Blogger: Wendy Lawton
I sense much submission angst out there in writer land. I think a quiz is in order to help you identify some of the fatal submission mistakes a writer might inadvertently make.
Take the quiz and then check the answers to see how well you identified the fatal submission mistakes.
- At a writer’s conference you pitched your book to an agent who seemed very interested. She handed you her business card and asked you to send the proposal and first three chapters. The trouble is, you learned so much at the conference you wanted to make changes before you sent it. How time flies while fiddling with a manuscript. It’s now nearly a year later, you’re heading to the conference again and chances are that agent may see you even though you plan to avoid her at all costs. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
- You’ve researched agents and finally picked those you will initially query. You heard back from the agent in your d
ream agency. He said he really liked your writing but he wasn’t looking to represent your genre at this time. The thing that makes you crazy is that another agent in that agency just blogged that your genre is one of her favorites. You can’t believe you ruined your chances with that agency by picking the wrong agent. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No - You’ve finished two manuscripts and even had them edited by a freelance editor who loved them both. You’ve started on a third. You know you need to take that step of submitting them to an agent or editor but you sense they are not quite there yet. Once you get this next book done you’ll go back to them and pick the strongest one to submit. Maybe. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
- Before you figured out the ins and outs of this industry you queried your dream agent with a cringeworthy cover letter along with your amateurish first full manuscript. Every time you see this agent you are filled with embarrassment. You hate that your premature submission took this agent off your list of possibles. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
- Your friend’s agent seems like the perfect match for you but unfortunately that friend tells you the agent is not taking new clients at this time. You forget to take that agent off your list and send to her by mistake. Then you dither about whether to send a follow-up withdrawing the query. You don’t want to draw further attention to your cluelessness just in case there’s a chance in the future. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
- You attended a writers conference the year before last. Three of the agents said they were not looking for the genre of the book you were writing. That was helpful information because now that you are finally ready to submit, you can skip those three. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
- You queried your dream agent and she asked to see the proposal and first three chapters. She liked what she saw and asked for the full manuscript. You were devastated when it came back to you with a “not quite ready” response. The agent suggested all kinds of ridiculous changes. After licking your wounds you looked again at the things she suggested and decided some had merit. You reworked the manuscript and sent it out to a group of different agents. So far there’s been a lot of interest. Fatal submission mistake? Yes or No
So let’s see how you did:
- No. It may be a mistake but it’s not fatal. That agent was interested in more than your manuscript. She was interested in you as a writer. Unless she said, “This is hot, hot, hot. I need to see this immediately,” there is no ticking clock. When you get to the conference be sure to greet the agent, remind her of her interest and explain that you had gone back to the drawing board to improve the manuscript but you’ll be sending it soon. This business is about relationships.
- No. Send it to another agent in the agency. At Books & Such just because one of us may not have an interest in a project or in a writer another agent just might find it right up her alley. I’m guessing most multi-agent firms work this way.
- Yes. Fear of submission is definitely fatal to finding an agent and getting published. No manuscript is perfect. Pry your fingers off those dogeared pages and send.
- No. Chances are your dream agent won’t even remember that submission. There may be one or two agents in our industry with photographic memories or the stray agent who keeps track of every query and submission ever received so they can go back and check. Be that as it may, none of the agents I know– and I’m friends with the best in the industry– hold previous premature submissions against a writer. If you now have a superb project, trust me, you’ll have no problem.
- No. Writing friends give notoriously bad advice. An agent’s list is never full. Janet Grant recently addressed that here. It’s a good thing you “made a mistake” and sent your query to that agent.
- No. It’s a mistake but it’s not fatal. Do not take market information you hear and base your submission on that. Those things are notoriously mercurial. I may say I’m not interested in fantasy at an afternoon panel discussion and by that evening I’ve had three editors ask me if I have any good fantasy manuscripts. All of a sudden I’m looking for fantasy, a mere four hours later. So just get your query out there and see.
- No. It’s not a fatal mistake for you– you reworked the manuscript and will probably land an agent. But it is fatal to the the first agent– your dream agent– who took the time to help you shape the manuscript. She deserves to see the manuscript she helped edit, doesn’t she?
So how did you do? I hope you caught the gist of this– that there are really no fatal submission mistakes except for failing to submit at all.
[Note: I’m going to be out of the office at meetings today so I won’t be able to join in the discussion but I’ll have fun reading your comments later.]TWEETABLES:
A literary agent identifies fatal submission mistakes. Click to Tweet
Writer’s Quiz: Can you spot fatal submission mistakes? Click to Tweet
Good to know that agents reflect God’s grace and mercy, and that do-overs are allowed.
