Get a Literary Agent: The Complete Guide to Securing Representation for Your Work (6 page)

Here are some dos and don’ts for pitching to agents at a writers conference.

1. Do practice your pitch in advance.
   
2. Do be able to explain what your book is about in one sentence. (This is called a
   log line
   .)
   
3. Do go to as many educational sessions as possible to learn from authors, agents, and editors—and take notes. You’ll get insights that help to perfect your book and your pitch, and you may get insights about which agents would be a good fit for your book.
   
4. Do bring business cards in case an agent asks for one.
   
5. Do your best to be friendly and open. Smile.
   
6. Do dress the part. You don’t need a fancy dress or a three-piece suit. But don’t come looking like you just woke up. Remember that an agent is looking for a business partner.
   
7. Do bring some extra cash. The conference will likely have a book store, and you might also want to schmooze and make writer friends at the hotel bar. Occasionally these social events attract agents, but they’re also great places to meet writers who can give you referrals.
   
8. Do read other writers’ blog posts describing their experiences at conferences so you can get a better sense of how to best spend your time. Especially seek out writers who’ve met with agents at the conference in previous years.
   
9. Do seek out conferences that focus on your specialty, if applicable. There are specialty writers conferences for scribes of children’s books, thriller/mystery, romance, and Christian works.
   

1. Don’t pass agents or editors any pages. Agents can’t carry around sample pages from all the writers they meet. They’d collapse from all that weight, and it would make their suitcase explode.
   
2. Don’t come in with a long, rambling pitch. Aim to discuss your book and yourself in ninety seconds.
   
3. Don’t skimp. Most conferences charge a base fee to attend, and then they charge for add-ons, including pitching to agents, receiving critiques, or seeing the evening keynote speaker. If you can swing it money-wise, take advantage of all aspects that you believe can help you. It’s worth money to be face to face with an agent.
   
4. Don’t be afraid to start conversations—whether with industry professionals or fellow scribes. Be bold, but use your best judgment. Don’t pitch an agent in the bathroom or interrupt someone’s conversation to step in and introduce yourself. Creating such an awkward moment will work against you.
   
5. Don’t monopolize an agent’s time. If you sit down at a table and an agent joins you and others, know that most if not all of the people next to you will want to chat with the agent. So be respectful, and do not dominate her attention for long periods of time. Hogging an agent’s time doesn’t make a good impression.
   

To find writers conferences, start by consulting market resources such as
Guide to Literary Agents
and asking local writing groups if they sponsor annual events in the area. Also note that simply using Google is an underrated approach. Try Googling your regional area(s) and the words “writers conference,” and see what comes up. Just this moment, I searched for “Virginia writers conference” as a sample. Within the first two pages of search results, I turned up events in Roanoke, Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads, and Richmond. Not bad at all.

You’ll find that there are general writers conferences out there, as well as events that have a particular focus—such as children’s books (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators [SCBWI]), mystery writing (Mystery Writers of America [MWA]), romance (Romance Writers of America [RWA]), Christian writing, screenwriting, and journalism (Society of Professional Journalists [SPJ]).

If you have a completed manuscript, look for an event that has not only a sizeable number of agents attending, but more specifically, a good amount of professionals seeking the genre/category you’re writing. Money should and will factor in, so make sure this specific conference will be worth it. If you attend a large conference and pay $600 to schmooze with twenty agents, it won’t be of much help if only one or two will consider that travel memoir you’ve composed.

Remember that there are many events nationwide vying for your attendance, so take your time and choose wisely.

1
. Writersmarket.com is also helmed by Writer’s Digest. All the other resources listed here have no affiliation with WD.

The time has come. Your novel or memoir or book proposal (we’ll talk more about book proposals in
chapter eleven
) is now complete. Not only is it complete; you’ve revised it several times and incorporated the critical ideas of peers and editors to make it better. You’ve developed a list of agents to target and researched each one.

You’re
ready
. It’s time to start the submission process and send out your work.

So what materials do you send to agents so they’ll consider repping your books? The short answer is: It all depends on what they ask for.

All agents want similar components, but each may want a different configuration of them. Some only want a query letter, which is a one-page letter that typically begins all correspondence. Some want a query and a synopsis. Some nonfiction agents want a proposal right away. Some don’t. Some want print queries via snail mail. Some want only e-mailed submissions with a certain word in the subject line. The key is to just give them what they want how they want it.

If you’re writing fiction, an agent will most likely ask for your query. At some point, they may follow up and ask for your synopsis and all or part of your manuscript. A few may ask for a short bio as well. For nonfiction, the book proposal and query are the central pieces. Those are the main weapons at your disposal. Even though each agent may differ in what she requests and how she requests it, if you have the basic, polished pieces, you’re in business.

Just like magazine editors and book publishers, literary agents have submission guidelines concerning how writers should contact them. These guidelines communicate everything you need to know to pass along work for consideration. Agents are usually good about keeping their guidelines clear and making them available. They do this because when writers know what they want and how they want it, there are fewer misdirected queries clogging their in-box. So remember to follow guidelines exactly. A dirty truth about agents is that, because of their constantly overwhelming workload, many of them are looking for any reason to say no to your submission simply to cut their humungous pile down by one. Don’t give them that reason. Honor their requests.

An agent’s posted submission guidelines typically break down into three parts.

1. A LIST OF ALL THE GENRES AND CATEGORIES OF BOOKS THE AGENT REPRESENTS AND THEREFORE WANTS TO RECEIVE FROM WRITERS.
   If you want to know what types of books an agent represents, she’ll tell you. Sometimes agents can be broad in their list of desired genres, and that’s where further research comes in handy. Interviews and past sales can help illuminate exactly what kind of books they like and sell. Some agents will be willing to review dozens of genres and categories, whereas others specialize in something specific (such as picture books for kids).
   
2. INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SUBMIT WORK FOR REVIEW.
   Remember that each agent will want materials sent in a different way, and she’ll be forthright about it in her guidelines, so take note and do what she asks. Some agents may want the word
   Query
   in the subject line of the e-mail. Some may want materials attached to the e-mail, whereas others demand they be pasted into the e-mail itself. Some may request that you include return postage if you contact them via postal mail and not the Internet.
   
3. HOW AND WHEN WRITERS SHOULD EXPECT TO HEAR BACK.
   In addition to learning how to reach out to an agent, submission guidelines often include information about how an agent will get back to you with some kind of answer. For example, “Responds to queries within eight weeks.” Sadly, these guidelines have evolved over the past five years: Silence is becoming a common answer. Many agents now say things like, “If you do not hear back from us in six weeks, please consider that a no.” This is an attempt by agents to save time by not sending thousands of rejections each year. This way, they can direct their energies elsewhere.
   

These intricacies make it critical for all querying writers to keep a detailed spreadsheet of agents and guidelines so they can keep track of who wants a query only, who requires snail mail, and when those six weeks have passed, for instance.

You can find agents’ guidelines in resources such as
Guide to Literary Agents
and in some of their interviews online. But no matter where you get information on agents’ guidelines as you research, whether from print sources or online, you’ll want to check the official agency website as the final step before contacting them. This allows you to: (1) make sure the submission instructions did not change yesterday (the agency website is the first source that gets updated, along with their Twitter profile) and (2) be sure an agent is still at that agency and did not switch agencies or go on maternity leave the week before.