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...

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.

24 Foolproof Strategies to Ensure Your Query Letter is Rejected

Here are 24 foolproof strategies to guarantee that an editor, agent or publisher says “no” to your query:

1. Disregard the published submission guidelines.
2. Begin your query with “Dear editor” or “Dear agent.”
3. Don’t tailor your query to a particular editor or agent.
4. Copy and paste your query without changing the name of the last editor or agent to whom you sent it.
5. Write poorly.
6. Permeate the query with multiple spelling and grammatical errors.
7. Fail to offer a fresh angle on a topic.
8. Fail to demonstrate that you're currently reaching readers.
9. Pitch something the agent doesn't represent or the publisher doesn’t publish.
10. Pitch something the recipient just published.
11. Pitch “old news.”
12. Pitch something no one cares about.
13. Assure the reader that there’s nothing out there like this.
14. Prove you’re unfamiliar with the genre by listing comp titles that bear no similarity to yours.
15. Include no comps and claim your book is entirely unique.
16. Drop the name of well-known authors, as potential endorsers, but misspell them.
17. Use the sentence “This book is my memoirs.”
18. Assure the recipient that you plan to start building social media, networking and seeking speaking engagements.
19. Rather than offering fresh ideas for ways you will promote a book, simply let them know that you’re willing to do anything the publisher asks.
20. Fail to include your name and appropriate contact information.
21. Over-share, revealing too much personal information.
22. Demand that the publisher publish your writing.
23. Accuse the recipient of being terrible at her job if she doesn’t jump at the opportunity to publish what you’re pitching.
24. Indicate that you’re unwilling to promote the work.

With very little effort at all, you can ensure that an editor, agent or publisher says “no” to your query!

But if you want a YES, check out this brief ebook buide for insider tips on Writing Query Letters That Shine.