God, grant me grace to accept criticism, mercy to realize that rejection of my submission isn’t personal and perseverance for the do-over.
Well said, Shirlee.
I’m a fist time writer and hesitant to get a bad review, even though I did get several compliments. I’m looking for someone who is willing to read my manuscripts.
Blessings
I really enjoyed the post, Wendy. I failed the quiz but am happy about that. Glad to know the industry can be forgiving.
I found number six the most encouraging, not because I write fantasy, but because it explained so clearly, an agent’s change of mind.
Wendy, thank you. *Hugs*
Having someone to walk this road with is critical.
I want my feet to be firmly planted where God wants me. I want my path to be the one where He can use me the most.
Thank you for helping shed the fear. I’m so blessed by this agency.
It does help shed the fear, doesn’t it? We are indeed blessed.
I did really well on the test.
But, as a gunny who made it out of Chosin told me, testin’ ain’t real life, ’cause them instructors is shootin’ to miss. Usually.
I’m in the process of making mistake #8. A dream agent liked the first MS I submitted, but after a few revisions it didn’t have the necessary snap, so it was suggested I lay it aside. This agent knew I had another MS ready, in a different genre, and suggested I send it in.
I’ve been reworking the MS, but have been hesitant to send it, because I “have the feeling” the agent won’t like it, based on what I “know” of ABA and CBA preferences. To, wit, the MS deals with Catholics and Navajo Shamans and mysticism, and I “know” that just won’t fly.
Thus, mistake #8…oh, and I can break out a #9, too! Yay!
#8 – Reading the mind of a potential agent…only slightly less stupid than reading the mind of one’s husband or wife, because you don’t have to live with an agent.
#9 – Making assumptions about the professional aspects of the publishing business when one’s sole fount of knowledge is a combination of blog reading, fear, and arrogance.
I love your #8!! 🙂
Great additions, Andrew. 🙂
Sigh of relief. This was exactly what I needed to read today. Thank you.
This is so helpful, Wendy! Obviously I needed it, because I didn’t do so well on the quiz. 🙂 Thanks for posting.
I loved this post, Wendy. I did okay on the quiz, but it’s good to hear an agent’s perspective. You covered a variety of questions I’ve had/or have. 🙂 And yes, it’s a comfort to know the only real way to fail is to not submit at all.
Breathing a little deeper now. 🙂
Thank you, Wendy, for yet another dose of encouragement. I did fairly well on the quiz but only because of the benefit of reading agent blogs. I’ll join in the collective sigh of relief today.
Thanks, Wendy.
Over a year ago I submitted to Rachelle, who passed – and she should have. I had just started out and knew nothing about anything. I don’t even have the courage to go back and look at the query I sent her! I am sure it was painfully horrible.
I am now (after several rewrites)querying children’s book agents (would LOVE it if Books and Such handled non-overtly Christian kid lit) and I am painfully aware that I still pretty much know nothing about anything.
But a point comes where you have to step out in faith and do something! No agent can say yes if I don’t ask.
“…you have to step out in faith and do something!”
Sheila, do you mind if I write this on my refrigerator door – not a post-it, on the door itself, with a Sharpie?
I would be honored!
Stepping out in faith is like jumping from a dock. The water can be shockingly cold, I may flap around a little and draw stares from onlookers, and I might even need to be towed to shore, but it is better than standing on that dock until the sun goes down and it’s too late.
The Books and Such blog is a friendly place where people call out “Jump in – the water is fine!”
“Step out in faith and do something.”
I’m with Andrew, this is lovely.
Thank you for this comforting post. Mistakes are not the end of the world! Maybe with the help of this blog every day, I won’t make all of them. Thanks again.
Thank you, Wendy, for helping us from your heart and for giving writers hope and a reason to sigh with relief.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac ❀
This reminds me of one of those Buzzfeed quizzes on Facebook. “How much of an epic fail are your querying skills?”
-I once submitted an MS to an agent…and it was loaded with track changes and notes.
-In an MS, fully in the query zone, I also used the word “giggled” and it was referring to a man.
-After a “thank you, but no thank you”,I basically begged for a do-over. And got it!!
-I got an “Thank you so much, but I’m not taking any new historical fiction clients at this time, but I wish you all the best” rejection, right before my first conference, where I was sure to run into that agent. My nerves felt like pudding, left out in the sun.
