Guide to Literary Agents - How I Got My Agent Columns

How I Got My Agent: Stephanie Feldstein

Chuck — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:00:39 GMT

To see the previous installments of this column, click here.

If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk specifics.

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Stephanie Feldstein.
Stephanie is the author of the novel,
Downward Dog. See Stephanie's website
or check out her "Stray Words" blog.

Stephanie Feldstein

POOCHES AND QUERIES

I started querying by accident. The closer I got to the end of my manuscript, the more people I told about it – both because I was beginning to believe that I was actually going to finish a novel, and because I wanted to make sure that I did; the more people who knew about it, the more accountable I would be. My friends started telling their friends (dog lovers tend to get really excited about new dog-related fiction) and somewhere in that network, there happened to be a few agents.

Within a couple months of opening my big mouth, I had the manuscript out on submission to three different agents, encouraging responses from a handful of others, and the first installments in my rejection collection. To keep the madness of waiting at bay, I’d drop a few more queries every couple of weeks, working my way down the list of agencies I’d found online. One of those was the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and my query landed on the desk of Barbara Poelle, who asked for a full manuscript.

A WORK, IN PROGRESS

That fall, about six months into my querying process, I went to the Algonkian Pitch and Shop Conference in New York and returned with two requests from major editors. An idea for a new first chapter of my book was started to grow, but I ignored it since my book was already in so many hands. It wasn’t long before one of the editors rejected me. Then I got a rejection from Barbara Poelle. A few requests trickled in on the wake of more rejections. Then Barbara and I got back in touch and discussed my new concept. She liked what she heard and said she'd give it another shot. The other editor rejected me. My revision still wasn't quite right for Barbara and she rejected me again.

My initial queries were sent out way too soon. I dove in just because someone told me there was a lake, without looking to see what was at the bottom. For over a year and a half, I was caught in the current of submissions - rejection pulling me under, then a wave of referrals and requests throwing me back to the surface. I started a new novel and tried not to give up on the first one. I tried to decode agent responses and constructed a “Dear John” love poem from rejection letter lines.

As I was losing my oldest dog to cancer in late October of last year, I realized what my fictional dog needed to give him new life. Once I got started, it became a line-by-line process, lasting nearly as long as it had taken to write the first draft. But when it was done, I knew it was really done this time.

A THIRD CHANCE WITH BARBARA

There had been a number of agents who, like Barbara Poelle, had given my manuscript serious thought, had lots of praise for my writing, but weren't able to commit. But Barbara's response had shown an understanding of my novel, and what I wanted it to be, that the others hadn't. It didn't hurt that her career had taken a killer turn in the past year, too. Or that she was known for being absolutely hilarious. So, I sent her an e-mail begging for one more chance.

She read my last draft over the summer and suggested we meet up at the South Carolina Writer's Conference, as we were both planning to attend. While it was probably safe to assume she didn’t want to meet to serve me a restraining order against future submissions, I didn’t exactly have her answer yet. At the mixer on the first night of the conference, Barbara found me nursing a glass of wine and chatting with a friend. She began by giving me feedback on the manuscript. As hard as I tried to listen, “Is this a revise and rewrite or an offer of representation?” kept running through my mind. But when Barbara Poelle said she had brought a contract with her, it came through loud and clear.

If you had told me up front that I’d spend two and a half years on an emotional bungee cord to eventually land my dream agent, I would have taken up knitting, or geocaching, or anything with attainable goals that could distract me from the need to write. I’m not known for my patience. But luckily, I’m also not known for a lack of stubbornness. So I kept going, and my refusal to give up on my book eventually paid off.

Want more on this topic?

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas (Demonfire).

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks (Widow of the South).

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Found My Agent: Marisha Chamberlain

Chuck — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:32:36 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Marisha Chamberlain.
Marisha is the author of the novel,
The Rose Variations (Soho Press).

PLAYWRITING DAYS

It took me three long years of persistent querying to find my literary agent, and although the journey was grueling, I was ready for it. I’d already had rough-and-tumble experience with more than one theatrical agent for my plays.

Word was that a playwright wanted either a fierce woman or a motherly man for an agent, and I went the fierce woman route. So why was I surprised to find my fierce and famous play agent to be combative and high handed? She negotiated contracts just fine (I had plays done in London, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto) but I dreaded talking to her. And God help me if I had a question to ask her. One day, she took on an assistant—guess who?—a motherly man. He and I bonded, and when he left the fierce woman agency, I went with him, and he still represents me as a playwright and librettist.

When I switched my writing focus to fiction, some fifteen years ago, I pondered the writer-agent bond. My first theatrical agent, impossible though she was, did make a telling comment that I’ve never forgotten. No play, she said, was ever produced too late. By this, she meant many were presented to the public too soon, and that is true both of plays and novels. I didn’t even think about seeking an agent ‘til I had a manuscript ready. I mean, ten-years-and-twenty-drafts ready. Not everybody needs ten years to write a polished draft of a first novel, but I did.

COMMENCE "OPERATION: AGENT"

Then I began the search for a literary agent. I’d already learned the hard way that I wanted not just any agent, but someone with whom I’d have rapport. I was looking for courtesy, candor, clarity, energy and trustworthiness—someone I could freely ask questions, someone I wouldn’t be tempted to second-guess. However, landing any agent would be difficult. So my beggar-as-chooser approach was absolutely secret.

I began with researching sources such as Guide to Literary Agents and Jeff Herman’s Guide. Who’s looking for literary fiction? The agents who are, say so in their listings and/or interviews. I made a lengthy chart of possible agents, sent out queries and sample pages by the bale, fielded a lot of phone calls from agents, saw my postage and Xerox bill go up, up, up. I got a bunch of nibbles and a few bites, followed by sudden, prolonged silences.

The process, which took three years, was equal parts encouraging and exasperating. I did it in waves: first wave, second wave, New Wave. I rewrote my manuscript again, whenever I got a comment that seemed apt. And I sent out a new query the day after any rejection arrived. To keep going, I amused myself by jotting into my chart outrageous or damning bits from agents. The worst were handwritten scrawls right on my original query letter, sent back after requesting my full manuscript. Given that I paid all that postage back and forth, you’d think I might rate a piece of the agent’s stationery. This happened twice. Both agents are prominent. Call it sour grapes, but I think I’m lucky those two said no. Oh, and the pompous form rejections. Cue the tubas: We are sorry we are unable to use your material. There are many reasons to decline a manuscript, etc.

THREE YEARS, THEN...

I got contacted by Stephany Evans of FinePrint Literary Management. She loved the first fifty pages of my novel and wanted to see the rest. I Fed-Exed. She responded within a week with an offer. That’s when I brought my secret plan out into the light. It was simple. Before signing, I asked for a meeting, face to face, on my own dime. It was cheeky. I asked her for references and I called the references. All of them.

Now, it happens that Stephany’s office is in New York City, and I live in the middle of the country, in a river town south of St. Paul, Minnesota, so the face-to-face meeting was not a casual stroll across the street for me. I knew, within ten minutes of meeting her, that Stephany’s offer was my big break, but I played out my plan, every step of it, because, for me, the agent relationship is such a big deal. I played it carefully because we were setting the tone for something fine and mutually rewarding. And I played it quick: I checked those references and signed within a week of meeting Stephany, and all I’d hoped has unfolded since then. The Rose Variations was published by Soho Press in 2009 and the paperback will land in early 2010. I was lucky, yeah. But I played an active part in my luck.

Marisha Chamberlain

Want more on this topic?

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas (Demonfire).

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks (Widow of the South).

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Shelli Johannes-Wells

Chuck — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:58:28 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Shelli Johannes-Wells.
Shelli recently wrote her first novels
for children and her agent is trying
to sell her books.

EARLY ROADBLOCKS

I had never written a day in my life unless you consider my nutrition essay that won an Elementary state competition. Somehow, I don't think that counts. Even though I was doing business writing and spent 18 years in marketing, I never dreamed of being a fiction writer until I got pregnant with my first child. When I had my daughter in 2004, I took five months off. One day, I got an idea and started writing during her naps and late at night. Soon, I queried with my first draft (a big no-no, right?). I did a mass mailing without researching anyone! (another big no-no!) and rightfully received more than 100 form letter rejections from agents/editors. However, my manuscript ended up at acquisition meetings at two different houses. Unfortunately, it didn't make it.

I got frustrated and threw in the pen. Shelved my manuscript and turned off the computer. I mean, who was I kidding? I can't be a writer when I have never taken a creative writing class. Who did I think I was? I went back to working in marketing but something was missing now. In late 2006, I got pregnant with my son (do you see a trend?). I got another idea and started writing again. This time, I got more serious and joined SCBWI. For many personal reasons, I couldn't finish it. In the meantime, I wrote a tween non-fiction book that went to acquisitions at a huge brand name house but also didn't made it. I was so frustrated, I gave up again.

March 2008: I went to a conference where I actually talked to people and met Jessica Dehart. She and I started an informal critique group! This fabulous group of writers helped me finish the book and in 6 months it was ready for submission.

MAYBE - JUST MAYBE

Oct 2008: I queried a few agents. An agent replied, saying she liked my voice and setting, but hated the plot. More personal rejections followed saying the same thing. I sent out another round and waited. To prevent myself from going crazy, I needed to keep busy so I started my marketing blog to help other authors better market their book. I also began another book. I immersed myself in the industry and learned as much as I could. I did interviews with editors and agents and began building a platform. (My marketing blog got 40,000 hits in nine months!)

