The Hunt for an Agent is On

            Agents are the unsung heroes of the publishing world. I haven’t even met one yet and I'm astounded by the amount of work I've discovered they do.

            First and foremost, they are talent scouts. They wade through piles upon piles of submissions sent to them by authors hopeful of representation, seeking out the ones they want to represent. Note that I didn't say the best ones – every agent turns down plenty of books they enjoy depending on the current book market, what they are specifically looking for and, sometimes, because of how busy they are. The rejections they send out are frequently as hard for them as they are for the author whose book is being rejected.

            Next, a large number of them offer editorial services – they will work with an author to get their book into peak condition before moving on to sell the book to a publishing house. At this point, they turn into lawyers, negotiating contracts that ensure that their authors not only get paid what they deserve, but don’t have any nasty surprises such as discovering they no longer own the rights to their own book.

            After that, many agents stay on to help with marketing the books, which in this day and age is largely the author’s responsibility. This is ongoing work they do throughout the course of the book’s printed life.

            It should also be noted that most of this work is done before the agent gets paid. In fact, until that contract is negotiated, the agent isn't even certain they will get paid. What if no publisher wants the book? All that hard work goes down the drain, along with a crushed and defeated client.

            Needless to say, agents are a valuable resource to any author – not to mention, having an agent is often the only way to catch the attention of the major publishing houses. That’s why I'm currently trying to get one.

            It’s a challenging process, involving finding agents who are interested in my genre of book then writing a query letter to them. A query letter is much like the cover letter you write when trying to get a job, only instead of telling an employer how perfect you are for the job, you’re trying to get the agent interested in your book at the same time as telling them the entire plot, the length of the book, who you are and why you’re the right person to write this book, and why the agent is a good match for the book. All of this in a page or less. If the query isn't good enough, you get an impersonal form letter of rejection with no feedback on where you went wrong (you can hardly blame them; I just told you how much work they do).

            To add to the challenge, agents have tons of these queries to go through. One agent I follow on Twitter had over 400 submissions come in overnight last week! So this query letter has to stick out – it needs to be both personal and professional, at the same time as saying “Hey! Look at this great book!” as modestly as possible.

            Luckily I've had a bit of help in this department. I had the privilege of beta testing some of the courses offered at getabookdeal101.com which have helped me gain a great deal of insight into the entire process – not to mention a lot of positive encouragement.

            Now, armed with knowledge, I have begun my hunt for an agent. With any luck, I should have an agent within the next few months and those of you waiting eagerly to read my whole book will find that the wait is nearly over.

            Incidentally, I should mention that this blog was in no way written to flatter any agents who might happen along while investigating my queries. Really.

            But the thought did cross my mind...

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.