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79-38 Acquiring an Agent

Eva Langston

When Natalie does a Midnight Ritual with the witchy guy from school, she doesn’t really think it’ll help her find her missing friend.

But the ritual is real.

And Natalie walks away a different person.

Literally

 

Why do You Need a Literary Agent

- If You Want to be Traditionally Published

- Help You Navigate the Publishing World

Get You the Best Deal

Contracts, Audio and Film Rights, Foreign Rights, Legal Issues, etc

- Help You Shape/Improve This and Future Projects

- 15% Commission

 

How to Find an Agent

- Mentor or Acquaintance

Mentoring Programs: Author Mentor Match, Rogue Mentor, Write Mentor, We Need Diverse Books, etc

- Cold Querying

- Pitch Contest (Followed by a Query Letter)

Twitter Pitch Contests #SFFPit, #DVPit, #PitchDis, #PitchDark, #MoodPitch, etc

Conference

Pitch Session

Schmoosing

How to Research Agents

- Manuscript Wishlist

- Twitter

- Reading the Acknowledgements Page in Books

- Read Agent Bios on Agency Websites

- Read or Listen to Agent Reviews

Podcasts: The Manuscript Academy, The Good Story Podcast, etc

- Create a Spreadsheet

Querying Strategy

Don’t Query too Soon

Polish Your Submission Package

Get Beta Readers

Do a Query Workshop

Query in Batches

Follow Directions and Keep Track of Responses

Consider a Manuscript Academy One-on-One

Don’t Give Up – But Also Take a Hard Look at Your Query Letter and First Pages

How to Write a Query Letter

First Paragraph: Personalize and What You’re Selling

Personalize for Particular Agent

Give Genre and Word Count plus Super-Short Hook/Description

I am querying my sci-fi romance THE COLONIES (85,000 words), which has the steamy drama of Bridgerton, but set in a futuristic space colony.

Middle Paragraphs: (brief summary 100-200 words)

Introduce Character, Conflict, and Stakes, DON’T give away the ending

Comp titles if helpful

Last Paragraph: Bio & closing

Keep Query under 1 Page (12-poin font, single spaced)

Use Real Examples of Query Letters (Query Shark)

What I Learned from 90 Queries

Keep Query Short and Sweet

(My summary went from four paragraphs and 234 words to two paragraphs and 146 words)

Don’t be afraid to give away the “big twist”

Be as SPECIFIC as possible

Research comp titles (use #AskALibrarian)

REALLY polish those first few pages

Beta and sensitivity readers

Hook the reader right away; sensory details, a mystery, a character doing something, etc

How to Survive the Query Trenches

Don’t Give Up!

Podcast: Query, Qualms, and Quirks

Try to Let Go of the Outcome and focus on what you CAN control

Find Support (#writingcommunity … ot not!)

Celebrate small successes

Encouraging rejections (“like it, … but” or “send me your next”)

Full or Partial Requests

Agent “likes” on Twitter Pitches

Start Work on Something New

 


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