April 7, 2006
RJ asked about agents, and I wrote a lengthy post about 7 months ago on this, and I'm feeling lazy, so here it is again:


September 2, 2005
I have been a little reluctant to touch on this topic, but I know a lot of writers are interested. I've called it Writing 301 because it's more advanced than other lessons, not because it's more difficult, but because I think writers should pay more attention to learning how to write and learning the business of writing before venturing out to working with an agent. That said, I've had 3 agents. The first was an amateur, though he sold some stuff for other people. The second was a New York agent with a well-established agency who represented me for 6 years and never sold anything. I broke off with them because I felt that they were getting to a point where every time I sent in a manuscript I could hear echoes all the way from the East Coast saying, "Oh Jesus, here he comes again." And their responses got slower and slower and slower. I'm not bitter about it. They must have seen something in my writing and overall I'm grateful for their support, but sometimes things just don't work out. And my recent agents, who are not in New York, have managed to get me signed up with a 2-book contract. So I do understand a bit about this. First, what does an agent do for you?

1. They represent your materials to editors. Presumably appropriate editors for the materials. They may do a bit of buzz building and selling before they send it. They presumably have some sort of relationship with various editors or at the very least know what types of materials editors like and are looking for.

2. They negotiate contracts. I've negotiated three book contracts (actually 4, now that I think about it) myself, and watched as my agent negotiated the 2-book contract with Midnight Ink/Llewellyn Worldwide. That 15% commission you pay your agent is worth every penny. Although I have some understanding of what the contracts are about, knowing what was fair was a complete mystery. My agent knew and asked for it. She could give me advice. Unlike me, she was willing to walk away if she thought the contract was too bad.

3. Advances and royalties are paid to the agent by the publisher. The agent then deducts their commission and cuts a check for you. If the publisher is a slow-pay or there are problems, your agent is your financial representative.

4. Market and sell subsidiary rights like foreign sales, audio sales, TV and movie sales. Assuming that the agent negotiated control of these things in your original contract.

5. That's about it. Those are the three basics. There are other things an agent may do. An agent may give you editorial advice. Two of mine have. They may give you career advice. They may give you marketing support and advice. Not all do. They may hold your hand and tell you how wonderful you are, etc., but that's more style than job requirement.

So how do you get an agent?

1. Write something. Finish it. I know you've heard of people getting their first novels picked up by agents (and publishers) on the basis of a few chapters and an outline. That's nonfiction. In fiction, it happens from time to time. From time to time people get struck by lightning and live. It's not advisable and it's not common and it's no reason to dance naked on your roof during an electrical storm. Make the manuscript just as good and clean as you possibly can.

2. There are two very good sources for agent. The Association of Author Representatives website. I don't have it here, but you can google it. The AAR has a canon of ethics, membership requirements, and a list of members. Note. My current agents are not AAR members, but adhere to the canon of ethics. Another source, and for my money a little bit better one, is "Guide to Literary Agents," by Vater, published by Writer's Digest Books.

3. Write a query letter. Rewrite it. Rewrite it again. Make it really, really good. Make sure it fits on one sheet of paper. Agents get hundreds, even thousands of queries. Brevity in query letters is a virtue. Get to the friggin' point. Treat this as a major, vital writing assignment. Craft it. Structure? I suggest you start with, "I have written a thriller titled 'REALLY COOL TITLE HERE' that runs about 95,000 words." Follow it with a brief, interesting, concise, intriguing description of your story. Work on this. In that first sentence the word count isn't vital, but the type of book is. If your manuscript runs 250,000 words, stop writing the query letter, go back to your novel and edit until it's closer to 100,000 words. An agent will not likely be too interested in a first novel by an unpublished novelist that is that long, no matter how good it is. The kids who wrote Eragon had to cut 400 pages!

Paragraph 2 is who you are. If you have any kind of publication history, describe it here. If you have publication history that ties into the book--ie., you've published short stories, another novel, etc., mention it here. If you've foolishly self-published through iUniverse or any of those places, should you mention it? No. They don't give a shit. Unless, of course, your self-published opus went on to sell 50,000 copies. If it did, don't worry, agents and editors are probably looking for you. If you haven't published anything, but your career ties into something in the book, mention it. In other words, you're writing a novel about a forensic expert and you happen to be a forensic expert. Otherwise, keep it to a minimum.

Paragraph 3. Here's where I vary a bit. Tell them you've enclosed a brief (one-page synopsis) and the first 50-some pages of the manuscript (see next section) and a self-addressed stamped envelope.

