blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Approaching an agent with a project in hopes of having your work represented is sometimes a complicated process. As mentioned in a blog post earlier this month, agents wear many hats. One of them is Talent Scout. Even an agent with a full list of clients and multiple projects in the works is always open to consider a great book, well-written, from an author who knows both the craft of writing and the publishing industry.
The percentage of those who think they’re ready to send a query to an agent is high.
And some authors are ready but hesitant to do so, which is another form of heartbreak for author and agent.
How do we know? When is the time right?
Am I Ready to Approach an Agent with My Proposal?
Agents want to meet with you. It’s why we attend conferences. But we also want the meeting to be as productive as possible. If you’re considering approaching an agent, trying to set up an appointment at a conference, or wondering if you dare hit “send” on your query email, consider how many points from this checklist describe you.
- I have a novel that is complete or nearing completion…or…I have a proposal and sample chapters ready for my nonfiction.
- I understand what makes my book fit its category, but also what makes it a fresh approach.
- I’ve done a title and topic search on amazon.com for books already on the market on a similar topic.
- I can describe my book in two or three sentences.
- The book I’m proposing has not been published before, including independently.
- I study the craft of writing.
- I’ve received constructive criticism from writing mentors, writer friends, or a critique group about this project.
- I have a website, an active social media presence, frequent speaking engagements, or other means of reaching readers (especially important for nonfiction projects).
But Can’t an Agent Help Me with These Things?
Yeeesss. But a typical agent–misnomer, since we’re all atypical–wades through more “not ready yet” queries and proposals than a typical writer–misnomer, since we writers are all atypical–would imagine. Agents deal with, and often have to pass on:
- Concepts that have been overdone
- Concepts that are underdone (not yet fully formed in the mind of the writer)
- Verbiage that reveals the author is unfamiliar with what’s already on bookstore shelves
- Self-aggrandizement that hints that the prospective client is not in a place of humility necessary to learn and grow…or take rejection as part of the process
- Great writing that won’t have an opportunity to be considered by a publishing house because the writer is set against joining the digital age
- A good story that doesn’t move the agent, so how can it move an editor, the publishing board, and readers?
- An intriguing book with no real takeaway
- An author who is convinced he or she is the ONE exception to industry standards, publisher guidelines, protocol, or reader expectations.
Agents Want to Say Yes, But Often Have to Say No
Why? For the reasons listed above. Because their client list is full and their current clients deserve the bulk of their attention. Because the checklist above is missing too many factors to make representing the work successful for either author or agent.
If I’m Not Yet Ready for an Agent, What Do I Do? Give Up on Having an Agent?
Get ready. Study. Investigate. Work hard to move your social media/built-in audience reach numbers (but more importantly, connections) higher. Make sure chapters four through twenty-four are as strong as the first three chapters on which you’ve focused your efforts. Keep reading informative blogs like the Books & Such blog. Listen to podcasts about the industry. Study the “personalities” of various publishing houses. Get a good grip on the category into which your work best fits.
Don’t let “I guess I’m not ready” derail you from your writing goals. Use the guidelines above as goals rather than stop signs.
God’s my agent. I trust Him to place my words where they count. I’m out of time, out of strength, and out of luck, but never out of faith, hope, and love.
Best agent out there, Andrew. 😉 He’ll make sure they touch the lives they need to touch. Keep strong in your faith, hope, and love.
With those three, you’re rich beyond measure. Praying for you, Andrew.
“Not in a place of humility necessary to learn and grow.” Oh Cynthia! That attitude blocks progress in more than writing. It may be the enemy’s biggest weapon in the war against ministry.
* Dear God, give me a teachable spirit!”
So true, isn’t it?
Great article and very timely, Cynthia. I am finishing my final rounds of edits and beginning the proposal creation phase. All your points will be good to check against soon. God bless you and Books and Such for all you do.
Thank you, Crystal. Much appreciated.
What a great post! Straightforward and exactly what I needed to read today.
Best wishes on your writing endeavors, Jessie.
I love your checklist, Cynthia! I wish I had seen this a couple of books ago. 😉 Your suggestions are spot on. And searching on Amazon for the topic . . . I’ve never thought of that. Yep, I still have stuff to learn!
*Thanks for stating that agents want to say yes . . . I think writers become discouraged and sometimes forget that agents are looking for good work and writers, just as writers are looking for good agents.
I’m grateful it’s helping clarify, “When is this project ready to show to an agent?”
I love this simple post because it sums up so many important factors. I had yet to find one article summed up to easily refer back to. Thank you!
Thanks for those kind words, Meghan!
Such a great post! Thank you. I’ll keep developing the concepts in my project.
Great words to hear!
And on this lovely, unexpected morning, I stand on shaking legs and with ragged breath, because my Almighty Agent called me in for a meeting, and left me here upon the far side of Death’s valley. The very air is precious, but some morphine would sure be nice, as it was all pretty darn painful, this sliding to the edge and crawling back. I got pains in places where I didn’t know I had places.
* Oh, and His message? Whatever skill I have in writing was not given to me; it’s a tool loaned to shape a lens through which others can more clearly see His Love and Grace. It’s a complicated tool, and its mastery necessarily involves marketing and platform and study and practice…and the time needed to understand this will be exactly the time needed to ready me to look for an earthly agent.
