You’re exactly right–what’s a perfect agent for one writer, would be a nightmare for another. Sort of like if I were married to my brother-in-law, I’d probably drive him crazy–or as we Regency writers liked to say, to Bedlam–in no time flat. But the dh seems to tolerate me fairly well.

The other thing to keep in mind–which I can’t remember if we really touched on, but which I was thinking about today–is you’re getting an agent not to make a sale so much–though when you’re trying to break in that’s often the main focus–but to help you manage your career. An agent helps with all the business stuff, of course, but also helps you decide where you should go next. And here’s a little dirty secret–it’s sometimes easier to get that first contract than to get a second contract. So once you’re swimming in the NY publishing waters, it really helps to have a publishing professional at your side. Or at least that’s my opinion.

Good luck with your quest!

I have always sort of likened agent hunting to relationship hunting (or yes, boyfriend or hubby hunting…). You get so caught up in the thought of “Will they like me?” that you forget how important it is that YOU like THEM. A relationship needs to be a two-way street, whatever the type.

But right now, because I’m with a small press, I’m okay with being “single.” LOL But since I know I’ll be branching out soon, I’m doing a lot of what you did — watching agents, the relationships my friends have with theirs and making notes about what I think works for me. One friend has an agent who would scare me under my desk. I’d be petrified to ask her anything. LOL She’s a great agent, but not one I want for me. So it does help to think more in terms of “what’s the best fit” rather than “God, I hope someone likes me…”

Best,
Tracey

It sounds to me as if you have things well in hand and a good plan. I definitely think querying 100 plus agents at once is…crazy. I think you should only query people you think you’d want to work with–how can anyone possibly know if they would want to work with any of 100 agents? How much can someone know about that many agents? It’s a little like applying to college–a process I never enjoyed, at least as the mom of the applicant. Good advice is to find some colleges you’d like to attend and apply to them; don’t waste your money applying places you’d rather die than go to.

As to taking the jump–I think you’ve just got to close your eyes and do it. Wade in there. And I think five is a good number to query at one time. I don’t think you should do one at a time–that could take forever. It IS scary, but so is being published, having your stuff out there for anyone to read. (Here’s a tip–no matter how great your stuff is, someone is NOT going to like it and will probably post his/her opinions all over the internet. The need for a thick hide doesn’t stop when you’ve got a book contract.)

A little bit of history on my writing life. I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was in 5th grade, unfortunately before the era of personal computers–and I was a lousy typist. Nothing much came of the dream, though I did seek out writing opportunities in school. After I graduated from college and dropped out of law school, I wrote my first full manuscript–on a typewriter. Ugh. Just imagine revising when you need to retype most if not all of your 400 page work. Let’s just say I’m pretty sure I didn’t send that book anywhere.

Then I had four sons. When they were little, I tried writing picture books during their nap time. Those I did try to get published. I got a number of “good” rejections and even went through revisions with one house, but didn’t make a sale. Again, this was in the dark ages before email–but I did have a PC! That’s when I learned something of the publishing business. And I have to say one reason I tried picture books–besides the facts that I had a better chance of keeping 1,000 words straight in my head than 100,000 and much of my day was spent reading that “genre”–was the fact that you could just send them in “over the transom”–you didn’t need an agent.

Then I got deep into the carpool years and stopped writing for publication. When kid #1 was starting to head to college, I realized it was now or never–either follow the dream or let it go. So I wrote The Naked Duke. After it was finished and revised, I joined RWA and happened upon a yahoo group that was trying to “save” the Regency category in the Golden Heart contest. This was a category for the shorter Regency books that none of the NYC publishers publish anymore–they did publish them then (the fall of 2003), but just barely.

So, I edited the manuscript to fit the word count and one of the published authors on the loop helped me write a synopsis–another thing that had pushed me into writing picture books; no synopsis needed there. I entered the contest and–surprise!–I made the final round. The final round judges are editors. Hilary Sares at Kensington was one of the judges; she really liked the Duke, so she contacted RWA, got my contact info, and called me out of the blue. I came home from the dentist to find her lovely voice on my answering machine. Luckily I’d been on enough loops by then to know there was indeed a Hilary Sares. She wanted the Duke for the Debut “program” Kensington has that publishes first time authors.

So, you can see while I wasn’t totally ignorant of publishing, I was pretty clueless. And while we all work as hard as we can to perfect our craft and write great stories, I think luck does play a part in this business.

Of course, I do sort of wonder, if I’d had an agent, would the Duke have gone to auction? I’ll never know. Things worked out great for me–and as I say, luck plays a role–but I think having an agent first does help limit the role luck plays somewhat.

In a perfect world, I think I should have had an agent first. But this isn’t a perfect world. And I definitely was more aware of what I wanted and needed in an agent when I did finally get an agent.

This is such a great post! Thank you for sharing all of your advice with all of us. I am hunting for an agent right now, and it is so hard! There are so many great agents out there. I found online interviews, comments in chat rooms and forums, and even some podcasts.

I really like to know who the agent represents, and if I have read their client’s work. I love it when I come across a podcast or a blog that lets me get to “know” them. At this time I wouldn’t be able to make it to a conference to meet them in person.

And it is so great to find a fit. I found about 5 agents I really like, and that are interested in the genre I write in. I want to start there, but it seems overwhelming to query that many at the same time.

Especially because I know someone who decided to query about 100+ at the same time, and I know I could never do that.. I have a hard enough time trying to figure out who out of the 5 I should query first!

Do you have any advice on taking the jump?

A bunch of years ago I decided to send out my first manuscript (I know!) directly to editors. They were so nice and offered a lot of feedback. Now that I have other projects finished.. I would like to start with an agent first. It’s scary thinking of sending my stuff back “out there”.

Thanks so much for your time, Sally.. I can’t wait to read the Naked Baron! Fun! I love the Naked Nobility. It sounds so fresh.