1. You’re pitching the wrong agents

I’ve written about this before, but the #1 reason queries landed in the trash when I was an agent was because we simply didn’t represent the type of book the author was proposing. Do your research.

2. Your query letter isn’t strong enough

The assistant in charge of the agency’s slush pile glazes over when she reads your pitch. Or your query sounds like a million other queries she’s read. Or there just wasn’t anything in your letter that made that particular reader think I’ve got to read more.

3. Your sample chapters don’t deliver on what your query promised

Say the agent responds to your query by requesting the first 50 pages of your manuscript. Hooray! Your query letter did its job. But a few weeks or months later you get a letter saying, “thanks, but it’s just not for me.”

What’s interesting (and frustrating) here is that something in your query made the agent think your book could be for him or her. So where’s the disconnect?

It could be your concept or approach to the concept isn’t original enough, or the agent didn’t find it compelling enough to appeal to a large audience.

It could be the execution — the writing isn’t strong enough, the tone isn’t right, the concepts aren’t supported, the format feels tired.

It could be the agent just isn’t that into it.

Or it could be #4.

4. You just haven’t found the right agent yet

It could be that there’s nothing “wrong” with your query or your manuscript, you just haven’t found the right person to bring it into the world yet.

We’ve all heard countless stories of bestselling titles that collected hundreds of rejection slips before finally landing in the right hands.

Go to writer’s conferences and book meetings with agents and editors. Reach out to authors you know whose agents represent the type of book you are pitching. Test different query letters to see which ones get better responses.

Here’s the thing: Literary agents represent books they believe they can sell. And the best literary agents only take on books they personally connect with and believe they can sell.

An agent might like you, she might like your book, but if she doesn’t think she can sell it, it makes absolutely no sense for her to take it on. (Since reputable agents only make money on the books they sell.)

Keep submitting. Keep building relationships. Keep trying.