And after that, your agent will then need to find a willing publisher.

At this point, I'm not allowing the "finding a publisher" part to take a lot of my headspace. I'm solely concentrating on the "finding an agent" part. So the mailings continue....