One of my blogger friends e-mailed me after seeing my blurbs and recommended her agent. This was so sweet because she had never met me; she just liked my writing. I sent my manuscript to her agent. A few weeks later, I got a promising letter saying, she " loved my characters, voice, and setting, but absolutely hated the plot." Same comment! The huge difference in this rejection was that at the bottom she said "if you revise it, I might be inclined to review it again.

Might?!

That was all I needed. A chance. Some hope. Since I had already gotten similar feedback, I decided to revise. I dove in and spent the next few months reoutlining and totally redoing my book. I changed the premise, rethought the plot, and reWrote (not revised!) about 70,000 words - all because of that one chance No guarantee, just a shot!

SUCCESS WITH ALYSSA

In April of 2009, I sent the agent my revised book. While I waited, I went against all advice and re-queried (another no-no!) the few agents who had sent me personal rejections (my current agent was one of these lucky few :) I asked if I could resubmit and I outlined all the changes I had made. I also pitched the new book I was working on. (which again, is a no-no!) Lucky for me, they'd forgotten the "rules." Within a couple days, they all e-mailed me requesting not only my revised book, but also the first 50 pages of the new book I was working on.

Within a few weeks, I got an e-mail from the agent "who might review my book again," saying she wanted to speak with me on the phone. That sent off a series of crazy events. She scheduled a call and offered me representation. I loved her and almost accepted her offer straight out but a writer friend told me to let the other agents know first. So I did. Then I got a barrage of emails requesting to speak with me on the phone! I ended up interviewing several agents about offers of representation. Somehow, I was suddenly in a position where several agents wanted me! And now, I got to choose. What? That really happens?

A few days later, I chose Alyssa Eisner Henkin from Trident Media Group. Why? Because she had passion for my work. She had a very specific plan for both of the books she read, and we clicked. Being the optimistic pessimist that I am, I needed someone who was positive, and passionate. My tween angel book is just now going out on submission to some key editors. Having Alyssa by my side has been wonderful and worth the long journey. My advice is keep going. One day I was a frustrated writer and the next I woke up to multiple offers of representation. And you know what? When I got up that morning, I had no idea That Day was going to be The Day.

Want more on this topic?

Agent Elaine Spencer talks queries.

What should you write in the bio paragraph of a query letter?

How to write a query letter - the three parts.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Adrienne Kress

Chuck — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:29:27 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Adrienne Kress, a
writer and actress. She writes books
for children and has a super-cool
website. Click here to learn more
about her book, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate.

LONDON

I started writing my novel as an unemployed actress working as a temp in London, UK. When you’re stuck in front of computers all day long with not that much work to do, writing a novel seems logical. As I kept writing, and realized I was really getting somewhere, I wondered if I should try to see how one gets published. I figured it couldn’t be any harder than acting, and, heck, I was already used to rejection.

I purchased The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, and, sure enough, the book said I needed an agent (as one does for acting). In the UK, they don’t want just the standard North American “query letter,” but also a synopsis and first three chapters. I thought this was awesome. When you contact an acting agent, all you send are your picture and résumé, not a sample of your talent. Writing something and sending it to a literary agent was a demonstration of what you could do. And no one was judging me on superficialities like appearance. Huzzah!

HELLO, MISTAKES

I perfected my query and submission package with the help of my parents (former high school English teachers) and sent it out to 14 agents by snail mail. I’d read that it took a while for agents to get back to you. Since I’m the kind of person who works best on a deadline and I’d come to a point in my novel where I just couldn’t finish (probably had around 20,000 words left to write), I figured knowing that I had 4 to 6 weeks to finish the manuscript would help me get it done.

Now this is how amazingly fast snail mail is in the UK. The next day, the phone rings, and it’s Julia Churchill from the Darley Anderson Agency asking for the entire manuscript. Well, what’s a girl to do? First, she panics. Next, she calls her parents in Canada. Then all three come up with a plan: Finish the book in the next three days so I can print off the whole thing at one of those printing places on Friday (it was closed weekends.) So I do. Then I place the manuscript on my fireplace mantle. And stare at it. Until Monday.

Then I walk the manuscript over to the agency. Since the agency was in my neighborhood, I thought it made sense. After all, hand-delivery would save me money, and I could guarantee that it got to its location. Little did I know that this was a no-no, that one simply does not go in person to an agency without being a client or being asked. I knock on the door. A confused girl answers it. I pass her the manuscript, all smiles, turn around and leave. It’s only when I get home I think maybe I should do some research on the agency. That’s when I learn that the Darley Anderson Agency is one of the top agencies in the UK. And I panic. Again. For two months.

And then I make yet another mistake: I decide to follow up. So I call. I didn’t know the general rule of thumb: Don’t call an agent if you aren’t a client or haven’t been asked to. But I call Julia, and she says she’ll get back to me later. She does. She loves the work, but wants me to cut it by 10,000 words and shorten the chapters. Sure. No problem. Gulp. I take two painful weeks and do it. Once more, I walk the manuscript over. This time in the pouring rain. That same girl opens the door. Soaking wet, I pass her my manuscript protected in several plastic bags.

SUCCESS & A PUB

Julia calls on the Friday. Awesome. She asks to meet me Saturday at a pub. We hang out for five hours. She tells me a few more edits she wants from me, but doesn’t offer representation, and we move on to just chatting. Finally I ask her, “If I do these edits and stuff, um ... what happens next?”

“I’d like to represent you.”

“Oh, good.” All smiles. In a moment, my life has changed. So many thoughts running through my mind. Must call parents who can’t understand why they still haven’t heard from me since the meeting was scheduled for 6 and it’s now 11. Julia’s all smiles, too. She says, “I always wait to see how long it takes the author to ask that question.” Oh those agents and their wacky sense of humor.

Buy Timothy and the Dragon's Gate!

Want more on this topic?

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas.

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Mary DeMuth

Chuck — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:06:55 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Mary DeMuth, who
has written three parenting books and
four novels. Her latest book is A Slow Burn.
She helps aspiring writers seeking
publication at http://www.thewritingspa.com/

TO THE CONFERENCE

I spent more than ten years writing in obscurity while my children were young. During that time, I created newsletters and short stories, always forcing deadlines on myself—and then meeting them early. When my youngest child started preschool, I dusted off my dream of writing a novel, completing it in four months. I also became a newspaper columnist and found success in writing for magazines. I attended a small, regional writers conference, then packed my bags for a major writing conference in the spring of 2003.

On the plane, my writing friend asked me what I hoped to accomplish there. I said something about finding a publisher. "Don't you want an agent?" she asked. "Are they really that important?" I asked. She shook her head in disbelief, then explained why I needed one.

We arrived in the wooded hills above San Jose, eager and ready to knock 'em dead. I sent ahead the first three chapters, a synopsis and a query letter from my novel Crushing Stone to three publishing houses. I retrieved my manuscripts with shaking hands. I tore open the envelopes and let out a breath. All three expressed interest. I hollered. And yelled. After writing in obscurity for so many years, the publisher’s approval validated me.

"I AM NOT LOOKING FOR CLIENTS"

I took the intermediate writing track taught by a big-name agent, the amazing Chip MacGregor, then with Alive Communications, now founder of MacGregor Literary. He said up front, "I am not looking for clients. I'm happy with my stable of authors." So, when I met with him, I didn't consider him as a possible agent prospect. I simply wanted to ask his advice. Chip was late for our meeting. I almost left. He came rushing in, apologizing. I told him I had some interest in my book and asked if he'd be willing to answer a few questions. He said sure. He asked for my proposal, and when I gave it to him, he said, "I've seen this before."

I wanted to die. In wanting to be efficient, I not only sent my proposal to the people at the conference, as instructed, but I also I sent it to his agency, even though I didn’t quite know the purpose of an agent. At the conference, I found out his firm did not accept unsolicited manuscripts, particularly from unpublished authors like me. In that, I violated the don't-send-your-stuff-if-you're-a-nobody rule. The reason he recognized it? My unusual stationary—not scented or colored, but it sported a curve on the right hand side. "Do you mind if I take this with me?" he asked. "Not at all," I said. We shook hands and parted ways.

THE CALL

I came home from the conference happy to know editors liked my writing, but discouraged to not have immediate interest. A few weeks later, I received an e-mail from Chip. He wrote, “You are one of the best new writers I've met and I'd like to talk about representation. Would you be interested?"

Would I?

I screamed. Hyperventilated a bit. I hollered some more. The children thought I was dying, so they raced upstairs, followed by my husband. I jumped up and down. Though they didn't know the reasons behind my pogo-ing, they joined me. Eventually I spilled out the e-mail's words. So, I received the email that supercharged my career, pulling me from obscurity onto the publication path. Within six months, I sold two books to major publishers!

Want more on this subject?

Read my interview with agent Chip MacGregor.

Read a "Successful Query" provided by Chip.

What are the BEST writers' conferences?

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Tabitha Olson

Chuck — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:43:07 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Tabitha Olson, whose
first book - the young adult title,
Royal Rose (forthcoming). She
also has a blog.

SCBWI NYC

I started planning my YA novel, Royal Rose, in the summer of 2006. It was my third novel (nothing ever happened with the first two) and I managed to write a few chapters before attending the SCBWI NY conference. I’d brought along ten pages of Rose to be critiqued.

