Sunday, August 14, 2011
Agent Research
This is a quick post, mostly curiosity driven. I want to know how many agents you all, on average, research and submit to. How intensive do you research them before you submit? Frustrated with the time investment I put into each agent only to be rejected, I've nearly reached the point where I want to find someone who is open to submissions, accepts my genre, and then conform my query letter and sample pages to what they ask and off it goes. I just want to get a bite, rather than waste so much time researching who I would like to work with, only to learn that they aren't interested in me. Boo. Is there a certain method of research and submission you employ? A site that you're drawing your names and agencies from? Help me out here. I'm excited to once more be involved in the submission process, but man, it's more time consuming, I feel, than writing a novel. It certainly, thus far, isn't as rewarding. Tips?
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I search for agents using agentquery.com. The site lists a lot of really helpful information, and then I also go to the agents website for more info on what they like/dislike, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you in being frustrated about getting rejected. I received my most recent rejection email last week, and I can tell you, it is such a de-motivator.
In my research, I've found that different agents have completely different ideas on what they want in your query letter; some want you to briefly describe your genre, word count, and even a wee bit about yourself in the very first paragraph. This means that your hook line is non-existent. For others, they'd rather have the hook first and then have you explain the little details about your book (word length, genre, etc.) later, as well as tell them about yourself. This becomes very frustrating, because if you're anything like me, you keep changing your query letter. I don't even know how many cover letters I have now, its ridiculous.
So, I don't know if I really have any tips, since I'm in the same boat with you. I look on agentquery.com to find the intial information (if they're accepting queries at this time, what genres they like, and how they are accepting query letters), then I go to their website to #1) verify that information, and #2) see if I can learn any little trade secrets on what they want to see.
Sorry its been a while since checking in with you girls. Just wondering how you girls are doing with finding and submitting to agents? I logged into the agentquery site, and it is really helpful. I was also able to find a few more websites with similar information, so pretty much all of them are helpful. Once I find one that I'm interested in submitting to, I'll go to their website and verify how they take their submissions and try to find any other information I can dig up on them. :)
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