Every week I read some variation of this online:
“Agents won’t even look at my work until I’ve got a few publishing credits, but publishers won’t consider me unless I have an agent. It’s impossible!”
It’s also untrue. Agents look at every piece of work that’s submitted to them. If it’s presented properly (typewritten, double-spaced etc. rather than hand-written on pink, scented paper) they’ll start to read. As soon as their interest flags, they’ll stop. If they're still interested by the time they reached the end, they’ll probably ask for more.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a whole clutch of publishing credits or none at all: if your work interests an agent or a publisher then they’ll read on, and if it doesn’t, no amount of publication history is going to change their minds.
15 comments:
Do agents expect a complete manuscript? You say:
If they're still interested by the time they reached the end, they’ll probably ask for more.
It implies you need only send samples of your book. True/false?
Agents vary with their submission requirements. Some ask for query only, some ask for query and first five pages, some ask for query and first three chapters. Some even ask for a proposal or introduction letter. As you can see, it's important to check the guidelines for each agent you are submitting to and follow them to the letter.
If you are submitting fiction project, then it needs to be completed and well polished before you start querying.
Whilst previous writing credits are good to have, I agree that they are not necessary. My first book got picked up without any previous writing credits.
JJ
Dot, as JJ has already explained, you submit your work in what ever format the agent or publisher wants. Usually, in the UK that's an outline/synopsis and three sample chapters (up to a maximum of about 50 pages). In the USA, it's more common to send a query letter first, and in the UK, this query letter allows you to transform your submission into a solicited submission (which is handy where publishers won't take them unsolicited).
There. That's clear, isn't it?
Once they've read your outline and sample chapters (always the first three, so they can see how you develop the story, never random chapters from all over the book), they'll ask for the rest if they like what they've read already.
That's quite encouraging Jane.
So Dot, get those first three chapters written and be done with ...
It doesn’t matter whether you have a whole clutch of publishing credits or none at all: if your work interests an agent or a publisher then they’ll read on, and if it doesn’t, no amount of publication history is going to change their minds.
Spot on, Jane. I've had credited authors send me works that didn't excite me any more than a wart on my toe. Always remember; it's about the writing.
Lynn, thanks so much for that. It's good to know that I've not got EVERYTHING wrong!
I've spent the afternoon reading blogs about self-publishing (having spent the morning heaving 900m of new floorboards up two flights of stairs, with the help of my two boys and my husband), and am reeling at the complete nonsense that some people believe about publishing. Yes, it's hard to get published but that doesn't mean that there are all sorts of conspiracies out there to prevent it happening: it all comes down to the writing.
I am verification that this post is absolutely true.
I had no publication credits, no writing degree.
Nada...
and I got represented and published...and I was over 50...
OK.
Can we all please pause and savour this moment?
Not only has Lynn Price, fabulous editorial director of Behler Publishing, commented on my blog and said I know what I'm talking about, but so has Patricia Wood, who is the Orange Prize shortlisted author of Lottery, a writer who knows what she's doing and all-round good girl.
I'm off to drink a jugful of margaritas. I might post again, I might not. Meanwhile, imagine me dancing, holding my skirts out of the Peak Park puddles.
Hey! I am in such good company and Orion, or should I call you Patricia Wood, I am over sixty - just by the smallest margin - and WILL be published. (I shall have to read Lottery now.)
Thanks for the information everyone.
Jane, Jane, so easily impressed! You make me blush. However, I will take a slug of your margaritas.
Lynn, you're going to have to be quicker than that...!
I had my first novel, Scuba Dancing, accepted by Transita Ltd when I was 61 and I didn't then have an agent. I now have an agent because she liked my second novel, Murder Most Welcome, which was published this year by Robert Hale Ltd.
I've come across this attitude too, ie that there's a Catch 22 but as a reader for the RNA New Writers' Scheme I can only agree with Jane, that it's all to do with the writing.
Nicola, I wonder how your contracts differ between the agented and unagented books: are they much the same, or do you notice any big differences between them?
I would always recommend that a writer finds an agent, because the contracts are usually so much better, and in my experience on both sides of the equation those improvements lead to a greater overall income despite the commission that the agent takes.
Mind you, that does depend on the agent--I've been hearing a few horror-stories lately, which I intend to blog about soon.
Main difference, Jane, is that the agent retained the US rights - not that they've found a buyer yet!
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