My first critique session was with an up-and-coming agent, and she really liked my work. She gave me some pointers, asked a bunch of questions, then asked if it was done yet. When I told her no, she said she’d love to read it when it was. I was thrilled! When I got home, I buckled down to write this story ... but it didn’t go so well.

Rose was so far out of my comfort zone that I had no idea what I was doing. Plus, I was so emotionally invested in this story that I was mentally exhausted after each writing session. It sometimes took days to recover. As a result, it was a year before I had a completed draft. When I sent a query to the agent who’d critiqued it, she said she remembered me (!) and still liked the story - BUT, she was swamped with YA, and didn’t have the time to take on anything new. She referred me to a few other agents and wished me well.

CONTACTING OTHERS

I queried those agents and got a partial request from one of them. I sent it, and she replied back with a revision request, saying the story was weak in certain areas of the craft of writing. At first, I didn’t know what she was talking about. I’d thought my story was strong in those areas. But she was the professional, not me, so it was worth at least some research. It took months to figure out where my storytelling was lacking, but, lo and behold, she was right. I revised the manuscript and sent it to her. She said my changes were better, but not strong enough. I did more research. More reading. LOTS of work. Then I rewrote the whole thing.

I sent it back to her, confident I’d done what she’d asked. And she said I had - BUT (again with the but), she didn’t feel confident that she could make my manuscript stand out with what she knew of the YA Contemporary market at that time, with that particular project. So she passed. On one hand, I was devastated because I'd worked so hard, and it had never occurred to me that she’d say no when I’d done what she’d asked. But on the other, I admired that she knew her limits and didn’t take me on out of some weird obligation. In all honesty, I ended up getting more out of the exchange than she did, and I’m very glad for her insights.

PHASE TWO AND SUCCESS

Even though it felt like it at the time, I was not back at square one. I had a much stronger manuscript and a much better understanding of craft. Plus, I’d proven to myself that I could work my tail off instead of give up. I could definitely bring that to the negotiating table of other agents. I started researching agents through online websites then sent off my query letters. I got a solid request rate, but no offers. The rejections rolled in, and as they piled up it was hard to keep going. I wondered if there was something really wrong with my story, but no one had either the time or the guts to tell me. Regardless, I wasn't going to give up. I loved Rose too much to set it aside. So I took what feedback I got, did more research, and still had that same request rate. I told myself that I would find someone who loved Rose as much as I did.

And I did. Two, actually.

I got a phone call from fabulous Agent #1, saying she loved Rose and wanted to discuss representation if I was willing to make some revisions. She wasn’t asking for an overhaul, but it wasn’t minor, either. And, it made sense. But I was about to leave for an amusement park when she called, and I didn’t want to make any rash decisions, so I asked if I we could talk the next day. She said that was fine, and I floated out the front door. Right after that, I got an e-mail from fabulous Agent #2, asking to schedule a phone call to talk. My brain pretty much imploded. Apparently, I can handle only so much good news in one day.

Over the next few days, I spoke with both agents and both offered me representation. It was obvious that I’d be lucky to work with either one. I ended up going with fabulous Agent #2: Andrea Cascardi at Transatlantic Literary Agency. Not only because of her years of experience in this industry, but also because we really hit it off on the phone. I can’t say enough how excited I am to be working with her, and already have my sleeves rolled up, anticipating the hard work to come. Which I wouldn’t miss for the world!

Want more on this topic?

Do you have a good story about how you snagged a literary agent and want to tell it on this blog? Write to me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk.

See all stories of how agents and writers hooked up here on the blog.

Learn more about children's agent Brenda Bowen.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas

Chuck — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:50:13 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Kate Douglas, who
writes many romance titles. Demonfire
comes out in March and is her
newest line.

NO THANKS

I wrote romances for many years without an agent, submitting my stories and collecting rejections from some of the best editors in the business. However, many of the publishing houses I was interested in refused to look at unagented material.

Finding an agent had crossed my mind, but I’d heard more horror stories than positive ones, and had no idea who I should query. The truth in the statement, “A bad agent is worse than no agent,” kept me from making a serious search. In the days before the Internet, finding a reputable agent to query wasn’t as simple a process as it has become, but luckily, the competition for agents wasn’t as tough, either.

I finally met one agent at a conference and a few weeks later, queried him by mail. I was rejected, but a friend of mine signed with this particular agent. Her blossoming career immediately went into a black hole from which it’s never truly emerged, and my hesitancy over finding an agent increased. Then in 2001, a friend told me of an agent new to the business who had started out as an editor for Berkley.

DESPERATE IS GOOD

Three things led me to query Jessica Faust, co-founder of BookEnds LLC.: 1) the fact she was in New Jersey, and close to the New York publishing world; 2) she had been an editor at Berkley, which meant she still had contacts with one of the publishers I was interested in; and 3) she was new enough to agenting—so, hopefully, was desperate for clients.

Okay ... so that last one was most important, and luckily I must have been right. When I look at the query letter I sent, it’s filled with all the things Jessica now cautions against including, but she was new and looking for clients and I was optimistic enough to think I had a chance. I also, in spite of my history of rejections, still believed in myself. I never doubted I would one day be published, and Jessica seemed to mirror that same optimism. If she was faking, she was damned good at it, but her positive attitude kept me hopeful.

By this time I was building a successful career writing erotic romance for an online publisher. My agent chose not to represent me with the e-publishers, which worked well for both of us, though she continued submitting my regular romances without much luck. Editors were asking to see more from me, but nothing I sent to Jessica sold. Still, she didn’t drop me, and I didn’t quit trying. I would write my sexy romances for Ellora’s Cave and my “vanilla” romances for Jessica to shop around. The sexy stuff was selling like crazy and the category styled romances continued racking up the rejection notices.

In 2004, a good friend founded Changeling Press and asked for something “over the top” to launch her new company. I created an online serial called Wolf Tales. Every six weeks CP released a new 12,000-word Wolf Tales story, and sales grew like crazy. Readers seemed to love my Chanku shapeshifters, and I was having a blast coming up with a new crisis every few weeks, but by then I’d quit submitting to my agent. I figured NY was a lost cause.

ANOTHER CHANCE

About this time, e-book sales of erotic romances began to have an impact on the NY publishing scene. Readers were demanding the sexy stories in print, and while the e-pubs were scrambling to bring out the books in the relatively new print-on-demand format, NY publishers were sending out feelers to the more successful e-book authors and luring them to their houses with promises of print contracts. My ever-patient agent asked for something erotic. I printed out the first five stories from the Wolf Tales serial for her.

The rest is history. Editor Audrey LaFehr at Kensington Publishing loved the stories, CEO Steve Zacharius authorized the new Aphrodisia imprint, and Wolf Tales launched Kensington’s foray into the erotic romance market. The first book is currently in its ninth print run, the sixteenth story just released and I’m contracted through 2011 for more in the series. I credit all of my success to my agent. I write the books, but I understand the serendipitous nature of this business and I know it takes the right agent getting the right manuscript in front of the right editor at the right time. I’m not sure what Jessica saw in that query I sent to her in 2001, but she hung in there, even though it took until 2005 before we finally saw a contract.

Stubbornness appears to be an important trait—in both authors and agents.

Visit Kate's site.

Want more on this subject?

Read all the "How I Got My Agent" columns. Several of them are by other romance writers.

Want to contribute a column like this? Write to me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk.

See all blog posts relating to romance here.

What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

What Agents Hate: Even More Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks

Chuck — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:41:56 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Robert Hicks,
who broke on to the scene with
his extremely successful novel,
Widow of the South. His next book,
A Separate Country, comes out this month.

CARRIE'S STORY

I am the son of an optimist. Every night, after he had said our prayers and just before he turned out the light and left our room, my dad would stand at the door and repeat his seemingly tired mantra to my brother and me, as he whispered, "Never forget, all things are possible."

I tell you this because it is at the bedrock of why I decided, in my mid-forties, after many years as a music publisher in Nashville, that I would write a novel about Carrie McGavock and the Battle of Franklin, though I had never taken a creative writing course or written as much as a sentence of fiction, unless, of course, you count tax returns. I also tell you that because it is now hard to remember all the struggle and frustration that led me from there to here. Truth is, though there were years of struggle and frustration, for the most part, they seem to have vanished from my memory.

Unlike most of you reading this, I had given up any and all aspirations of being a novelist sometime after eighth grade. Yet, twelve years ago, I found myself trying to figure out how this little house-museum, Carnton (in Franklin, TN), where my story takes place, was going to survive after me. We had never received any public funding, and what private funding came our way mostly came through my solicitations. The day was going to come when I wouldn't be around - and then what?

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE THIS?

I spent several years trying to get others interested in writing the story themselves. I wasn't looking for a ghostwriter, but rather someone willing to take on my story and put his or her name on it. I pitched my non-novel that I wasn't really writing to just about anyone who might listen. Problem was, few really were listening.

That is until I spoke, via a cold call, to a wonderfully kind, nonfiction editor named P.J. Dempsey. She listened to my story and told me that I should call Jeff Kleinman, a literary agent in DC who seemed to have a passion for lost causes. Now, this may not seem like much encouragement, but beggars can't be choosers and it was direction - and direction meant momentum (and for that I will forever thank P.J.). Within minutes, I called Jeff's office and somehow - this part neither of us have ever figured out - my call went straight to him. Sounding both a bit confused and annoyed, he gave me a chance to lay out Carrie's story, and before I had finished, he seemed genuinely moved.

