"How I Got My Agent" is a new recurring feature on the GLA blog. I find it fascinating to see the exact road people took that landed them with a rep.  Seeing the things people did right vs. what they did wrong (highs and the lows) can help other scribes who are on the same journey.  Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings.

SOME SMUTTY, ILL-RESEARCHED ROMANCE

I wrote my first novel during my senior year of college, while I was working on my senior thesis, "Magical Realism and Post-Colonial Vertigo; The Narrative Strategies of Rushdie's Midnight's Children." While my thesis went on to be nominated for best in my entire graduating class, the “big” project I was working on secretly was a romance novel – a smutty, ill-researched, 500-page whopper of a romance set in Colonial America (which is, incidentally, not a great time for romance).
 
When I finished, I stepped back, took a look at my heaping (and heaving) doorstop of a book, and I thought, well, it’s bad—but why not try to get it published?  I figured I’d learn something about the process, if nothing else. So the summer after I graduated, I began the research to find an agent. I was in up to my eyeballs in market books and Post-it Notes, and when it came time to mail queries, I wallpapered the whole city of New York with them. And that was just the first round.
 
Oddly enough, I had this feeling something good would happen even though I had a lackluster bio, no publishing credits, and no idea how the industry worked (I figured I’d work that trivial stuff out as I went). And lo and behold, I got an offer from a boutique agency based out of a home office. I went for it. I figured that if getting an agent was so easy, it was only a matter of time before I hit the bestseller lists.

DISAPPOINTMENT
 
And then … nothing. The agent wasn’t sending the book out and I was too petrified to call her—dialing her number made me feel like Dorothy sidling up to the Wizard of Oz. I agonized. When she did start sending the book out, I suspected she was sending my book along with other writers’ books at the same time, and my rejection letters from editors showed not only my name, but the names of other unlucky writers are well. I ignored my suspicions in favor of feeling optimistic (read: willfully ignorant) about my prospects. Any agent was better than no agent, right? A year later, when my agent still hadn’t sold the book (and I’d written another novel, equally as bad as the first, if not worse), we parted ways.
 
That’s when I started to realize four important things: 1) I was going to have to learn how to write, not just crap out bad novels as fast as I could, 2) I’d have to learn something about the business of writing, 3) I’d have to build a really impressive bio to prove to people I meant business, 4) I needed to get honest about my true writing voice (which meant soul-searching and time).

ROUND TWO: DOING IT RIGHT
 
Instead of writing another book, I interned at an NYC literary agency. I worked for free to learn about publishing from the business side, and I even though I kept on writing, I put it largely to the side. A year or so later, when the owner offered to let me become an acquiring agent, I said sign me up! I really liked working with authors and editors; I tried exceedingly hard on behalf of the writers I worked with. But in the end, it was sort of like I was trying to make my head fit the shape of the hat instead of the other way around. I realized I wouldn’t be able to avoid my real passion: writing.
 
So, I regrouped again. I went back to school for my MFA because I knew I needed to improve my technique. I volunteered for everything, read anything, wrote in all genres, worked tirelessly. I built up my credits with numerous publications in the small press/university market, and even got nominated for some cool awards like the Pushcart Prize and Best New American Voices. And, outside of the MFA program, I wrote my first women’s fiction/romance (Simple Wishes, Grand Central, 2009). The book felt more like “me” than anything else I’d written. I found a way to combine my love of culture, art, and drama with my love of, well, love.
 
The second time I went agent-hunting, it was a whole different scenario. I had all the ammo I needed: the bio, the technique, the experience—and the proof (in terms of the publications and awards for my poetry and short prose). I sent out some feelers to agents I had met in my travels—people who I thought might remember me from various panels and conferences, people who I thought might enjoy my work. I also sent some queries to agents I had not met but who were interesting to me, though I got more positive feedback from folks who knew me.
 
Ultimately, I hooked up with Kim Lionetti of Bookends, an agent who I’d sat on a panel with years ago. Kim, you might guess, is a fantastic agent—what an agent should be.  She’s also a former editor, and her generosity in sharing her editing expertise with me is—I’m certain—one of the biggest reasons she scored us two different offers of publication for Simple Wishes 
 
It was a long, very convoluted process to finding an agent and getting published—with lots of highs and lows. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The highs keep me going when the lows get the better of me, and the lows are learning processes that I do my best to be grateful for. I’m still working all the time, searching for new opportunities and inspirations. In the end it will always come back to just doing what I love: writing stories. That’s where it begins and ends—convolutions aside. 

Want more on this subject?

• See all the posted stories of writers finding agents.
• Do you have a good story about how you found your agent? E-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll start a dialogue.
• If you're interested in romance or women's fiction, agent Scott Eagan is a good man to learn about.
• Looking to become a better writer?  Check out our online courses at Writers Online Workshops.

