When material is requested, get it in the agent’s hands!

If/when your work is requested by an agent it’s in your best interest to get it to them ASAP.

If you take a long time to get your work to an agent (I’m talking 1 to 2 weeks) it says that:

a) You haven’t edited your work and you queried too soon

b) You haven’t finished your work and you’re finishing it now

c) You aren’t taking this process seriously and aren’t checking your query emails

Non Fiction: What pushes a proposal to the top?

Non fiction is a hard market to break into right now. It is heavily based on platform and figures from TV and radio. The reason publishers are investing in these projects is the large and defined market that the authors bring with them. So how can you use this to your advantage?

There are a number of problems with the non fiction queries and proposals that come in to us:

Lacking Numbers.

Publishers want to know how many people you reach with your existing platform: blog stats, Twitter followers, website hits, speaking engagements, networked connections, endorsements and more. If you fail to provide these numbers a) it won’t catch anyone’s attention b) we’ll assume the worst and c) we’ll think you haven’t given adequate attention and commitment to your project.

Vague, vague, vague.

Generalizations and vague statements are a major downfall of proposals. Non fiction proposals and content have to provide information in a relevant, controversial, or meaningful way. Edit yourself to find out what you are really trying to say. Find your hook. Give yourself the ammunition to be successful.

Dated content.

Publishing is a slow industry. Non fiction needs to think ahead. Timing with anniversaries (ie. Titantic anniversary books have been in the works for years) and up to the minute scientific or business information are crucial. Non fiction books are commissioned and acquired 18 to 24 months before publication. ‘Crashing’ non fiction still takes 12 months. If you have something to say that is time sensitive, why not publish a short article, start a blog or publish an ebook. Think about whether the timing of traditional publishing is right for you. 

Manuscript Reading: Don’t assume we’ll read it right away, or at all.

You spend two years writing a novel. You start submitting it to agents. You get some sample material requests. And it disappears into the abyss…

Or so it seems. What happens behind the scenes is different in each situation and different for each agent. If we’re excited we might push it to the top of the pile. If we’re super busy we might be excited about it, but it might take days/weeks to get to it.

I want to reiterate not to assume anything. If we get back quickly or if we get back slowly we might have the same levels of excitement, but it surfaces differently depending on a variety of factors.

In addition, never assume that we’ll read the whole thing. If we’re loving it we will, but if we waver and see the stack of contracts on our desk reminding us of the other things we need to be doing, we might put down your work and never pick it back up. Just because we requested it, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that we’re dropping everything to read it (or read it all). 

An Agent Is Not An Editor

As an agent I am not there to overhaul your manuscript in an extensive editing process. My job is to get it in the best shape I can for submission to editors, but substantial editing is not in my job description because agents don’t have time for it and not all agents are trained editors.

I edit my client’s work to improve the novel’s structure, flush out characters, procure consistency, ask the right questions to get the novel to where it needs to go–as well as copyedit and proofread–before we take it to acquiring editors.

My Manuscript Evaluation Checklist

With all the submissions I get I use my intuition and my checklist to see how they fare. While it is mostly gut reaction I need the checklist to balance out my feelings so I can best evaluate the content and quality of the material I’m looking at.

I’ve received some great queries lately so if you want to know how to get from the query stage to me interested in taking your work further I share my checklist showing what I look for when I read your work:

• Does the beginning work? Does the ending work?
• Does the plot have good pace, does it make sense, and is it a natural outcome for the premise?
• Do I care about the outcome of the characters?
• Do the characters stick to their traits?
• How many subplots are there? Do they have appropriate attention with what you’ve set out to do in the novel?
• Is the writing of high, lasting quality?
• Is it special? Will it stand out on an editor’s desk and in a bookshop?

Why don’t agents comment on the manuscripts they pass on?

The inside of my brain...

This is a tough one. Every agent feels differently about this, but my general philosophy is this: if I wrote up notes while I was reading the manuscript, I’ll pass them on, but if there are so many issues in the manuscript that I can’t tackle effectively in an editorial letter while balancing the work load of my clients then I won’t write one. That being said, there are many reasons why agents don’t explain why they pass on your manuscript and they include the following:

Time. I touched on this already, but our existing clients are always our first priority. We work so hard for them and do our best to balance reading the slush pile with our other work, but that often falls to the side as I read my clients’ work, their referrals, then the slush pile. Agents take time to read the slush pile, request material, and then take a huge chunk of their day, evening, night, and morning commute to read a manuscript that they aren’t sure whether they can invest in. If it is a pass after all this time has been put into it we need to get back to work on the phone calls and emails that have been waiting for us in the meantime.

Investment. Agencies don’t get paid until you get paid. That being said, it is always worth reading the slush pile because there are always those rare gems, however it takes awhile for those gems to turn into a manuscript that an agent can represent and sell. Our time is a huge investment and it’s all we have to give. Be patient with us when it takes time to get to your manuscript, because even though you might dislike form rejection letters even those take time for our staff to email out to everyone. We do the best we can in the careful balance of our job descriptions.

The True Beginning

Does your novel start in the right place? Read on for tips...

Do you know where to start your novel?

Successful commercial fiction doesn’t start with first words you ever put on the page. The start is where the true beginning lies. It’s where the book takes off. It’s where subtle character introduction meets engrossing plot. I don’t mean an interesting memory or event. I mean riveting, don’t want to put it down, if I only requested three chapters I need more, stat! In today’s age of short Twitter-like attention spans, online reading communities that give you quick starred reviews as well as editors and agents who have piles of reading on their desk and computers you need to grab someone’s attention and keep it.