Amateur To Published: The Fiction Writer's Guide To Publishing

3 - Get An Agent

In today's market, most of the books that big trade-publishers acquire are sold to them by agents. Agents areexperts in the publishing industry. They have inside contacts with specificeditors and know better than writers what editor or publisher would be mostlikely to buy a particular work. Most importantly, agents negotiate the bestdeal for you, ensure that you are paid accurately and fairly, and runinterference when necessary between you and the publisher.

Agents cost nothing i.e. not one dime upfront. Traditionally,they only get paid when they sell your work and receive a 15% commission oneverything you get paid (advances and royalties). If someone claiming to be anagent asks you for some kind of fee so they can sell your book, run. Run fast.

Getting an agent may feel impossible. But it reallyisn't. Agents need writers just as much as writers need them – it's how theymake their living. Here's what you need to do to get your agent:

STEP 1: DECIDE IF YOU REALLY NEED AN AGENT

Do you really need an agent? The answer to the questiondepends on who you are, what you're writing and which trade publishers you'retargeting.

- Are you targeting the big six (Macmillan, Hachette,HarperCollins, Penguin Books, Random House and Simon &Schuster) publishersor any of the publishers who dominate book stores and the review pages? Thenyou need an agent. These publishing houses only take seriously submissions thatcome to them via literary agents

- Are you writing something completely out of the box or aniche genre that not many people would be interested in reading? You could trygetting an agent but the truth is that agents are looking for books that canmake them money. If your book can't even attract an advance because of itsmarketability, then agents will likely not be interested in it. You're betteroff looking for a small publisher.

- Are you writing a children's novel? These do best withthe big publishers so yes, you need an agent.

- Are you more interested in small publishing houses thatcould agree to co-publishing deals and thus a bigger royalty for you? You don'tneed an agent and they probably won't even consider you because the advancesthat small publishers offer are too low and maybe even non-existent. If that's what you want, then move on to the next chapter in this book (Finding a Reputable Publisher)

STEP 2: FINISH THE BOOK

If you decide that you need an agent, then finish the book and clean it up completely before you start sending queries. If your book is as excellent as you think it isthen you could have requests for the full manuscript within hours. Imagine ifyour response to the agent is, 'wait, I just need to edit it'. Of course theoffer will be immediately retracted. You want to be in a position where you canpress 'send' as soon as the agent requests the full.

Bear in the mind that you're competing against the very best in thebusiness. If you are writing spy thrillers, your books will be competingagainst John Le Carre's and at the same price, with less publicity, less uptakefrom the bookstores. Your book needs to be not just good, but dazzling. Don'tforget to format your manuscript correctly.

STEP 3: STUDY WHAT SELLS

Not every book is equal, some genres and sub-genresattract more readers and will therefore draw agents quicker than others.Knowing how marketable what you're riding is will help you set realisticexpectations and better understand how your book will perform in the market andthe amount of interest it is likely to garner. To better understand what theagents and publishers want, buy a month-long subscription to PublishersMarketplace.com and study the deals that get announced. It's a quick education in whatcommercial publishing looks like.