I can’t speak for all literary agents, but I appreciate an author with chutzpah! Not familiar with the word? Maybe you’ve not seen it spelled out, but you may have heard it. Here’s the pronunciation: HOOT-spah (spa).
Such a fun word to say, right?
Originally a Jewish word, chutzpah meant arrogance or pushing boundaries. However, something fascinating happened! Once chutzpah slid into the Yiddish lexicon, its meaning softened from a negative to a more positive connotation. Now, chutzpah is associated with go-getters or people with unshakable confidence.
As far as writers go, here’s how I would use it in a sentence to convey the theme of today’s post: Your pursuit of publishing requires chutzpah. However, you must avoid allowing your chutzpah hijack your chance at publishing.
Here are three observations to help you stay determined while avoiding mistakes that could be detrimental to your career.
1. If the Agent Establishes Submission Guidelines, Follow Them.
Chutzpah spins into carelessness when you ignore an agent’s submission rules. Yes, we have a defined process because we receive a significant number of submissions. Our submission guidelines give us the best chance of viewing your work. If your agent or editor has another brand or business, submitting your project in those areas doesn’t increase your chances of being seen. You’re increasing your chance of being deleted. On my author’s Facebook page, I include an automated message directing people to our agency submission portal, but writers routinely ignore it. I do not view proposals or queries that are not submitted through our process. If a writer can’t follow those simple directions, how can I trust they will follow directions as a client?
For those who hate how it takes agents seemingly forever to follow up, my next observation is for you.
2. Patience Isn’t Only a Virtue; You Need It to Thrive in the Publishing Process.
You sent us your proposal or query, and now, you’re waiting like a single person waiting for a spouse. Each day holds the question, “Will today be the day?”
For someone with chutzpah, waiting makes you want to claw your eyes out. After all, you’re a go-getter. You make things happen. Now, nothing is happening. Ugh.
What you don’t want to do is email the agent or editor each week. It may reduce your anxiety to feel like you did something, but emailing us doesn’t speed up our process.
While you’re not hearing from us, we’re working with our current contracted authors. This could mean editing their proposals, working on their contracts, or problem-solving a myriad of marketing or publicity issues.
It’s helpful to recognize that your ability to practice patience now will bless you later. Once you have an agent and your project is under submission, it can take two months to a year or more to hear back from a publisher. Sometimes a project is rejected, and authors need to create entirely new projects. Patience is a necessary skill for surviving the publishing journey.
If patience is hard, I wrote another Books & Such blog post on the topic with some practical tips. You can read it here.
3. Stalker Posting is Not Recommended.
What’s stalker posting? This happens when a hopeful author has submitted their query or pitched an agent, and now they post all over the agent’s social media as a digital form of “Notice me!” Once you submit a query or proposal, be chill when you’re engaging with the agent. Overposting on their social media will not push your project to the top of their pile.
To be clear, we do encourage prospective clients to become familiar with their agent’s social media and engage with the posts. We’ve loved the commenters on our Books & Such blog over the years, and we’re looking forward to expanding our community on Substack.
If you wisely decide that social media stalking isn’t for you, then what’s next? This final point is for you.
4. Pour Your Chutzpah Into Self-Development!
Looking for a way to redirect your go-getter energy? If you’ve submitted your project or query and you’re wondering what’s a healthy or helpful way for you to keep moving forward, try any one of these:
- Attend or serve at a writer’s conference;
- Joining a writing community or critique group;
- Work on your next book idea;
Thank you for joining me for this week’s conversation. We also love hearing your thoughts in the comments. Have you seen authors doing wild stuff to grab an agent’s attention? What are you working on these days as you pursue your publishing career?
P.S. Do You Know that Books & Such has a podcast? We do! Each month, we discuss the topics you need to know about in order to be successful in your publishing journey. Listen to this month’s podcast here!
© Barb Roose, Books & Such Literary Management 2026