When you begin to look for publishing houses to send your manuscript, you will note that many of these houses have an imaginary sign posted that proclaims, “Not interested. No matter what manuscript or proposal you are planning to send.” The sign may not be this blunt but they use terms like “only reviewing agented proposals” or “no longer accepting unsolicited proposals.” Sometimes the publisher will refer you to a service such as The Writer’s Edge or Christian Manuscript Submissions. You can pursue these services if you want and they are a possibility. Or you can use your polished book proposal as a means to catch the attention of a literary agent.
Agents can open doors for your book that you may not be able to open on your own. A good one can provide valuable insight and feedback about your proposal before he sends it to various publishing houses. Also, the good agents know about publishing needs that you as a writer will be hard pressed to find out. They are constantly talking with editors from different publishing houses, learning about needs and brainstorming how they can fill those needs with the clients that they represent. It’s well worth their 15 percent fee from your overall earnings. I would not use any agent who charges a reading fee, however. It’s not normal. If you want to know more about where to look for an agent and what types of questions to ask, read Victoria Strauss’s excellent article, “The Safest Way to Search for an Agent.”
One way to get an agent is to ask for referrals from other writers who have agents. To make your selection easier, ask the agent the questions suggested on the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) website (https://terrylinks.com/AALAFAQ). Not every good agent is a member of AALA, but the membership requirements of the association make an AALA member a worthy agent to consider.
Agents can also help in shaping your proposal as illustrated in the excellent book by Noah Lukeman, The First Five Pages, A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. Lukeman is a New York City literary agent. In the opening pages, he writes, “Over the last few years, I’ve read thousands of manuscripts, all, unbelievably, with the exact same type of mistakes. From Texas to Oklahoma to California to England to Turkey to Japan, writers are doing the exact same things wrong. While evaluating more than ten thousand manuscripts in the last few years, I was able to group these mistakes into categories, and eventually, I was able to set forth definite criteria, an agenda for rejecting manuscripts…Agents and editors don’t read manuscripts to enjoy them; they read solely with the goal of getting through the pile, solely with an eye to dismiss a manuscript—and believe me they’ll look for any reason they can, down to the last letter.”
I encourage you to do the necessary hard work to create an excellent and thorough book proposal or business plan—even if you self-publish. This document can open the door to a relationship with a literary agent. As usual, the process is not straight-forward but a journey for each of us to make the right connection at the right time and the right place. Keep working on stepping forward and don’t give up. It will eventually pay off for you.
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Get a free copy of his proposal book (follow the link). Get a free 87-page Ebook for writers if you subscribe to his email list. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.
No Comments