WRITING THE BOOK

Over the next couple of years, though we had never met face-to-face, Jeff stayed in touch and slowly convinced me that if this was my story, I needed to try to be the author. I soon realized that trying to write was far harder than simply pitching a story. I guess that's why bars are filled with more folks who will gladly pitch you a yarn than with published authors.

Finally, with the first third of the book more or less completed, I sent what I had to Jeff. He not only offered me representation - he told me that the "partial" I sent him was good enough that he could sell it without the rest of the novel. (Only later did I learn that this is exceptionally rare. New writers should finish their entire novel before contacting an agent. But, again, I didn't know what I was doing at the time.)

I remember the moment, weeks later, when I heard that Jeff had sold Widow of the South. I was awash in thought. So rarely in our lives is the end result as we envisioned it. So rarely are we given the chance to live out our dreams. All that has happened began with that optimist who stood at the door and whispered to my brother and me to never forget. He always told us that we make our own luck, but everything in life is a gift. I think he was right on both counts. I have been living way over in the gift column of life for a long time now. As I remember it all as a gift, I'm really not sure I have anything of value for those of you who are struggling other than my profound belief that all things really are possible, despite all the "no's" that come our way in life.

Robert Hicks

Want more on this subject?

Read all the "How I Got My Agent" columns.

Want to contribute a column like this? Write to me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk.

What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

What Agents Hate: Even More Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

How I Got My Agent: Greg Gutierrez

Chuck — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:10:57 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Greg Gutierrez,
who writes short pieces about
surfing as well as novels.

ZEN AND THE ART OF SURFING

The night of my high school graduation, I had the last fistfight I would ever share with my father. This relationship would be the underlying gist of my first novel. I hopped on a flight to Oahu in search of waves, and to find myself. The drinking age then was 18 and in bars I told girls I wrote for Surfer magazine. In reality, I worked at a shady visitor’s information booth where I gave tourists a case of pineapples if they attended a seminar on timeshare condos. It took a few years, but my writing did appear in magazines. An early break came in 1998, when The Surfer’s Journal ran 5 stories from my collection, Zen and the Art of Surfing, in one issue. Later, through a grant from the Julian Paz Foundation, Zen and the Art of Surfing was published in paperback and is now in its eighth printing.

I have taught high school English for the last decade. Four and a half years ago, I started writing a novel. Two long years later, I was finished. I called the book Mammoth Lakes.

THE SDSU WRITERS CONFERENCE

In 2007, I went to the San Diego State University’s Writer’s Conference where I hoped to be discovered. It was a turning point for my writing. I received vital feedback from editor Toni Plummer (loved my character’s names and suggested I shorten my chapters so that each one read like a short story) and the following agents: Betsy Amster (told me my work was too violent for her, but that I’d find an agent), Loretta Barrett ("show me, don’t tell me"), Jennifer De la Fuente ("keep it under 100,000 words"), Elizabeth Evans ("the first sentence is the most important, have tension on every page"), Jud Laghi ("stick with it, it’s a number’s game"), Judith Riven ("lean and clean, no extra words, no clichés"), and my favorite, Sally van Haitsma (I still hit her up with industry questions and she always answers me with insight and kindness). My book wasn’t nearly ready and I spent two years cutting out 30,000 words and rewriting it top to bottom including the title, which became Mammoth Mountain.

About a year ago, while still fine tuning my book, I began to send out queries in groups of ten. Eventually, I sent out fifty with no success. Then, after over four years of working on the book, I figured out how to put its essence into one sentence. "What happens when a lost man finds Christ, only to lose his soul?" I opened my query with this sentence and contacted ten more agents. Boom! I had two requests for full manuscripts and two requests for partials. I got a call from Benee Knauer, Victoria Sanders’ editorial director. She enthusiastically requested a two-week exclusive read. “I wouldn’t have it any other way!” I told her (not filling her in that my book was being read). Two weeks later, Victoria herself called to tell me even though she was only halfway through the book, she wanted to sign me.

I was excited, but nervous. What if she finished it and decided she didn’t like it? Would she change her mind? I was cursed with my writer’s imagination and self-doubts. It all became real a few days later when the contract arrived in the mail.

REWRITING AND SUBMITTING

We spent about four months polishing the manuscript. It’s three weeks since Victoria submitted it to editors. For me, waiting to hear whether a major house wants it has been more agonizing than looking for an agent. I’m trying to lose myself working on my second novel.

My advice to writers is to read your entire novel in one or two sittings before you send it out. This is how an agent will read it and some mistakes may be easier to see. Then, send out lots of queries, making sure each one is better than the previous one. Don’t give up; someone is going to fall in love with your book.

Zen and the Art
of Surfing

Want more on this subject?

See all "How I Got My Agent" columns here.

Interested in writing a column about how you signed with your rep? E-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

How I Got My Agent: Katharina Gerlach

Chuck — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:07:51 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Katharina Gerlach,
who writes fantasy and historical
novels for all ages, both in
English and German.

FINDING INFORMATION

I'm German, and over here it is still not essential to have an agent to represent you. Many publishers accept unsolicited manuscripts and answer in due time. So it comes without surprise that I had never heard of agents when I planned to submit my first publishable novel in the summer of 2003.

In books like the Deutsches Jahrbuch für Autoren und Autorinnen (ISBN 978-3866710641) and on websites (Uschtrin and Autorenforum) I found the addresses of publishers, agents and competitions - including submission information, preferred genres and other valuable information. They also provided articles about the publishing industry worrying about the growing influence of agents but they recommended having one nonetheless. At a seminar, I got to know Andreas Eschbach (German sci-fi author) and he recommended the use of an agent, too. I decided that I needed one since I wanted a career and not just one published book.

THE WRONG AGENT

I submitted my historical novel Engels Freiheit (Ann Angel's Freedom) to several agents and was thrilled to receive a contract by one who had not only been well established but who lived close by as well. He seemed enthusiastic, and we had a long talk in his house. After that, I waited patiently for the responses of the publishers. Sometimes, I sent e-mails that he answered with details about what some of his contacts had said about the book. He never contacted me on his own, though.
One day in early spring 2004, I got a phone call from an editor at one of the bigger publishing houses who offered me a contract if I would agree to some minor revisions. I was in seventh heaven and began rewriting immediately.

When I was finished, I called my agent, only to discover that the editor in question had left the publisher for one that did not do historical novels. I asked the agent to submit the manuscript again and he promised to do that. After six months without any reaction - neither good nor bad although I tried to contact him - I turned to the Internet for more information on my agent. I soon found some of his clients who where also complaining about his lack of results. On the other hand, he was a legitimate agent who hadn't charged me any money. It was a hard decision but I canceled my agent contract, feeling as if I were giving up on a dream.

THE RIGHT AGENT

Meanwhile, I finished two more manuscripts and found out that although I loved writing historical novels, I far more enjoyed writing fantasy. I polished my best fantasy novel and looked for an agent again in 2007. This time, I was far more selective. Using the book and websites mentioned above, I studied many agents but also their clients and I talked to other authors. Finally, I discovered one that represented the genres I loved: fantasy, science fiction and historical novels. I knew this was the right agency for me. Since queries are not typical protocol in Germany, I polished my synopsis and sample pages and approached the agent. She requested for the full manuscript; then she "read, dismissed, and read it again" (her own words). Although she liked it a lot, she knew she couldn't place it, and so she rejected it reluctantly. I sent her my next novel as soon as it was finished in 2008 and she offered to represent me. Already, we've got several publishing offers to consider.

TRYING THE U.S. OF AMERICA

I grew up bilingual and it was inevitable that one day, a project would refuse to be written in German. That happened with my current project, Thicker Than Water. Educated by my experiences, I searched the Internet and was amazed at the sheer number of blogs (like this GLA blog) and websites with this kind of information.

I carefully compiled a list of agents I wanted to contact. That was when I began learning about queries and how they differ from the way Germans ask their agents for representation (with synopsis and sample pages) - a concept entirely new to me. I admit that it took me more time to write a decent one-page query letter than I needed to write a ten-page short story but I believe that thorough planning will result in finding the one agent compatible with me.

Want more on this subject?

See all posted stories of how writers got their agents here.

Do you have a story about snagging a rep? E-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk.

If fantasy writing is your thing, check out The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference.

If you want to write sci-fi or fantasy and are looking for some guidance, check out WD's online course on writing for these genres.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

How I Got My Agent: Billy Coffey

Chuck — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:32:27 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Billy Coffey,
who writes Christian nonfiction. Check out
his blog here. His blog is titled
"What I Learned Today."

Billy Coffey

TARGETING WORDSERVE

I’ve heard that signing with a literary agent is a more difficult task than signing with a publisher. I’d have to agree with that now. Then, however, things were different. That was when I had fallen for the classic illusion of a novice writer—writing a book is the hard part. Finding an agent to represent it? Simple.

That fantasy was pushed aside once reality set in. Writing a book, I found, was the easy part. Finding an agent to represent it was nearly impossible. Nearly. A year ago, I put the period after the final sentence of my manuscript, Snow Day, and submitted a query to Rachelle Gardner at WordServe Literary. I was a reader of her blog and she seemed like a perfect match for what I had written. In the meantime, I used the wait to research between 30 and 40 more agents who would possibly be interested in representing my book. That turned out to be a wise decision. Having those other potential suitors helped take the sting out of the rejection e-mail WordServe sent two weeks later.

