“I loathe writing. On the other hand I’m a great believer in money.”
–S.J. Perelman
How To Query A Literary Agent
Many large publishing houses accept only manuscripts submitted by agents. Many agents aren’t interested in representing unpublished authors. So now what?
If you are an unpublished novelist, don’t bother a literary agent or anyone else in the book business until you have finished writing your novel. Agents and editors work at desks surrounded by stacks of completed manuscripts and are too busy to entertain “ideas” that may one day become books.
Writers of nonfiction who are also experts in their book’s subject may attract an agent by submitting a compelling proposal, outline, and sample chapters. But most editors and agents advise aspiring writers that time spent peddling an unfinished book would be better spent finishing it.
If you have a complete manuscript, you should approach one or more literary agents by writing a query letter; introduce yourself and your book, and ask permission to submit the entire manuscript.
Books About Literary Agents
- Literary Agents : What They Do, How They Do It, By Michael Larsen
- Literary Agents: The Essential Guide for Writers, By Debby Mayer
Most agents belong to the Association of Author Representatives, and their site offers a list of their members and more good advice about how to contact them. You’ll notice that most literary agents don’t include their phone numbers in their contact information — that’s because they hate phone calls from unpublished authors with unfinished books.
The Literary Marketplace also features an online directory of reputable literary agents. The website BookTalk features explicit advice from literary agents.
The Horror Writers Association has a great page devoted to frequently asked questions about literary agents at HWA Agents FAQ. Same goes for The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site, which features all kinds of advice for new writers.
The Nebraska Center For Writers also has a good collection of links and frequently asked questions for unpublished authors looking for agents.
Nicholas Sparks, the author of The Notebook has a nice site with a page called The Writer’s Corner, with good advice for aspiring authors, including a link to the query letter Sparks used to sell his first novel, The Notebook.
Literary agent, Andrew Zack, has a nice .pdf article-cum-sample-query available on his agency’s website.
It’s possible to find more sample queries in the books recommended above, or by doing a google search on the terms “sample query letters”.
For an entertaining tour of some bad query letters, poke around on Miss Snark, Literary Agent.
You say to wait until my novel is finished before showing it to an agent or editor, but I feel weird waiting until I’m all done to show my book to an editor/agent type. It seems like someone should be reading over my shoulder to tell me whether what I have so far is any good or not . . .
Left by Anonymous Coward on April 13th, 2006