Literary agents

Literary agents, Tips for authors

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.

 

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Literary agents, Tips for authors

When it comes to finding a literary agent, should you:

  • Wine and dine that health author you know until she agrees to get her agent to look at your historical novel
  • Figure out who Seth Godin’s agent is — she must be good
  • Send a query letter to every agent in the LMP within a 100 mile radius of where you live
  • NONE OF THE ABOVE!

It happens so often I can’t even believe it

Authors wasting their time and energy trying to get in front of agents who have never and will never represent the genre the author is pitching.

Why does this matter?

For the same reason you wouldn’t hire a tourism PR agency to hype your tech startup: Connections.

Believe me when I tell you that an agent who represents young adult fiction will not do you any favors by taking on your well-researched guide to personal happiness.

Transform that passion of yours into a strategy

First find the agents who are already kicking ass in your genre. Then find the up and coming junior agents at the well-established agencies. And direct your pile of stamps to them.

Book writing, Industry, Literary agents, Q&As, Tips for authors

If you are writing a book on health or wellness, you should know up front that you’ll meet some resistance from publishers if you don’t have “credentials” (code for an MD or PhD).

In this video, I asked literary agent Ned Leavitt to share some ways authors can overcome this resistance, play up the credentials you do have, and yes, land a big book deal.

NEW: Download the MP3

Tip: Import the mp3 into iTunes so you can listen to this in your car or while you’re making dinner

What you’ll learn

  • What are some of the biggest hurdles for health coaches who want to publish with a mainstream publisher (1:26)
  • What made one Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) graduate shine in front of publishers (2:40)
  • Slight audio issue at 4:38 — it passes
  • The one element your book proposal absolutely must have  (5:04)
  • Other strategies for demonstrating your credentials (7:20)
  • Should you go back and get traditional credentials (an MD or PhD) in order to get published? (9:35)
  • The role your client’s stories play in your content and your credentials (10:20)
  • Book proposals: longer? shorter? How many sample chapters should you include? Including the one mistake Ned urges you not to make (11:13)
  • How starting with a writing coach can help you through the process… including one Ned recommends (12:30)
  • If you’re not ready to write your big book, should you write and self-publish a smaller book first, such as an e-book? (Including the risks of taking this route) (13:47)

“Sometimes the people with the self experience are ahead of the curve, and so they’re discovering things that the people who are immersed in getting the credentials are not discovering.” –Ned Leavitt, literary agent

The bottom line

As Ned said, “I’m here to tell you that it’s your voice that’s going to make it work or not.”

Focus on your story. Focus on your voice. Focus on creating something that’s truly unique. Build your credentials, but don’t forget that the writing is the core piece. It’s about your story and how you tell it.

And if you need help telling that story, you know where to find it.

About Ned Leavitt

Ned is the literary agent behind Geneen Roth, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Joan Borysenko and many more leading health, spirituality, and psychology writers of our time.

The author he mentions in the video is Alisa Vitti, founder and CEO of Flo Living. Alisa helps women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s naturally correct hormonal imbalances through food and lifestyle changes. Her forthcoming book (title TBD) will be published by Harper One in 2013.