REJECTIONLAND, THEN THE REFERRAL

I spent the next six months methodically trudging through that list of agents, querying and proposal-ing and, most of all, waiting. Quite a few asked for partials. Some wanted the entire manuscript. But all eventually passed.There really is such a thing as a good rejection, which is the equivalent of the most popular girl in school turning you down but still calling you cute. Quite a few of those no-thank-yous resembled that. But there was much less tickle than torture.

I had two things going against me. One was an economy that was persuading publishers to be very hesitant on taking a chance with an unpublished writer. The other was the fact that I didn’t have much of a platform. Many of those kind rejections offered the same piece of advice—do something. Writers can’t simply write anymore. Start a blog. Sign up for Facebook and Twitter. Put your name out there, build an audience, and submit again. So I put my manuscript in a desk drawer and forgot about finding an agent, concentrating instead on starting a blog and building an audience.

Eight months later I received an e-mail from a new reader who wanted to know if I had a book in the works and, if so, if I had an agent. I answered yes to the one and no to the other, and she suggested she could perhaps talk her agent into taking a look at my manuscript. Her agent just happened to be Rachelle Gardner.

SNOW DAY COMES FULL CIRCLE

I mentioned that Rachelle had already passed on Snow Day, but this kind new reader felt sure Rachelle would give me a personal look. I submitted to Rachelle again and held my breath. Rachelle contacted me a week later and asked for a telephone conversation. We talked about the book and the direction I wanted to take it, and she asked for the full manuscript and held my breath more.

She e-mailed again three days later. This time, she didn’t want me to call her. This time she wanted to call me. By that time I had met another friend online who had finally convinced me to sign up for Twitter. Rachelle direct messaged me there on the morning of our conversation and told me not to worry, for this was The Call.

I had never heard of The Call before, didn’t know what it meant, but I thought it sounded good. I paced the floor at work all day until my phone rang. Rachelle offered representation right away, and I could finally exhale. Breathing is important for conversation. We’ve since edited Snow Day and it is now in the hands of several interested publishers. Rachelle has been everything I could have hoped for and more in an agent. I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

In the end I got the agent I wanted, though in a nontraditional way. But I think it’s a lesson every writer in today’s market needs to know. Authors can’t simply write anymore. They need some level of exposure and self-promotion. If I hadn’t started a blog and put time in to attract readers, I wouldn’t have an agent. Blogs and social networking can bring people to you who are willing to help you accomplish your dreams. Yes, it can seem like a risk. But one worth taking.

Want more on this subject?

See all the posted stories of writers finding agents here.

If Christian/inspiration writing is your thing, check out the agents I've interviewed who specialize in this category, including Greg Daniel and Joyce Hart.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Delilah Marvelle

Chuck — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:43:58 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent is by Delilah Marvelle,
who writes romance. Check out
her blog here. On it, she writes
about sex in the context of
history.

Mistress of Pleasure

DROPPED BY MY PUBLISHER

A few months before the release of my second book, Lord of Pleasure, I discovered that my publisher, Kensington, was not going to be renewing contracts. It's a writer's worst nightmare to be rejected by your own publisher once you thought you've made it. What could possibly be worse than being rejected by your own publisher? Letting go of your agent beforehand, which, yes, I did.  Just after my agent and I parted ways, I got the bad news from Kensington.

So without a contract and without an agent, I basically started over. I queried 15 agents and every single one of them came back with the same answer, "Love the writing but it's a tough market." Seeing it took me 11 years to get published and that during those 11 years, I had garnered over two hundred rejections, I knew I needed to keep trudging onward. So I did the one thing I could do. I submitted to publishers on my own.  Or at least those that would let me query without an agent (which isn't very many...). I queried Avon, HQN, and Sourcebooks and waited.

WHOOPS

Two weeks later, I went to the National Romance Writer's of America Conference which I attend every year. It's an amazing writing haven where connections and education abounds for all romance writers, published or not. I went with no expectations, just the high hopes that I could push my upcoming book.

At one of the luncheons, I sat at a table with a group of lovely women I didn't know and we all started to talk. About the same time, a gentleman nabbed the last empty seat at the table and quietly sat there listening to our conversations. I happened to touch upon the topic of my blog, which I post to every first of the month on topics of sex in the context of history. That is exactly when the gentleman spoke up and said, "That sounds very fascinating.  Might I have a card?" Seeing I was discussing my blog, I thought "Perve" (because I attract them), so I drawled, "And you ARE?" He paused, then graciously replied, "Donald Maass." Needless to say, I choked, gave him my card, feeling much like a dolt and thought, "Well...there goes that chance." Then, the night before the conference was over, my life completely changed.

Though there's usually tons of desserts available after the Golden Heart and Rita Ceremony, for some reason, this year, there was none to be had as the staff wasn't refilling the platters. Being a chef, I immediately flagged down a waiter, handed him an empty plate and kindly asked him to go into the kitchen and bring me whatever dessert he could find. While I waited by the kitchen door, the editor from Sourcebooks approached me and on the spot offered me a four book contract based off of the proposal for the new series I had submitted.  As I stood there in complete shock, that's when the waiter came back and delivered a huge piece of chocolate cake. All for me. So yes, I had my cake and ate it, too. I hardly got home and immediately called up the two other publishers who had my series to let them know I had an offer. Avon passed with glowing compliments but HQN counteroffered. And that's when I realized, "Holy Cow, I need an agent."

CALLING DONALD

My good writing buddies, Lisa Hendrix and Kristina McMorris quickly offered up their fabulous agents which I called immediately. My husband, however, kept pestering me and saying, "Why don't you call Donald Maass?" I cringed. After I had insulted the man? I think not.   My husband, however, kept pressing and needless to say, I caved and called Donald Maass. Lo and behold, Donald not only offered representation, but assistance in honing my writing. To get an agent and a writing coach all in one?  A complete dream! That said, I signed with him and he helped me through the daunting process of choosing which publisher was best for me.

To receive two offers from two amazing publishers was a nightmare of a decision. Yes, it's what every writer dreams about, but not quite as fun filled when you're actually living it. With some back and forth between the two publishers, I eventually decided on HQN who offered me a three book deal. So what did I learn from my roller coaster experience? Trust your gut and don't ever, ever let an agent decide your career for you.

Lord of Pleasure

Want more on this subject?

See all the posted stories of writers finding agents here.
If romance writing is your thing, check out this article on WD.com all about creating imperfect heroes and heroines for your romance novel.
Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.
Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.
Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Eugenia Kim

Chuck — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:42:12 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent is by Eugenia Kim, a
writer of both novel-length and
short fiction. Her first novel, The
Calligrapher's Daughter is both
historical and multicultural.

MERIT BADGES

Once I knew I was writing a novel, I also knew it would help to have published work when I was ready to find an agent. With the dreamy optimism of the inexperienced, I submitted stories and essays to the mountaintops: The Atlantic, The Paris Review and Granta. And thus began a decade-long process of manuscript revision paralleled with humbling self-revision. A few pieces did manage to fill some pages in anthologies and regional literary journals, and I gathered these little recognitions like scout merit badges, pinning them to the sash I’d show to prospective agents.

During the years of schooling, reading, writing and revising, I’d collected a fistful of agents’ names from book acknowledgments, industry articles and seminars, and—the golden fleece in the agent search—referral promises from author friends. I had learned about the mechanics of the process: the query letter with its pithy opening sentence, the snappy synopsis, the bio (adorned with my merit badges), the strict compliance to submission guidelines, the helmet for the barrage of rejections. Patient and perhaps too-kind friends had read my novel and delivered thumbs-ups. I began querying literary agents partly because I couldn’t face revising the manuscript yet again. Instead, I wrote and repeatedly revised the query letter, synopsis and bio. I should have paid more attention to the lessons that rose from boiling down a manuscript into a one-page description. I was seeing my novel in a different light, its themes shifting in emphasis as I tried to write the kind of copy that would sell the book. Like any loving mother, I believed that no one but I could see the flaws in my 500-page child.

QUERIES AND SETBACKS

After so many years working on the novel, the relative speed of creating the query package prodded the impetus to send it out. I mailed it to my best hope, careful to give her an exclusive submission. As a fail-safe measure I bought the 2006 Guide to Literary Agents, checked who might be a good fit for my novel and verified their submission guidelines online. The stars shown brightly the day the agent’s assistant called asking for the first 50 pages, and I barely slept—until the rejection came. It included a generous paragraph pointing to the weaknesses that I continued to rationalize away. As a salve, I sharpened the query and send it out again, and yet again, until I’d burnt through the precious commodity of the half-dozen agents with whom I had a meaningful connection. With each rejection came a revision of my writerly worth, a meek reshaping of the image of big-name agents fighting over my pages flying in scattered delight.

Rather than work on my manuscript, I created a detailed list of agent prospects coded by cold-query acceptance levels, for affinity of their represented books to mine, and charted to date-track the process. About 30 queries in I received an offer, but the agent’s request to radically refocus the novel didn’t feel right, nor did the tone of the conversation we had. I agonized over this decision, finally choosing to trust my gut over my eagerness to sign. That experience, along with 40 rejections in nine months, made it impossible to deny that my child wasn’t communicating properly. I devoted time to rehabilitate her. Plus, there were only ten more names on my prospective agent list.

