Q & A: "Do I need a literary agent to sell my book?"

Q: Do I need a literary agent to sell my book?

A:  In my experience, publishers take submissions from agents more seriously because they know the writer/project has already been vetted. Agents don't want to ruin their rep with publishers by sending them bad stuff. (That’s pretty sophisticated industry insider lingo: “bad stuff.” Now you know.)

Publishers and literary agents are looking for exactly the same thing: a project with a unique slant—that meets a readers’ felt need—from a talented author who’s reaching audiences and building her/his platform.

Possible exceptions—that might preclude you needing an agent in order to sell your book—include but are not limited to:

1.    A publisher has contacted you because they’re interested in you or your work. (They may have read your article at Christianity Today that went viral or seen you as a featured guest on Good Morning America.)

2.    A person of influence—possibly a best-selling author or CEO of an international organization—introduces you, enthusiastically, to the publisher, offering her/his unflagging support to promote your work.

3.    You are affiliated with a reputable organization or institution that commits to purchase 50,000 books as gifts for their donors.

4.    A smaller publisher is willing to represent you as a new author if an editor there connects with you and what you’re about. It never hurts to have the support of a reputable organization or institution.

Note: although these kinds of opps might lead to getting a book contract, it is always beneficial to have an agent as your advocate with a publisher.

Here are a few ways that agents serve publishers and benefit authors…

·      On the front end: Agents ensure that your contract is fair and they can advocate to increase the value of your contract: advance monies, royalties, deadlines, free books, etc. (They’re not magicians, but they will go to bat for you.)

·      During the writing of the book: Agents are your advocate if you run into any personal or professional bumps during the process of writing the book.

·      On the back end: Agents communicate with the publisher if there are ever any additional questions or issues pertaining to your book.

If you're a Christian writer who is interested in finding an agent, explore agency’s websites to find the one that will be the best fit for you. Questions to ask as you peruse their sites:

·      Does the agency seem to represent only bestselling authors, or do they represent some newbies like me?

·      Does the selection of books the agency represents indicate that they’d champion a book like mine? (subject matter, theological perspective, etc.)

·      What types of books is this agency looking for right now? (Dig around the site, and the agency will often post the kinds of projects they do and don’t want to receive—because that information benefits them and you.)

Note: If an agent doesn’t accept poetry or sci-fi, do the agent and yourself a favor by not sending them your poetry or sci-fi. (Do not, under any circumstance, promise that yours is amazing and different and sure to be a bestseller.)

The best listing of literary agents I know is available for download at: https://michaelhyatt.com/literary-agents-who-represent-christian-authors/

To write a killer cover letter to your dream agent, I highly recommend this little e-book: Writing Pitch, Query, and Cover Letters That Shine. It’s a gem not because I wrote it, but because It’s filled with tips from agents and publishers about what they do and do not want to see in pitch letters!

More questions? Leave them as comments below...

How Literary Agents and Publishers Think

This week I heard from a writer who's pitched to agents and publishers without success. And the query reminded me how important it is for writers to be able to get inside the head of these important gatekeepers. Here's what I want not-yet-published writers to know about how agents and publishers think...

1. HOW AGENTS/PUBLISHERS THINK

When they're reading your proposal, the agent is thinking about what the publisher wants, and the publisher is thinking about what the reader wants. And the reader is thinking about...the reader. The BIG question you have to answer for agents/publishers is, "What's in it for the reader?" Whatever book you are writing HAS TO meet the felt need of the reader. Reader's don't buy books they "should" read, they buy books they "have to" read. Why is the book you're pitching a must-read?

2. HOW AGENTS/PUBLISHERS SEE

Without knowing what book you've written, I will hazard a guess that an agent/publisher has seen this book before. Maybe 100 proposals for this book and 5 that made it to market--saying the exact thing you're saying, in a slightly different way. While that can sound jaded, that's their reality. So whatever message you want to communicate--ideally, in the words of Stephanie Smith, a "timeless truth"--must have a FRESH FRAME. Whether you're communicating that "God is gracious," or "You are loved," or "Kittens are God's gift to the world," the agent/publisher must read your proposal and say, "Hmmm...I haven't heard it quite that way before." Are you saying something in such a fresh way that the agent/publisher wants to know more?

3. HOW AGENTS/PUBLISHERS DECIDE

The #1 rule of good writing is "show, don't tell." Your proposal needs to prove to agents/publishers that your project has FOUR THINGS: (1) a unique and compelling project, (2) a market of people who can't wait to buy this book, (3) a growing platform, and (4) mad writing skills. While I'd love to say that if they love your fresh idea, or if they think you're a great writer, they will take a chance and contract your book, I can't say that. They may WANT to, but to convince a publishing board to publish a book, they really need to see strength in all four areas. If you need to develop one or more of those areas, it might make sense to do that before pitching again. Does your proposal demonstrate that you are offering all four things a publisher needs to see?