All those examples? They each involved my dream agent, who offered me representation at that conference.
Waves a big hello to Mary Keeley. <3
Lessons learned? 1)If you don't dare? You don't do.
2) God has it all figured out, do your work, but trust His plans.
Oh, and ALWAYS wear waterPROOF mascara to conferences. ALWAYS.
Love your story, Jennifer! You and Mary make a great team.
And that’s why I love this blog … because people are real. Our successes, our failures … it’s okay to be real. We’ve all been there.
Thank you, Jennifer!
Waterproof mascara? Wow! No wonder I don’t have an agent!
Thanks for the info! I always find your blog to be super informative. Looking forward to the next post!
Thank you for a very useful and helpful post.
Here’s a question for writers and agents. I see a lot of agents saying “put in the work to know the agent you’re submitting to.” And obviously, it doesn’t do me any good to submit to someone who doesn’t rep my genre. But is there really any benefit to pouring over the agent’s blog and twitter feed to try to find clues that my project is just what they’re looking for? Or if I see comments saying “I don’t like stories about X”, am I really doing myself a favor by crossing them off my list and not submitting? In the digital age it costs me nothing to submit to a host of different agents, but there is a definite cost in time and energy for me to thoroughly research everyone before I submit. And who knows, maybe that agent that says they don’t like stories about heroic quests would actually really like mine.
I’m sure agents are absolutely cringing while reading this, because what I’m suggesting would potentially make their slush pile a lot deeper. But for the writer, what benefit is there to putting in all the extra research? If an agent is going to rep my manuscript, it’s going to be because s/he likes my writing, and not because I mentioned in the query letter “you said you were looking for contemporary Ya with a fantasy twist.”
I promise I’m not suggesting all of this just because I’m lazy. I’m just wondering, with so many agents out there, isn’t it a better strategy to try to get more queries out there, rather than slowly searching for the perfect one who I think is going to like it, based on a few comments on their website (which they may have made months or years prior).
I found this post refreshing and helpful. As a (hopefully recovering) pathological perfectionist, I struggle with making peace with work that is ‘good enough’ and knowing when to ship a MS. Reading about how easy it is to make mistakes in query letters, in conference etiquette, in elevator pitches, etc only causes me more angst. This post helped me to see that most mistakes are, indeed, not fatal. They’re just mistakes. Most can be rectified. Thanks again for the encouragement.
I once had an editor ask me to send a proposal and I waffled and made changes for a year and a half. Then I sent an e-mail asking if I should still send it and he said “Of course, I asked for it so send it.” I still got a rejection (they don’t do much YA) but it taught me to keep trying…again and again and again.
I have a different problem. I’m afraid to send things to agents I know personally and consider friends because I’m afraid a rejection would damage the relationship. I know that’s silly, but can’t help feeling that way. Any advice?
I’m neither a n agent nor a professional, but for what it’s worth…
My first thought was “never mix business with friendship”, period.
But then…if you don’t let your friends at least have a read, you get an agent, and a contract…your friends will eventually find out, especially if it enjoys some success in a genre in which they may specialize.
How would they feel? How would YOU feel, in their place?
Thanks, Andrew. Good question.
I think the #1 Prime Gold-Plated Submission Mistake is this:
“What’s the point in querying, or approaching an agent at a conference? I wouldn’t know what to say. I’ve been doing this for awhile, and I’ve lost confidence in both myself, and my work.”
Not having the confidence at the beginning is hard to overcome; this is far, far worse.
Going ahead anyway with a teeth-gritted attitude works in a lot of places, but not here, because the pessimism is apparent in both a query letter and in a personal approach.
The mistake lies in allowing oneself to get there in the first place. It’s a long, hard climb out, and not always possible.
Thanks, Wendy, for a most helpful post.
Regarding #2, one agent told me the opposite, which gives me pause. What a quandary I have now.
Books and Such is the fount of all knowledge.
Case closed.
Thanks for the info!!
Thank you Wendy! The best thing here, I think, is that so much of what you shared comes down to remembering that agents are people, and business people. So much more freeing to picture them wanting to find promising partnerships, and willing to be patient while writers develop into partners, than to imagine them ready to nix us permanently for every infraction of a secret set of rules.
This post made my day! Happy to know I didn’t do so bad. 🙂
Thank you so much for this! I want send a query and was wondering if it’s sent to all the agents within your company and one replies if they’re interested or should the letter be written to a specific agent and it will be delivered to her?