AN UNEXPECTED CALL

A month later, I knew I had a better product. Even the query felt simple to revise and sounded fresh and clear. And as the winter holidays approached, I had better results. Three agents requested the complete manuscript. I nurtured hope that my novel would have a little fireside attention in a comfortable home setting.

Then came a call from Nat Sobel. The strange thing was: I'd heard of Nat but he was not one of the many agents I queried. He actually called to say that he had admired my short story in a small literary journal and asked if I had anything book-length. I described the novel and, my brain going clickity-clack, told him that three other agents had the full manuscript. I sent it overnight to his holiday vacation home—the fireside!—and the next day he said Sobel Weber Associates was interested if I was open to revising the material. This time, knowing that revision had improved my “finished” novel and could only make it better, and with all my expectations thoroughly revised after the year-long querying process, it felt completely right.

Want more on this subject?

See all the posted stories of writers finding agents here.
Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.
Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.
Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!
If you're writing a life story or memoir, check out our new WD book Writing Life Stories.

How I Got My Agent: Lisa Lawmaster Hess

Chuck — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:32:03 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent is by Lisa Lawmaster Hess,
who writes inspirational and juvenile.
See her author website here
and her blog here.

TWO NOVELS & NO LUCK

I started freelancing in 1993 and the unpredictability of writing on spec meant that I couldn’t quit my day job. When I signed up for my second course through the Institute of Children’s Literature in the fall of 2000, I decided to tackle something new, and so I began to try my hand at fiction. The short stories I developed as part of that course became the heart of my second book, Diverse Divorce, which came out in 2004.

One of the stories originally intended for that book never made it in, but the protagonist wouldn’t leave me alone. For the first time, I thought I might have enough material for a novel, which I targeted to my favorite age group, middle-grade readers. When the book was complete, agents passed on it - so I went on to write a second novel with the same characters. But alas, my characters remained homeless.

TRANSITIONING TO INSPIRATIONAL

I kept writing, and reading, and discovered Christian fiction - first as a reader, then as a writer. I was working on the first draft of my Christian chick lit novel, Casting the First Stone, in May 2008 when The Susquehanna Writers Workshop – rolled around. Familiar with the conference from my attendance the previous year, I was ready to take advantage of everything. Extra day off from work to enjoy the campus and get my bearings? Check. Friday night Red Eye critique group? Check. Appointment with an agent representing juvenile fiction? Check. Appointment with an agent repping adult fiction? Check.

I first saw her just as a critique group was about to begin when she asked to join our group. There was no photo of her in the conference brochure, so I didn’t know who she was until she introduced herself as Diana Flegal from Hartline Literary Agency.

DIANA, THE CONFERENCE, AND A PRAYER

Everyone in the group had a Christian flavor to their writing, which was not unusual at this conference. We had devotionals, skits, historical fiction, poetry and my contemporary novel to review, round-robin style. Diana declined to comment on any pieces, preferring to wait for our scheduled times the next day. So I was surprised when, on the way back to the hotel, she stopped me and expressed enthusiasm for the manuscript – my manuscript! – that we’d just critiqued. The next morning, as I was returning from breakfast, she stepped out of her room – across the hall from mine – and jokingly asked me if my ears had been burning.

Looking back, the funny thing is: She was so nice. So upbeat and down-to-earth. So friendly. So normal. Weren’t agents supposed to be stiff and formal? A bit holier than thou?

By the time I sat down with her later that morning, I was no longer nervous, at least not in the panic-stricken sense. Diana told me that she loved my work, and the validation (that I hoped and prayed and dreamed about) was just as good in reality as it had been in my dreams. Diana ended our appointment with a prayer. That blew me away. It made perfect sense, though. This Christian agent, this truly nice person whose company I enjoyed, couldn’t have closed our meeting in any more perfect way.

I signed my contract with Hartline on July 4, 2008. Diana is now shopping the novel she took on based on my conference submission as well as a nonfiction book for the educational market and a ‘tween novel. Waiting for that elusive sale is still frustrating at times, but with Diana at bat for me, it’s easier to believe that it will come.

Acting Assertively, a book for
students in grades 4-8, is one of
Lisa's previously published books.

Want more on this subject?

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Interested in inspirational writing? Check out our resource, Going on Faith: Writing as a Spiritual Quest.
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Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.
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How I Got My Agent: Carrie Wilson Link

Chuck — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:34:51 GMT

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent is by Carrie Wilson Link,
who writes memoir. See her
author website here and her blog here.

STARTING WITH REJECTIONS

When I first began looking for an agent for my memoir, Unstrung: Memoir of a Mended Marriage, I made a list of about 30 agents that I was interested in. I compiled the list based on loose connections and reading the acknowledgement pages of all my favorite memoirs, and learning who those author’s agents were.

I had read several books on how to get published, and consulted several online articles on how to write a query letter. One weekend, I finally sat down and wrote my query letter, and then created a matrix for keeping track of who I’d sent it to, the manner in which I’d sent it, when, and if I’d sent any sample writing or not. Each agent is different, some only want e-mail queries, and some won’t accept e-mail. Some will accept a chapter or two; some specifically ask that you not send anything but the query. The matrix helped me keep track.

Then I started including the rejections on the matrix, and the form of the rejections: post cards, e-mail, form letters, or in many cases, silence. Some rejections came in as little as 20 minutes, some “I’ll take a look at the first 50 pages,” requests, too. Some I’m still waiting to hear from over a year later. You never know.

"WANT TO MEET UP?"

About two months into the process, a friend offered me free use of her Manhattan apartment. I contacted two agents in New York that I was very interested in, but still hadn’t heard anything from. “I’m coming to New York and was hoping I could meet with you,” I e-mailed. They both replied that yes, they’d love to meet with me. I printed off full manuscripts and proposals and flew east.

Both meetings went well and I was sure my biggest problem would be in choosing which of the two I’d want, when the fighting for me began. One of the two learned within a week that she was pregnant with twins (already adding to the two under two she had at home) and would not be taking on any new projects. The other one? Never. Heard. From. Again.

HEARING FROM LAURIE

Back home and feeling discouraged, I got an e-mail from one agent I’d queried and not heard from: Laurie Harper at Sebastian Literary Agency. “I’m so sorry it’s taken so long for me to get back to you,” she started out. I was immediately in love with her; she was an agent with a good heart. The e-mail continued, “I just went through a surprise divorce. If you can bear with me, I’d love to consider your work. In the meantime, you should certainly continue to query other agents, as it may take me a while to catch up.”

Coincidentally, I had just finished reading, and loving, Split: Memoir of a Divorce by Suzanne Finnamore – all about a “surprise” divorce. Having nothing to lose and everything to gain, I sent the book to this agent. And my full manuscript. And my full proposal (unsolicited). And a letter explaining what I was and was not looking for in an agent and what I brought to the table. And a personal note explaining that Split was a personal favorite of mine, and I hoped it served as a balm for her.

A few days later I got an e-mail from the agent, saying, “I must admit I was surprised, but happily so, by the box you sent. Thank you.” I wrote back, and within a few weeks, she called and said, “We are well-matched. I love your book. I love you. I’d like for us to work together.” We’ve been happily collaborating every since.

And the icing on the cake? I had written a blog post about Split right after I’d read it, and Suzanne, the writer, contacted me. She’d been Googling herself and found my blog post. I kept her e-mail address “just in case,” thinking "What are the chances?" But after getting signed by my agent, I pulled out that address and contacted Suzanne. “Thanks for writing Split; it got me an agent.” That little e-mail began a cyber friendship – a rich and satisfying one for both of us. One day she e-mailed and said, “What was the subtitle of your book? Memoir of a Mended Marriage?” I wrote back, “No, but it is now. That’s better.” And it is.

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.
Check out my tips on writing memoir: Part I, and also Part II.
You Don't Have to Be Famous is a great book all about how to write your life story.

How I Got My Agent: Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Chuck — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:32:07 GMT

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, who
writes nonfiction. Laurie is a
writer and blogger who created and
maintains a series of Quips and Tips blogs,
including: Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals,
and Quips and Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility.
She's also the Feature Writer for Psychology Suite101.

I signed with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency several months ago (I call my agent "Special Agent Jon Sternfeld") and it only took three weeks from searching to signing. Here’s how it happened – I call it my “12 Step Program.”

1. Solidified my book idea. I created a strong hook, a well-thought-out idea, and a catchy query that grabbed my agent’s attention. I’d actually submitted my idea (See Jane Soar) to several publishers before deciding I’d rather have an agent do the legwork.

2. Prepared an airtight book proposal. To learn how to write a book proposal, I scoured Elizabeth Lyon’s Nonfiction Book Proposals Anyone Can Write from head to toe. I didn’t do everything she recommended – I learned all I could, then let my creativity and instincts take over. I read a few other books about nonfiction proposals, as well.

3. Polished my proposal until it sparkled. The first agent I talked to (not Sternfeld) said he couldn't believe how unprepared and unprofessional writers can be! That made me realize how important it is to edit every sentence of my queries, proposals, and manuscripts until I have nothing left to give.

4. Did the research. I looked at the 2009 Guide to Literary Agents, explored Predators & Editors, and Googled “literary agents in America.” Ultimately, I found Sternfeld through Predators & Editors.