4. You can just go with the query letter, synopsis and SASE. It's cheaper. It's also less effective. If they're interested, they'll ask to read 3 or 4 chapters or maybe the entire manuscript. Be confident. Send out a decent chunk. They'll probably at least take a peek. Then they'll throw it away if they don't want it. Oh, which reminds me. That SASE. Business envelope, one stamp. Don't send postage to have the manuscript returned. It's useless to you. They'll have spilled coffee on it, kicked it around the mailroom, whatever. It's not useful for sending out again. Have them discard it. Either tell them, "If this manuscript does not meet your needs, please discard and let me know with the enclosed SASE." Or assume they have at least half a brain and can discard it themselves because it won't fit into a business envelope. DO NOT SEND THE ENTIRE MANUSCRIPT. It's tempting, right? Hey, why just send 50 pages and not the entire ms? Well, because they won't read it and it might get returned to you and it's expensive to copy and ship an entire manuscript. Also, see the next section.

5. Some articles on getting an agent suggest you send these query letters out one at a time. Well, how do I say this? Bullshit. Yes, that will do. This is a numbers game. Agents receive hundreds of unsolicited letters every week. Hundreds! Most are shit. Incorrect names, spelling, grammatical errors, hand-written, inappropriate or psychotic. Letters that read like: "My brother said my novel is great and shoold be a bestseller like John Grishum, and I think so to, so here it is, when do I get my check?" Or, "I know you'll love my book it's great. And if you don't, and you tell me, I'm going to kill myself, so don't tell me you hate it because I'm just sitting here with a bottle of pills waiting your rejection letter." Out of those hundreds, a few will look professional. Let's throw that word out here again. PROFESSIONAL. Out of those, the agent will take a peek at the query. The story might sound interesting. It might sound boring. It might sound marketable. It might not. It might sound just like a manuscript they've already got on their desk. They may have had 6 rejections recently for manuscripts that sound just like yours. They might not read it at all, overwhelmed by work, and have a flunky shovel form rejection letters into all of them just to clear space in their office.

It may also take a month or longer (or forever) for them to respond positively or negatively. I've had responses to queries comes back a year later saying, "You manuscript sounds interesting, please send me..." So I suggest:

Photocopy the first 50-ish pages 10 times. Send them out. Wait a few days. Maybe a week. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again.

I did this around 100 times when I acquired my latest agent. She was in the 80s somewhere. I started at the beginning of the Vater book, in the As, sending to agents who are listed as being interested in my type of book and interested in taking on new clients. Not all listings in these books are accurate. I had two agents interested simultaneously, or close to it. The first one asked for limited exclusivity. I agreed. Two days later, Irene, my agent, e-mailed to ask to read The Devil's Pitchfork. I told her politely that another agent was reading it and I had agreed to 3 weeks exclusivity. If he declined, would she still be interested? She said yes. A week later the other agent declined. I e-mailed Irene back and asked if she was still interested. She was. I mailed it off to her. She also asked for a couple weeks exclusivity (this is a topic for another post) and I said yes. She got back to me in less than a week, phoned, saying she wanted to take me on as a client. I've been quite happy.

The real elements to getting an agent are:

1. A good product to sell
2. Professionalism
3. Persistence

I'm willing to cover questions on this, because this is rather long as it is.

Oh, one more comment. They say you can find out more about agents by reading the credits on books like yours, by going to conferences, etc. All true. Just never worked for me. I've yet to meet an agent at a conference, and I've tried the "my book is similar to one of your clients', so-and-so..." and that hasn't worked. I had a writer friend of mine give me an intro to his agent. Didn't work, though it got read. My writer friend's wife said not to take it too personally, nobody they had passed on to him ever got picked up, even an author who later won the Booker Prize, the British version of the National Book Award.

Do you want a big, successful New York agent? Well, it wouldn't hurt. But what you mostly want is an agent who likes your work and is willing to be professional and persistent. An agent that believes in you and your work is the key, I think.

Oh, couple more points. Sorry.

Should you pay to have an agent read your manuscript? No. It's against the AAR canon of ethics. THere are agents out there, some legit, some not, who charge and some who clearly make a living off the reading fees. My agents do charge for photocopying and postage. I pay it. Do I like to? No, but I'm willing, at least until my books start bringing in boodles of bucks, then we'll discuss it.

Does my agent have to be in New York? No. Doesn't hurt. Mine aren't. Mine are in Texas and Oregon. They travel to NY often. They also use those newfangled devices called telephones, fax machines and e-mail. Go figure.

Should you give an agent exclusivity? Limited seems reasonable. 3 or 4 weeks. An agent that says, "I want unlimited exclusivity while I'm reading your manuscript" is probably being unreasonable. Say yes, for four weeks. With any luck they'll get to it in that time. Be polite and professional. I think the exclusivity issue is annoying. They won't provide you exclusivity. They won't say, "I'm really excited about you and your work, so I'm going to put everything aside and give your my exclusive time and attention." But that's what they're asking you to do. And sometimes they ask for an open-ended exclusivity, while the manuscript sits on their desk for 6 or 8 weeks or longer. Do it, but be careful about it. You're trying to develop a professional business relationship with these people. No reason to jerk each other around before you even get started.

Best,
Mark Terry