How To Find An Agent

I am trying to get my book published the traditional way—meaning, I want a big company like Penguin Random House to print up a bunch of copies and distribute them to bookstores around the country. To do this, I need to find a literary agent.

Why do I need an agent? Some publishing houses will ONLY deal with you if you have an agent; I assume they dislike negotiating and hammering out business arrangements with nitwit writers who have zero business experience. Makes sense. And even if a publisher would work with me, I have no idea how to negotiate a contract. I could try, I suppose, the same way I could try to rewire the circuit box in our basement without the proper training; inevitably, I would get zapped. Also, agents do a lot of ‘footwork,’ which frees their clients up to keep writing. It is a good arrangement.

So, how do you get an agent?

When I went through this process ten years ago, there was a pretty standard process: you bought a book called The Writer’s Market (or got a subscription to their brand-new website!) and pored through it (it looked like a phone book full of agent listings, updated annually) for the names of agents who represented books in your genre., every single one of whom came from New York. Then you tried to research your selected agents online, usually found next to nothing, and finally wrote a Query Letter, begging them (in the most professional manner possible) to read your manuscript. There was really no way to know if the people you were writing to were good at their job, or were honest, or would be a good fit for your project, or were even still alive… They were just random names in a book, and you sent your little letters out in the mail, and then waited by the window for the postman to bring you good news…

6 to 8 weeks later, you might get a little postcard in the mail that said ‘No Thanks.’ Or you might not. Such was life.

I had a little luck: one junior agent read my manuscript, but passed on it. And that was that.

Fast forward ten years…

Everything is online, now. All the agencies have slick websites. All the agents are on Twitter. You can see up-to-date ‘wish lists’ they keep for the types of books they want to read, as well as pictures of their pets and, more often than not, their political affiliations, often expressed with no shortage of profanity. No more Snail Mail—now, you email everybody directly, or upload your Query Letter into a sterilized Submission Form. Some of them ask you to just copy and paste bits of your book into the email, which invariably rejiggers the formatting around and looks a mess, but nobody seems to mind.

From an author’s standpoint, the whole system is a lot better! (No more Writer’s Market!) You can see picture of who you’re querying; always nice to put a face to a name. You can read their blogs, their tweets, their online profiles, see all the books they have successfully represented, and get a much better sense for who they are as a person, then tailor your submissions accordingly. Response times seem to be quicker, too. From what I have seen so fay—and I have only just dipped my toes in the water—there is sometimes a fair amount of interaction between agents and would-be authors in the form of ‘virtual conferences’ where a bunch of authors can ‘pitch’ their story in a ‘tweet,’ and then the agents ‘likes’ your ‘tweet,’ and then… I’m not sure. I’m sure there is a point to it, somehow. All in all, though, just a lot more avenues to pursue and and resources to pull from as you try to sell yourself and your book.

Next time, I will post some updates on what I have actually done in terms of contacting a few agents, and some of the more specific issues I have run into.

First Big Solution

Two days ago, I was hit with the existential crisis that The Alleys of Olde Architecture is way, way, way too long—for a single book. This was not a shock to be told, but I had been hoping to win an agent over nonetheless, and then brainstorm creative solutions down the road with someone who knows the industry. Several of my first query letters included a whole paragraph about how monstrously long my manuscript is… That may have been a mistake.

I strongly suspect every agent I queried last week is going to shoot it down, largely based on the length. I don’t know if they will even bother reading the samples I sent after they see the word count. So, I spent the day retooling my approach. Gotta roll with the punches!

The result is that I will no longer be pitching The Alleys of Olde Architecture, a 525,000-word novel…

I will now be pitching A Key for Every Lock, a 115,000-word novel, the first in a three-part saga called The Alleys of Olde Architecture. This shorter book is comprised of the first three Acts of the overall story.

Part One will be the same size as Harry Potter 3.

I’m feeling good about this! I always wondered if I would have to split it up—it just took a kick in the pants from a reputable agent to actually do so. The only downside is that I probably blew my chances with a half-dozen of the agents I had listed higher up on my ‘Agent Wish List.’ (Maybe I can query them again in a few months; we’ll see.) But, well, live and learn. There are plenty of fish in the sea, including a few at the top of my Wish List that I have not yet contacted.