5. Followed agents' submission guidelines. The agent’s websites I visited had clear submission guidelines. I took them seriously, more or less.

6. Queried far and wide. Agent Janet Reid recommends querying as many agents as possible. I e-mailed 14 of the “highly recommended” ones on Preditors & Editors. I also asked a colleague for her agent’s name, she e-mailed him, he e-mailed me, we spoke later that day, and he sent me a contract a couple days later. I didn’t sign on with him – and I’ll tell you why soon…

7. Double checked my book proposal. I let it “cook” while I was researching agents. Taking a week or even a month off from a particular piece can do wonders for one's writing and editing skills! (I never take a week or month off writing in general).

8. Chilled. While I waited for editors’ responses, I wrote magazine article ideas, played around with a new book idea, and caught up on my blogs. It took Sternfeld less than a week to contact me.

9. Talked to Special Agent Sternfeld. He e-mailed and requested a phone conversation less than a week after I sent my book proposal. We talked within half an hour of his e-mail.

10. Made sure we were on the same wavelength. I was tempted to sign on with the first agent I talked to, but he suggested a significant change to my book. It didn’t light my fire, but hey – I’m open to thinking about stuff. He sent the contract and left the ball in my court … and I decided not to play with him. Sternfeld, however, was thrilled with my book proposal! “Even if you don’t sign with me,” he said, “don’t change anything. It’s great the way it is.”

11. Read and signed the contract. I signed on with Irene Goodman without a lawyer’s rubber stamp (but I did compare it to my other contract – which was five pages long. Goodman’s was one page).

12. Celebrated! Darling hubby and I opened a bottle of champagne and toasted my hard work and the future (more hard work). And the next day, I went back at work: querying magazine editors, blogging for Quips & Tips, and trying to develop new book ideas.

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.
Check out agent Ted Weinstein's words of wisdom on nonfiction writing and book proposals.
If you're interested in her Laurie's agent, Jon Sternfeld, check out his contributed column to my blog.

How I Got My Agent: Alice J. Wisler

Chuck — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:13:48 GMT

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Alice J. Wisler, who writes fiction.

PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE

My problem was easy to detect. I was too eager to get my first three chapters of my novel read by an agent. Sending out portions of my work-in-progress was fun to do. I thrived on writing exciting query letters and waiting for agents to affirm me with, “Yes, I’d like to read your manuscript. Sounds fabulous!” While the agents read partials, I frantically wrote, fueled by the hope that my work would be readily accepted. When the rejections came, I wondered why I kept on with this crazy game. Ever since I was six, I wanted to write a novel and have it published. Now in my forties, the desire was still only a desire. When would it become a reality?

After another rejection letter with some personal feedback from a well-known agent, I realized that I had another problem besides the fact that I was querying for an unfinished novel: The main character’s narrative voice was bland; she wasn’t likable. I read a few pages from my novel again and realized I didn’t even like her.

THE OVERHAUL

While picking weeds in my yard one summer afternoon, that intriguing narrative voice came to me. Fearful it would disappear with the weeds, I grabbed a pen and paper and sat in the grass to write. Three months later, I had twenty chapters I was proud of and I did what I was accustomed to doing—I sent out a stimulating query letter to an agent I found on agentquery.com. By nightfall the agent asked to see my first three chapters. After she read them, she called to say she wanted the whole manuscript. This was exhilarating, but not the first time over the course of nearly two years that an agent had asked to see it all.

But, of course, there was the problem that my novel wasn't complete to send to her. So I told the agent I was experiencing a family crisis. (Since my husband left us months earlier, I didn’t feel that I’d really lied.) Then I got to work, using every spare hour between single parenting and working a full-time job. Within a month, I’d completed my novel. I sent it to the agent and waited. There were some sleepless nights as I worried how I’d handle the disproval this time. I’d been rejected by 23 agents. Were there any left?

THE CALL

Two weeks later I received another phone call. It was the agent - Kristin Lindstrom of Lindstrom Literary Management. “Alice, I love it, and I want to represent you!” I was 45 years old, but I shrieked with joy like I did when I was six. At last, I had an agent - and one who believed in me! Finally, my dream had wheels. Within eight weeks, we had a two-book deal with Bethany House. Rain Song was published 20 months later (the wait was grueling) and six months after that, How Sweet It Is made her debut. (More recently, two more novels are under contract with the same publisher, thanks to Kristin!)

The road to getting an agent was more painful than being pelted by hot sand on a windy Carolina beach, mostly due to my eagerness and lack of crafting the best novel I could. I’m impressed by those who do it the right way—finishing the novel first, reveling in plenty of editing, and then contacting potential agents. But I’ve never been good about following directions.

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 like Alice, and your book might need more editing/work before it gets sent to agents, learn about finding some good "beta readers."
James Scott Bell wrote a great book on self-editing called Write Great Fiction: Revision and Self-Editing.

How I Got My Agent: Lisa Dale

Chuck — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:27:08 GMT

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Lisa Dale, who writes fiction.

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.

How I Got My Agent: Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

Chuck — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:57:06 GMT

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, who
writes children's books.

LIFE PRE-AGENT

Though I didn't have an agent when I first began to write, I was lucky enough to get my work published. Over the course of six years, thirteen of my books - twelve children’s activity books and one middle grade novel – came to life. It wasn’t that I didn’t want an agent – I did, and had queried a half-dozen or so over the years. It’s just that other things fell into place first.

THE SCBWI CONFERENCE

In February 2008, I attended the annual SCBWI conference in New York. At a panel of agents addressing the state of the publishing industry (because there is always a panel of agents addressing the state of the publishing industry), I was very impressed with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. Aside from the fact that she said she loved historical fiction (my favorite genre), she mentioned that the goal of Adams Literary was to produce beautiful children’s literature, and to work on building each of their client’s careers. That's music to writers' ears.

I queried her the moment I stepped off the plane back in Nashville. I was excited when she requested the full manuscript of my latest historical fiction story. But things weren't so simple.

UNDER REVIEW BY AN AGENT AND EDITOR

At that time, I was obligated to submit my book-in-progress to an editor I had worked with previously. The editor read it and requested big changes. I explained the circumstances to Adams Literary. "Would you mind waiting?" I asked, "while I made these changes?" They said they would wait. They said, in fact, “Enjoy the writing.”

Enjoy the writing! These people got it.

And thank goodness they are patient. Nearly a year later, I sent them a, “Hey! Remember me?” message. And yay – they did remember! After I sent in the revised manuscript, Josh Adams, Tracey’s husband, called a couple of weeks later to offer representation. I now feel like I can concentrate on becoming a better, stronger storyteller while they handle the rest. Adams Literary has, in just a few short months, taken my career in new and exciting directions. I thank my lucky stars that Tracey was presenting that day, and that Josh became my (fantastic! thorough! ever-patient!) agent.

As a final note, I say writers should know it’s never too late to follow up on interest. If someone likes your story, they will remember it. They will remember you. This is not to say that you should query an unfinished project. But if circumstances prevent you from following up immediately on a request, that doesn’t mean you should chuck that relationship. Finding someone who loves your story as much as you do is a treasure.

How I Got My Agent: Jess Haines

Chuck — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:12:18 GMT

"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.

If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk specifics.

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Jess Haines, who writes
urban fantasy.

For years, I worked writing technical instructions, scripts for internal instructional videos and company policy for a private business. Though the subject matter of my day job is pretty dry and often filled with legalese, I always wanted to write fantasy, sci-fi and horror.

Once I decided to write for professional publication, I knew I had some hard work ahead of me. First thing on the agenda: Write a book! I came up with an idea, put it down on paper, and by June 2008, I had a completed urban fantasy novel ready to go. So - what to do with it?

>STARTING OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT

Embarking on a venture to our good friend Google, I searched for literary agents. I sent off a query to the first one that came up. I was a little disheartened by his rejection (which was actually worded very kindly), but I kept going, poking around here and there, sending off a few more queries. At the time, I didn't realize that you should only query agents who rep your particular genre nor was I aware that things like scam agencies exist. Unwisely, I followed a link to a (scam) agency that came up on my next search. Of course, they accepted me, and I just about flipped my gourd when they said, “Yes! We want to represent you!” Meanwhile, I racked up three or four more rejections from other, reputable agencies.

After the initial "Holy #%^!, I have an agent!" wore off and they recommended a paid critique through a branch of their own agency, I got suspicious and started checking them out. Much to my horror, I discovered they were on a list of scam agencies and immediately cancelled my agreement with them. Okay. Big mistake there. Brush-With-Death-of-Potential-Future-Career averted, I took a step back to see what I could do to get a real agent and not be such a ditz about this process.

On the bright side, my encounter with the scam agency had me take a look at the benefits of getting a critique done. I invested in a professional critique through The Visions Group (www.thevisionsgroup.net). This was one of the best moves I made throughout the entire process as it helped me to tighten up and focus the novel. Jean Heller also gave me some invaluable advice on what to do, and what not to do to locate and land an agent.

FINDING ELLEN

Bolstered by this, I stopped querying and went through the manuscript again, taking time to clean it up. While I did that, I perused more blogs of agents and editors: yours, Nathan Bransford's, BookEnds, Query Shark, etc. I read over the recommendations and tips from various industry newsletters and organizations. I studied up on what to do, how to format the query, what to include, what not to include, etc, and continued my search for representation around the end of August 2008.