The job of your book proposal is to convince the agent/publisher that your project meets the reader's need in a fresh and compelling way, and that you can sell books. To help writers do that, I've got a few free resources online...

1. An Author Inventory helps you mine and mention every asset you're bringing to the table.

2. An Annotated Book Proposal Template offers tips for each section of the proposal. (Not necessary to use this particular template, but do read the tips.)

3. The Book Proposal Checklist helps you review the first draft of your proposal, to make sure it's as strong as it can be.

Help agents and publishers say YES by offering them the strongest proposal you can!

Q & A: "Are Simultaneous Submissions to Agents Acceptable?"

A new writer asked me if it was okay to send her book proposal to two different agents at the same time. I thought I knew the answer, but wanted to double check with agent extraordinaire Karen Hardin, President of PriorityPR Group & Literary Agency. 

I loved Karen's answer...


Question: Is it acceptable to submit queries to several literary agents at the same time?

Answer: Yes, as long as you let the agents know it is a simultaneous submission. Same courtesy we would give a publisher. I think all you need to do in the cover letter at the end is say, “I am very interested in obtaining a literary agent at this stage and as a result I wanted you to be aware that this is a simultaneous submission to other agents.” And then thank them for their time.

I think we all understand that this is a competitive industry and who wants to wait 6-8 weeks per agent just to start over again?

Q: And why is it problematic to query multiple agents simultaneously?

I get frustrated if it has taken me a few weeks to be able to review the proposal (not uncommon) only to find they have gone a different direction and didn’t communicate that with me. This becomes a mark against the author because I’ve invested my time to analyze on their behalf and it was a complete waste. I do keep names of those people that I won’t consider them in the future if they come back as they have told me what kind of team player they would be.

Karen Hardin

President of PriorityPR Group & Literary Agency

Over 25 year’s experience in the publishing industry

www.prioritypr.org

Karen@prioritypr.org

Thank you to Karen for this really helpful info!

*Stay tuned for Karen's savvy advice to writers who are building their platforms! It's golden.

Bad News for Good Writers

Dear Gifted Not-Yet-Published Writer Who Has A Timely Message Audiences Need,

I think your writing is fantastic. You’ve allowed me to peek and I think that you have an important message and that you can deliver it well. I wish that was enough. It should be, right?!

It’s not enough.

In today’s publishing world, publishers who want nothing more than to publish great writing aren’t able to say “yes” to every book with a great message that’s written well if the writer has not worked diligently to build an audience. Some publishers do take that risk on a book they believe in, knowing that it might not pay out for them.

And if you’re like me—with way more confidence than might be merited—you believe that your awesome book will be the rare shining exception. Once the first reader reads it and tells all her friends, you figure, it’ll start selling like...a bestseller. And possibly it will. Much more likely, though, you’ll not find an audience for your writing unless you work to build one.

So—momentarily abandoning my signature irrational optimism—I’m just going to outline the bad news so that you have access to the facts you need.

1. Agents and publishers need to sell books.

Every agent and publisher I know loves great writing. In order to stay in business, though, they must publish and sell books that sell. It would be great if these two were synonymous, and sometimes they are. Not always.

2. Writers with audiences sell books.

Whether you publish with a traditional publisher or decide to self-publish, you must have access to an audience that trusts you in order to sell books.

3. Demonstrating an Audience is Requisite to Securing an Agent or Publisher

For an agent or publisher to consider representing you or publishing your work, you need to demonstrate that you’re reaching an audience. 

4. Building an Audience Takes Hard Work

Occasionally someone will build an audience with seemingly little effort—because they win an Olympic gold or are elected as President of the United States. (Okay…there was some effort.) The rest of us have to work REALLY HARD to grow an audience. Smarties, like @jeffgoins, with much more experience than I have can teach you how to do this. (Mention other smarties in the comments, below.)

5. Selling Books is Really Hard

Whether you publish with a traditional publisher or self-publish, selling books takes work.

Now start at the top of the list and read them all again. Congratulations, you now have a handle on the bad news.

The Good News

The good news is that there’s always something you can  be doing to build your audience:

• Pitch article after article to editors.
• Speak to audiences, for free at first, about your subject.
• Offer a freebie download at your site to build your mailing list.
• Guest post on blogs of folks you know.
• Make friends online by sharing their great stuff. (They will love you for this. And owe you.)

If you were bummed out by all the bad news, do one thing today to build your audience.

Cheering you on,

Margot