Yes! A “tool loaned to shape a lens through which others can more clearly see His Love and Grace.” May I quote you, Andrew?
Praying for you, my friend.
Thanks, Jeanne. It was rough, pretty shaky now.
Praying for you now, Andrew.
Thanks so much, Shelli. Just glad to still be here.
Praying, Andrew, for you as you find more places.
Your lens image gives me a picture of how a lens in the sunlight positioned just right can make a pile of leaves smolder and flame. I think God is using you to start some brush fires.
Mary Kay, thank you so much! You made my day.
I’m so thankful for your words, Cynthia – I want to make sure I’m as ready as possible before approaching an agent. I want to make sure I’ve done everything I can do. I’ll be bookmarking this post for sure.
The learning curve is uphill, but conquerable!
I’ll add something else. Enter contests to get feedback and if you are part of a professional writer’s organization, they will eventually start asking you to help judge the preliminary round of their contests. When they ask, do so! Yes, is is scary. But not only can you help out other writers, you will learn so much as you think of others writing critically. And this will also give you a better idea of what books are coming out in various categories that interest you as you are part of contests year after year.
Great advice, Kristen!
Thank you, Cynthia. I love your encouragement to keep going. The way can get so difficult and discouraging. Keep going.
When the answers to prayer come, the years it took for them to arrive will melt away.
Thanks, Cynthia. Love the admonition to use the guidelines as goals, not stop signs. I appreciate your encouragement.
Thanks, Cynthia. I’m still praying, writing, and studying the art.
Clear and clean, your words speak well.
I completed and sent my first proposal on April 4. I worked hard on it but still there were gaps, and your list reveals a couple more errors I’m afraid I made. I’ve heard back, and it wasn’t accepted.
I can learn from this… and I will learn. I’m committed to learning. Sometimes it feels like I’m like the little engine that could, “I think I can, I think I can . . .”
Thanks for the checklists. They help.
Eventually, the little engine said, “I did!”
Cynthia, I can’t say enough about the importance of constructive criticism. As Kristen said in an earlier comment, contests are also a good way to get feedback. Although I have a critique partner, an editor, and several friends who read portions of my WIP, I find that I learn something from each one and from each judge in the contests I enter. Just when I think I’ve made my novel as good as it can be, I find new ways to improve it. I just don’t want to be caught in the “I guess I’m not ready” endless cycle!
Thanks so much for your excellent guidelines for knowing when to approach an agent.
Excellent post, Cynthia. Thank you for sharing. Not bucking at all, but just wondering if speaking engagements are a recent requirement (last 5–10 years) for writers of fiction and nonfiction? Why?
Speaking engagements are not a REQUIREMENT. Especially not so for novelists. But those who frequently speak do have a leg up with publishers because of their audience connections. Great question.
I tried to comment but was told the answer was spam, so I’m not going to write all that again.
Thanks Cynthia for the great information, especially before attending the Northwestern Christian Writer’s Conference this July when I meet with Janet for a book I am proposing. I also want to thank you for your encouraging blog response somewhere in the past year between last July and December recommending I collect the letters I wrote to my friend’s daughter while at church camp that I wrote, both to teach her things in a humorous way, and to get her tossed in the lake (which is what happened when campers received letters) to make up for all the pranks she played on me when I tutored her during the prior two school years. Mind you every prior tutor or family member had bailed. I ask her mom to let me have a try, and we developed a relationship that was all it’s own…thinking of so many things that I am sure only rare tutors have endured in order to help the student. CRAZY! I still have some on my cell video.
Anyway, I am having so much fun adding to these letters and creating this book, so many thanks.
I was not able to do much for five months due to helping my brother-in-law care for my sister from December 2017 until after her fifth and final hip surgery when her left hip replacement was reconstructed March 28th, and her post op visit April 10th when I was given the news she would be able to finish her convalescence without further assistance from me.
Home I went, but it took me another month to catch up with things and people at home, and get back to our Minnesota ACFW (MN NICE) meetings, and back onto this blog. I don’t think the book will be complete, but I am working hard, and will be able to present or pitch something I believe will fill a need, in a way that will keep people coming back for more.
I have learned so much from this blog, and I am so grateful for the effort and time it has taken for all of you at Books and Such to provide this information for free, and in a manner that is easily understood, and reality in mind, along with the commitment to a faith based agency. I am realizing I should be leaving this message for Janet to pass out, but it came out in the ripples of thankfulness to you for your recommendation about my Great Aunt Lizzie letters.
Please pass my thanks for the blog to everyone there.
Just reread my comment, Ugh. So sorry for the run on sentences, etc. I am at Panera and it’s somewhat distracting. Once, the writing scrolls up out of sight on this comment box, there is no getting it back or editing. Ouch! Any way, thanks to you and all.
What if an agency (like yours for example) has multiple agents accepting the same genre, but you’re not sure who to pitch to? Everyone sounds so good. Is it okay send a query to more than one agent in the same agency?
Linda, it’s usually best to pick one agent or send your project to our representation email (check our submission page for the specifics), and we’ll send it along to the agent we think is most likely to appreciate your work.
Thank you for the quick answer. So many of the articles I read on this subject advise to focus on one agent and never say “Dear Sir/Ma’am.” Of course, opinions–and agencies–vary. I’ll be checking out your submission page.