I recently completed three years study of a PhD. Part of that PhD was to write 1/3rd of a book. Not that I was writing the book from scratch. I had several scenes of it from drafts over the years. My PhD helped me put them in an order that made complete sense, as well as build on the world and characters through my research so that I could broach the idea of looking for a literary agent.
Now I have two choices. Let it be lost in the servers of turn-it-in for eternity… or… send it out in the world. 150,000 words… there is no way this project is staying in turn-it-in, never to see the light of day. It needs to be seen!
That means entering into the publishing world and choosing either self-publishing or traditional. Never go for a vanity press, your book always deserves better (that includes hybrid vanity).
Differences between self-publishing, traditional and vanity press
Self-Publishing is when an author takes responsibility of publishing their work. So If I self-published, I retain full control over everything: cover, editing, title. There is no middle man, so all royalties belong to me. However, it also means I am in control of marketing and distribution but I do not have a marketing background so I would struggle to be seen compared to books published by Penguin of Voyager.
Traditional publishing is being published by a publishing house like Penguin or Bloomsbury. Often, you need an agent to even be picked up by a traditional publisher. The publishing house takes care of editing, design, distribution and marketing. It comes with the cost of less royalties but knowing that the middlemen know their own specialties, whether thats editing or marketing the book.
Vanity Publishing should be avoided at all costs. It involves authors paying to publish their book, with someone glancing over the manuscript for edits, often with a basic cover and little help with marketability. This costs the author more than self-publishings and often sees authors make little to no sales.
Choosing Traditional Publishing
There’s two reasons I am choosing traditional publishing. The first is, I can always switch to self-publishing if traditional publishing doesn’t work for me. After all, only 1% of completed manuscripts are chosen by a publishing house. The same does not work in reverse.
The second is that I won’t have to worry about approaching strangers with credentials that may or may not live up to par. I don’t have to worry so much about marketing, although I would still have to play my role in it. This would leave more room for me to write my second book. However, everyone has to choose their own path and the pros of self-publishing may outweigh the cons for someone else.
Looking for a Literary Agent
I’m lucky. I have to admit. I have a network of people I can turn to when it comes to writing and publishing. One of which is Alex Davis, an ex-publisher who holds events about the publishing world, alongside specialised workshops.
Alex gave me all the information that I needed to start my search and made sure I understood the role of a literary agent. I won’t cover everything here. For one, it is part of his business module, and I won’t take that from him. However, I can share with you what I have created with that information.
Using literary agent databases
Alex gave me two literary agent databases: jericho writers and writers services. I must warn you, both of them have agents that are more vanity publishing than they are traditional. Jericho will tell you sometimes, whereas writers services does not tell you. If the agent or company mentions reading fee, it is advisable that you delete it instantly from the list.
So anyway, Alex gave me these databases, and what I did was create a spreadsheet with all the agents… all of them, and started to narrow down. The ones that matched my initial critera (genre) are then moved to the second tab to be ranked further.
I recommend going through the first tab first using the database links and ensuring they match your criteria. Any that has yes to all of them is then moved onto the ranking tab, along with the company name. Having the company name helps rank the elements that are company related much quicker.
If you would like a copy of this database, you can find it here. You do not have to donate to use it, but anything you give would be very appreciated. You can donate here.
Narrowing down literary agents
As you can see, that list has HUNDREDS of literary agents and companies, and not all of them are listed but there is more than enough to get started. I went through each one methodically ranking them on different categories:
- What is the company’s client list like?
- Are the clients someone I can see my book sitting next to?
- Are they author’s I’ve heard of?
- What is the vibe I have of the literary agent?
- Do they sound like they care more about the book or more about their reputation?
- Do they sound like someone who would be interested in the book?
- Website
- Is the website nice and easy to navigate?
- Does it look professional or spammy and unprofessional?
- Submission Process
- Any read flags here?
- Is it easy?
- Genre match
- Do they specialise in your genre and subgenre/s or are they on the opposite scale? No point submitting grimdark to a cosy writer.
- What’s the literary agent’s experience like?
- Do they have 3 clients or 50?
- Are they names you’ve heard of?
- What’s the agent’s publication list like for your genre?
- An agent might have 50 clients but only 3 of them are fantasy, would your book be a 4th?
- Does the literary agent or company offer film and translation rights?
What’s needed in a literary agent package
Once I got these, I started working on my agent package. I honestly thought this would take longer than it would. Each agent will vary, but they often ask for three things:
- one or two page synopsis – this contains spoilers
- sample text (usually 3 chapters / 40 pages / first 10,000 words)
- a cover letter
So now that you have about 50-60 agents you can contact, you want to make sure your package is done so you can send quickly. Here’s where the cloud becomes useful.
Before you start, your manuscript should be finished and not only finished but polished.
Prepping the package
I recommend getting your sample text first. This WILL be the start of your novel. Do not give them chapter 10, 14, and 18. They want the beginning. Yes, the prologue too. If you do not have sample chapters, you are searching for an agent too soon.
Don’t worry if you did do your research prematurely, you’ll be able to use your narrowed list when you are ready to query, but you are going to need a full manuscript because they will want to read it once they respond with a yes.
You are also going to need a full manuscript to write a tight one and two page synopsis. Trying to fit 150,000 words into one and two pages is a task and the only way you can do that tightly is by knowing every stone in your world. Subplots have to be omitted for the main storyline. There’s just not enough room to tell them about background stuff… even if it is important and develops the character. So it has to be tight.
The cover letter is addressed directly to the agent you are applying to. No ‘to whom it concerns’. Use their full name. Let them know why you are approaching Wendy Smith at Publishing Group and not Dana Green at Papers United. You are also going to need a word count. So again, the manuscript MUST be finished. You also need to tell them who you think the book will sit next to. The authors you choose must be current. Do not choose Tolkein or C S Carrol.
Once that’s done, send to the first five, await feedback. Currently, I have sent to my first five and hope to hear back from them in about two months.
Good luck.