Why Is It So Difficult To Get A Literary Agent?

Our agency recently had a bad experience with a writer. He posted a vicious blog after we turned down his work. (Apparently 316 other agents had rejected him and we were the straw that broke the camel’s back.) Luckily, it’s noteworthy when that kind of drama explodes.

But I’m not unsympathetic to his disappointment; finding an agent isn’t easy. Most of my friends are writers; I’ve spent many hours helping them craft a submission list and compose a query letter. I feel personally involved in their hunt! And I’m always surprised at how long it can take for a debut author to get his work read and then taken on — even while I realize intellectually, that when an agent passes, it’s not a judgment on your work. Here’s why:

*  When an agent is established and has a big list, she might decide that your book is too similar to others on her list. Or her father is dying. Or she’s had a baby. Or four of her clients have just submitted their work.

*  There is no objective reality in publishing. I can send out a manuscript to 28 editors, I’ll get rejects from 27 of them (each of whom will have a completely different response to the book) and it will become a bestseller.

*  Agents spend most of their time tending their clients; they’ve got to keep their lists small, otherwise they won’t get their work done.

*  Book agents and publishers are like venture capitalists. Agents are figuring out whether a project is worth an investment of their time. Publishers, of course, are weighing the possible upside to an investment they know is more likely to disappear.

*  When a literary agent reads your manuscript here is what he is thinking: Who can I send it to? Where will it be placed in Barnes and Noble (or what kind of metadata will be used)? Will this bring in money? Reviews? Can I visualize what needs to be done editorially to get it into shape? Is this in a category that I’ve been hoping to move into? Will this be fun to work on? But most of all, it’s: Do I have enough time to do a good job for this author?

* A Literary Agent always wants to fall in love. There is nothing in Bookland that is more enticing than a debut author: No bad sales figures! Endless potential! The drama of discovery! In other words, we want you to be our Cinderella; we want the slipper to fit; and when it does, we will commit with all our heart.

This is why an author can only spend twenty percent of her time looking for an agent. Getting a literary agent is like searching for a job. You’ve got to do it seriously and methodically, but the rest of your life needs to be spent writing the next book, and well, living your life.

Getting Started On Your Book Proposal

It takes just as much time to write a book proposal as it does to write the book.

Is that what you’re saying? 

Yes. It is.

You may be a journalist, an academic, an essayist or a novelist. You may have published your memoir, published books in various literary genres, or written a cookbook.

You may have read books on how to write a book proposal. (The one I’m most partial to is Susan Rabiner’s THINKING LIKE YOUR EDITOR.)

You may have jotted down your overview, dug up your bio, pulled together a chapter outline, or even used a proposal template.

But if you’re like most of the accomplished writers who come to me, you don’t have a three-sentence description of your book. Nor do you have a title.  And this means you don’t really know what your book is about. You are master of your subject matter, but you haven’t yet figured out what the story is.

Writing a book proposal can be daunting. Here’s how to get started:

Look at the nonfiction books on your shelf. Read their introductions. That introduction started its life as a long e-mail addressed to the literary agent. These intros read like a speech to a bunch of college students, don’t they? They open with a wry, personable, chatty story.

So write that e-mail. Go on and on, explain why you came up with this idea. Tell stories, give examples, describe how you gathered your story, describe the structure of your book, set down your credentials. Don’t censor yourself. If you over-edit yourself now, your voice will be strained and awkward. Your work will sound dry and tortuous. Have fun writing it, but don’t send it out.

Then, focus on the title and the subtitle. Look at the titles of books in your area.  See how they often have two or three words. Good hearty nouns. When I look at the title and subtitle of Jane Mayer’s DARK MONEY: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, I am consumed with envy.

You’re probably scared of the chapter outline aren’t you?  Imagine that you’re teaching a thirteen-week course in your subject. Each chapter is an hour long …. . Look at LORDS OF THE SEA: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy by John R. Hale if you’re an historian.

Once you’ve completed these three steps, congratulations! You thought writing the sample chapters was going to be the difficult part, but it’s not nearly as difficult as book proposal you’ve just done.

Query Letters that Worked

Before you get started on the first of fifty drafts of your cover letter, I urge you to look at publishers’ catalogues (which are issued about four months before a book is published and are used by sales reps to pitch their company’s titles to booksellers). Hachette makes those and all their various imprints available online.

I’ve seen a lot of query letters that worked by adopting this method. Generally, each book gets a page in the publisher’s catalogue, and all houses use the same general formula/template: The first sentence is the hook or the handle or the one-minute elevator pitch. The next paragraph highlights the story itself. The third paragraph describes the book’s competition, its comparable books. The fourth paragraph tells you about the author and her credentials. Off to the sides of the main text, you’ll generally see quotes or reviews.

Draft your query letter as if it’s catalogue copy.  Of course the letter will sound clunky and artificial at first, but you’ll be able to smooth it out.

If you’re not getting agent responses to your current query letter, try this approach. I’ve seen a lot of query letters that worked this way.