If you’re anything like I was, nearing the query process with a debut novel having no ‘business of writing’ experience, it’s difficult to know where to start. I recently emailed a fellow writer facing this daunting task and detailed some things I wish I had known two months earlier. If I could roll back the clock, here’s the order I would take to make sense of the process. Beginning earlier, during the edit and polish stage, I’d fold in some basic education:
1. Washing dishes? Folding clothes? Time in the car alone? These are perfect opportunities to take in YouTube info. Remember, eyes on the road! You really don’t need the video, just the audio. I happened on this idea while investigating BookEnds Literary Agency, and their blog. Lo-and-behold, they’ve created a YouTube channel with short, instructive topics on querying. Check it out for years of posts, and an extensive menu. A quick search on YouTube yields a wealth of information, from writers discussing how they got an agent, to agents discussing what mistakes to avoid, and more. I searched ‘literary agents on the query process’ and hit the jackpot.
2. Find a spreadsheet, or create one from scratch, that will help you organize all your agents, agencies, submission guidelines, average response time, tidbit info to help personalize your query, and track your queries. I found Jane Friedman’s website while writing my first draft. If you haven’t stumbled upon her talent yet, rush over and look. I’ve adjusted her free spreadsheet download in this article to track my query process. (https://www.janefriedman.com/how-to-take-the-sting-out-of-query-rejections/) The Bookends Literary YouTube episode on making a spreadsheet was also helpful.
3. Find lists of agents that are seeking novels in your genre. I used Query Tracker and Manuscript Wish List. At $25 for one year, the Query Tracker pro version adds many features, like reports giving you average agent response times and percentage response rates. #MSWL is free and there’s a free version of Query Tracker. Between the two, I’ve compiled around 200 agents to investigate who accept queries in my genre. (Now you see why to start this process early. Don’t wait until your manuscript is ‘done-done’, query letter sharp, and synopsis conquered.) You may find other sources for agent ideas, as I have from my Writers Digest subscription and Sisters in Crime organization.
4. One by one, analyze each agent, their agency, and prioritize them into different levels. I used four levels: best fit, good fit, keep on my list, ‘actively building my list’. You can keyword search ‘actively building my list’ on #MSWL. So far, I’ve gone through and prioritized about half of my agent list. Be sure to sign up for the Query Tracker newsletter. They send regular lists out on which agents changed their genres and who opened to queries. Keep the agents you find closed to queries on your list; they may open again.
5. Are you really ‘done-done’ with your manuscript, query letter, synopsis, bio, and writer’s website? You can get feedback from others to help judge this. I’ve used a critique group, and beta readers on my manuscript, after a developmental editor helped me get from draft 2 to draft 3 (After draft 3, I switched to color code the versions, so I’d stop counting). You can find agent feedback through The Query Shark, The Manuscript Academy, The Shit No On Tells You About Writing podcast, and other places. I recently stumbled across Nathan Bransford’s blog by reading the Query Tracker newsletter. The standing advice is don’t send your queries until you’re ‘done-done’. You’ve got one shot per agent per project, and sometimes one shot per agency.
6. What about Publishers Marketplace? I’m now reading the Publishers Lunch newsletter and discovered you can determine who represents an author on their site. That’s another way I built my agent list, by finding out which agents represent my favorite mystery-thriller authors. PM also helps analyze an agent by looking at the recent deals they’ve done and what fraction represents deals in my genre. I’m new with this subscription and so there’s much more for me to explore, but just the deal-making data and who represents who has made it worth the first month.
Hopefully, some of these suggestions will get you started. It’s another learning curve, but there’s so much information out there. And I haven’t emphasized — talking with your writing friends along the way is so valuable. Next, I’ll put my submission packages together, preparing 5-, 10-, 20- and 50-pages of my opening, along with the query, synopsis and sometimes a bio. The requested number of pages varies by agent. My goal is to get some queries submitted before the Holiday season starts. Then dive into leaning about Twitter Pitch Parties during December.
Happy querying!