Last week I got the chance to present for the Smith Mountain Lake Writers Group down in southwest Virginia (think near Roanoke). The talk drew in a decent crowd - considering the holiday so close - and attracted writers from several counties.

I'm still out of town and have been having trouble posting on the blog (sorry for the wait). Below you will find some questions that writers asked at the presentation.

Me (Chuck Sambuchino) and some
of the Smith Mountain
Lake writers. To the right of
me (beige shirt) is group
coordinator Jim Morrison.

Q. What do you do if you're unhappy with how your literary agent is working for you?

A. Complicated question. The standard answer of "Be honest with her" is unfulfilling because you feel like she knows more than you, and she knows how to work. But still, you have to be honest and gently express concern at how things are going.
      That said, have patience.  As long as the agent is working on your project, then she is indeed working.  If it's getting submitted to places with no luck, then examine why this is.  Is this work sub-par?  Does it need tweaking?  What about these submissions she's sending to editors?  Does she have relationships with the editors, or are these just cold submissions?  
      If you have decided to get out of a representation agreement with an agent, you will have to consult your contract, and check out the details (fine print).  Contracts have termination clauses and you could be stuck with that agent for several weeks or months, etc. Usually this is not a problem because a reputable agent will want to cut ties with a client who wants to cut ties with them.  That said, know that any previous books that you worked with the agent on - and sold - will be tied to the agent forever.  For example, if your agent sold Book 1, and now you want to get out because Book 2 is going nowhere, you will always be locked in to that agent for Book 1 because she sold it.  For every dollar you make now until forever, she gets 15 cents.

Q. Why is literary fiction a difficult sell?

A. Screenwriter Blake Snyder said that if you can't boil your story down to one super-intiguing sentence (a logline), then you're already in trouble.  The reason that so much of what's out now in movie theaters is sequels and remakes and garbage is because it's easily marketable.  People know what the story's about.  
      Genre fiction (also called popular fiction), such as mysteries or romance or sci-fi, has a specific framework - a specific blueprint.  People enjoy mysteries because they want to solve a crime.  They expect red herrings.  They expect a clever villain.  These things are integral parts of the mystery blueprint.  Literary fiction has no blueprint!  I've said before that when you don't know what your novel is genre-wise, it could very well be literary fiction.  Because literary fiction has no blueprint, and the stories are often more layered and rich, that tends to make them harder to condense into one super-intriguing line.  And that's why they're a hard sell.  People just don't know what they're about, and they need to know if they're going to plunk down $27 for it.

Previously, I posted some info on a new literary agency, Plainsmart Publishing Agency. Below you can find complete and updated information that was sent to me today.

PlainSmart Publishing Agency

520 Kerr St., #20033, Oakville ON L6K 3C7, Canada. E-mail: query@plainsmart.com ; info@plainsmart.com . Web site: www.plainsmart.com/contactinfo.html. Contact: Curtis Russell. Seeking new and established writers. Established: 2005. Represents 8 clients. 25% of clients are new/unpublished writers. Specializes in: "We take on a very small number of clients per year in order to provide focused, hands-on representation. We pride ourselves in providing industry leading client service." Currently Handles: 50% Nonfiction Books; 50% Novels.

Nonfiction areas of interest: Biography, Business, Child Guidance, Cooking, Current Affairs, Government, Health, How-to, Humor, Memoirs, Military, Money, Nature, Popular Culture, Science, Self-Help, Sports, True Crime, Women's Issues/Studies. Fiction areas of interest: Action/Adventure, Detective/Police, Erotica, Ethnic, Family Saga, Historical, Horror, Humor, Juvenile, Literary, Mainstream, Mystery/Suspense, Picture Books, Romance, Sports, Thriller, Young Adult, Women's.

How to Contact: Query with SASE. Submit: Synopsis (for fiction) and Author Bio. Accepts e-mail queries. No fax queries. Accepts simultaneous submissions. Responds in 6 weeks to queries; 6 weeks to manuscripts. Does not return submissions. Does not want: poetry or screenplays. Recent Sales: World Famous, by David Tyreman (AMACOM); What Burns Within and The Frailty of Flesh, by Sandra Ruttan; The Road to a Nuclear al-qaeda, by Al J. Venter (Potomac). Terms: Agent receives 15% commission on domestic sales; 25% commission on foreign sales. Offers written contract. Termination notice: 30-day This agency charges for postage/messenger services only if a project is sold. Tips: "Please review our Web site for the most up-to-date submission guidelines."

Thanks to the Writer Beware blog, I heard about a good writing competition for romance scribes.

It's called the First Chapters Romance Writing Competition, and writers can submit until Aug. 22.

All the nitty-gritty details are online, but the basics are these: The contest calls for full romance mss that have never been published, save those that were self published. There were be online judging early on by peers, then the winners get money and publication (through Simon & Schuster).

See the site and read the details thoroughly . All in all, it sounds like a solid contest. If you were able to prove yourself through winning (or at least doing very well) in such a competition, agents may come a' knockin.