Ahoy! What's this? An article from the Writer's Digest newsletter about 28 agents who are looking for writers? Impeccable timing!

[Note from Chuck: I put together this article and it comes out every year. The 2008 list is no longer online because some of the info is outdated after about six months. The 2009 list is forthcoming. It will probably be online around September.]

I looked over the list of 28 agents and contacted Ellen Pepus (www.signaturelit.com) with an e-mail query. While I waited for a response, I got going on a second novel.

Ellen replied a few weeks later requesting a partial. (Insert happy dance here.) Shortly after that, she asked for the full manuscript. (Insert happy dance here.) In November 2008, she offered representation and sent me her contract. (Insert girlish screams of delight followed by happy dance here.)

I’m very, very happy I persisted in my search for an agent, as Ellen just closed a three-book deal with Kensington Press for me!

How I Got My Agent: Jennifer Lawler

Chuck — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:15:53 GMT

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Jennifer Lawler, who is a
nonfiction specialist.

THE REFERRAL

Earlier this year, when I was finishing up my new book proposal, I mentioned to a casual coffeehouse friend that I'd be looking for a new nonfiction agent. Marilyn, said coffeehouse friend, is a former journalism-major-turned caterer-turned-food-writer, and she asked, "Are you going to query Neil?" >

I thought: Who's Neil?

It turns out she was talking about Neil Salkind, a friend of hers from a social organization, who, among other things, happened to be a literary agent. Marilyn had introduced us a few months previously when Neil was at the coffeehouse one morning - but at the time, I was working obsessively on fiction and editing a quarterly martial arts magazine. I wasn't focused on nonfiction books, so I just said hello and let them get back to their conversation. My impression of him was that he was comfortable in his own skin, interested in all kinds of people and things, genial and generous.

But no, I didn't think of querying him until Marilyn urged me to.

What I planned to do was to follow the route new writers are suppose to follow: Research agents who represent your kind of work (I write mostly self-help and how-to books, and my new proposal is in the same vein), then make a list of your top ten favorites, query them, wait a couple of weeks for feedback, make any necessary adjustments to the query letter, make another list of ten agents, query them, then repeat, until either someone makes an offer of representation or you run out of agents to query.

CONTACTING NEIL

Fully prepared for a long siege, I drafted a query letter and gave my proposal a final polish, ready to start contacting agents. Then I remembered what Marilyn had said about Neil. So I did some online research and found out who he represented, what books he'd sold recently, and came away with the belief that he could do good things for my career. So I e-mailed him, reminded him of our brief introduction and our mutual friend, and he immediately suggested we get together over coffee, talk about my new project and see what we thought of each other. (Yes, the theme is emerging: Hanging out at coffeehouses is instrumental in building your career.)

So we met. In the first few minutes of our conversation, he showed that he was squarely on the side of the author, that he knew a lot of people in publishing, and that he could sell books. Also, he liked my book proposal, and he had ideas about it - lots of ideas, which was wonderful. I was specifically looking for someone who could keep up with me because I try to write as much as I can.

He offered representation right away, we signed an agreement and now I'm looking forward to a long and mutually prosperous relationship.

How I Got My Agent: Lisa Janice Cohen

Chuck — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:18:30 GMT

"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.

If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk specifics.

This installment of "How I
Got My Agent" is by
Lisa Janice Cohen, author
of both YA and adult novels.

EARLY ATTEMPTS & THREE BOOKS

I completed my first novel in the summer of 2005 and, with only a minimal understanding of the process of publication, began to search for an agent. Between August 2005 and August 2006, I sent out queries to 50 agents who represented fantasy novels, who had profiles on agentquery.com, and were considered legitimate by Preditors and Editors. (At least I knew enough to not get scammed in those early attempts.) Those attempts garnered one request for a partial, many form rejections, and the rest never responded.
      As I was racking up the rejections, I was also hard at work writing novel No. 2, a near-future thriller. Figuring I had given the fantasy novel its best shot, I began to query the thriller. I sent out 42 queries. This query received a handful of personal rejections, and the odd assortment of form rejections and non-responders.
      By that time, I had completed novel No. 3, a YA urban fantasy called House of Many Doors. I knew my writing was stronger and I was better able to see what was not working in my first and second novels. I started querying the YA novel in March of 2007, almost by accident (as I was still actively querying the thriller). A writer friend of mine contacted me asking me if she could pass my info on to a poet friend of hers who was also a literary agent.
         The agent was interested on the basis of my teaser and asked for a partial, then the full ms. She requested edits, which I thought were all excellent suggestions and I was over the moon, assuming that I had finally figured it out and was about to get an agent. Months passed and she finally called me to let me know she did not feel the manuscript was commercially viable without massive rewriting and that she was going to pass. I was devastated and confused.
      But I continued to query novel No. 3, sending queries to an additional 28 likely agents. One of those agents was Nephele Tempest of The Knight Agency.

SUCCESS WITH NEPHELE

I initially queried Nephele in September of 2007, as part of her Back to School query contest on her blog. There had been an announcement of this contest and a link to her blog through Forward Motion for Writers (fmwriters.com). Nephele blogged that she was specifically looking for YA urban fantasy and, lo and behold, I had a completed manuscript in that genre (novel. No. 3).
      She liked my query and asked for sample pages within 24 hours. About a month later (October 2007), she requested the full ms. After not hearing back from her for four months, I sent a polite status check e-mail and Nephele was quick to respond that she was swamped and current clients needed to be her priority. About every 3 months, I would correspond with her, asking for a status update.
      In the meanwhile, I had the good fortune to be asked to submit the manuscript to an editor at a YA imprint of one of the NY publishing houses. (This was through a personal connection - the editor's fiancee worked with my husband.) While the editor loved the story, she felt it was ultimately not right for her imprint. But, she sent me wonderfully detailed editorial notes on her impressions. Those notes translated into a further revision of the manuscript. After completing the revisions in the fall of 2008, I e-mailed Nephele wondering if could I send her the revised manuscript. As she hadn't yet read the original, she agreed. Within a few weeks, she had read the revised manuscript and offered me representation.
      So while it took from September of 2007 to January of 2009 from query to acceptance with an agent, the process actually began in August of 2005 when I sent my first unsuccessful query for my first novel. Since then, I have finished a total of 4 novels, and am on track to finish novel number five this summer.

How I Got My Agent: Chuck Sambuchino

Chuck — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:20:46 GMT

I want to start a new recurring feature on the blog called "How I Got My Agent." 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.

If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk specifics. To start off the column, I figured I'd just recount my own route. It's not a super-exciting story, but a lot of these won't be. It's just important to see different examples of how writer & rep teamed up.

Me!

AGENT? WHY GET AN AGENT?

In 2006, I was hired as an editor for Writer's Digest Books. By that time in my life, I had written tons of newspaper articles, a few dozen magazine pieces, and even had several stage play productions of my work. Things were going pretty well, but I never really thought too much about getting an agent because I didn't have any book-length works to sell. After all, you only need an agent if you have either a novel or a nonfiction book (more specifically, a book proposal) to sell.

MEETING SORCHE AT A CONFERENCE

In October 2006, I attended the Midwest Literary Festival in Aurora, IL as a panelist. (By the way, this event was cool but no longer exists, I believe.) At the festival, I moderated an agent panel. One of the participating agents, Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary Representation in Boston, was asked a question regarding whether publishers came up with book ideas and then simply "found" writers to complete the project. Sorche said "yes," and also added that agents, as well, will conjure up good ideas and seek writers for projects. She then said something along the lines of, "Right now, I'm thinking about how come no one's done a book on old movie houses still in operation." This caught my interest.

It caught my interest because I was just starting on a 10-part series for Pennsylvania Magazine on historic theaters around the state. I chatted with Sorche a little bit at the writers' conference but didn't talk business. (This is something I still think is underrated - just talking to an agent like a normal human being and making a nice impression in their mind - rather than giving yet another pitch.) A week later, after the conference was finished, I e-mailed her and said, "Thanks, nice to meet you, etc." But I also said, "I'm writing this series for Pennsylvania Magazine. I'm a produced playwright and old, historic theaters is a topic that's kind of up my alley. I know it's not 'movie houses' like you mentioned, but if you were ever interested in seeing something more on this subject, please let me know. Thanks."

I stared at my inbox and phone. Nothing happened. A week went by and I pretty much forgot about the whole thing. Three months later, I checked my work voicemail and it was her. "Sounds interesting," she said. "Give me a call and we'll talk."

DEVELOPING THE FIRST PROPOSAL

On the phone, Sorche hashed out what she wanted to see in terms of a book proposal. After that, I started educating myself with lots of books on book proposals and asked writer friends for sample proposals. It took a few months to put something together and send it to her. We crossed paths again in New York in May 2007 and she had a marked-up copy of my proposal with suggested places to revise and expand. The next part took a while (nine months - probably above average), as we passed the proposal back and forth while I was making revisions and she was explaining how to better it.

By the beginning of 2008, we were just about done. Sorche and I crossed paths at another writers' conference and she had brought a contract, just like she said she would. The contract was only for a one-book agreement (meaning we would only be tied together for that one book, legally), but we had dinner and talked about what else I had in my head. She liked my other nonfiction ideas and said she was game to rep other proposals when I finished them.

And that's pretty much it! I could go on with stories of revisions and submissions to editors, but it doesn't have a whole lot to do with how her and I got linked up.