115,000 words is obviously a lot more manageable, both for a publisher and the reader. This is about the size of the third Harry Potter book. It could be pitched as YA or Adult (the size and content are appropriate for both,) and the new title (A Key for Every Lock) fits in absolutely perfectly with the story (as do the titles for Part Two and Part Three) and I actually think The Alleys of Olde Architecture works even better as the overarching title of the whole saga rather than of an individual book.

The most fortunate thing is being able to split the story up so easily. The manuscript was written in seven Acts, and thanks to the natural rise and fall of narrative waves and a little luck, the end of Act III makes a perfect stopping point. Likewise, Acts IV through VI then form a cohesive, narratively-satisfying arc for Part Two. Minor tweaks to the first and last chapters of each Part may be necessary, but nothing extensive.

After making the big decision, I had to rejigger the website and write a new synopsis to get ready for Round Two.

Today I will start crafting some more submissions as I continually remind myself that the book I have been writing for the past nine years is now called A Key for Every Lock… I do love it, but it will take some getting used to.

First Big Challenge

I wanted to ease into this whole blogging thing by starting small (see last week’s post—First Thoughts On Publishing) and gradually float through simple topics like my past experiences with looking for an agent (10 years ago) and choosing between traditional and self-publishing, but recent events call for an Emergency Post.

I have spent the last week dipping into the agent pool (and there is much to write about what has changed in the last ten years) and sending out a few query letters to the folks I thought looked like the best fit for this project. Broadly speaking, there are way more prospective authors than there are good agents, and even an agent who you think might like your work is under no obligation to take you on as a client. As an author, landing an agent is kind of like winning the lottery… and that is before they ever manage to sell your book to a publisher.

I only prepared a handful of queries over the week. After a couple days of scouring through hundreds of agent listings and choosing your ‘favorites,’ each query takes over an hour to put together; first you read the agent’s profile, investigate their website, check their twitter, etc., and eventually compose a personalized letter that shows you have put in the time trying to understand their tastes and what sort of new projects they are seeking.

Long story short, I heard back from two agents from reputable agencies, both of whom I had ranked highly on my favorites. Turn-around is not usually so quick, but each of them basically reached out to say that The Alleys of Olde Architecture is way, way, way too long. One said that even if I split the manuscript into two or three volumes, it would still be too long for her comfort zone.

This is not totally unexpected. I have been including in my queries an offer/suggestion/idea that the book could be split up—that it would, in fact, be relatively quick and easy to do so, chunking it apart amongst the seven different Acts that form natural narrative breaks—but that I hoped to get some agent-insight on how to go about this, or whether it is truly necessary.

Well, only the two have gotten back to me so far, but I am beginning to think the verdict is in.

I worry the predominant attitude will be: If your story needs to be split up, do it before querying me. (I do not mean to make that sound rude; they go through A LOT of submissions, and I can’t expect them to do my work for me; I had just hoped to hook somebody on the story and then discuss the possibility of splitting it up.)

Anyhow, this brings me to my First Big Conundrum: split up the manuscript and start pitching it to a new batch of agents as a much smaller Part One of a multipart saga, or stay the course and hope somebody falls in love with it, as is?

There are upsides and downsides to each. The obvious downside to keeping it the same is that every agent I approach will run for the hills; the upside is that the natural form of the story is one, big book—it is a single, cohesive story.

The upside to subdividing the manuscript, obviously, is that more agents will give it a chance. (For example, rather than pitching a 525,000-word book, Part One would be approx. 115,000 words. Much more manageable.) The downside, though, is that the story was conceived of and written as a cohesive whole; even though there are natural narrative breaks where I can split it up, and even where those break-points have climactic scenes and great cliffhangers, I worry that each Part will never truly feel like its own standalone book. But, does it have to? This is a really unique story; maybe it can survive and thrive by taking its own unique road to publication…

I think, honestly, the wisest thing is to start shifting gears and split it up. The book does not need any rewriting—the break at the end of Act III would work wonderfully as the end of Part One. But I need to adjust the website to reflect this (in case any would-be agents come snooping around), rewrite the synopsis I have been sending out (an agonizing process), adjust the posture of the query letters I am writing, and maybe even come up with some new subtitles for Parts One, Two, and Three… not to mention the mental reconfiguring I have to do in my own head to start thinking about ‘my book',’ which I have been working on for the last nine years, as ‘my books.’

First Thoughts on Publishing

I finished writing The Alleys of Olde Architecture yesterday, and now I need to get it published. There is a lot to write about this process, but I do not want to turn every blog into a 100-page novella, so I will try to limit each post to a single topic.

The first thing, then, is to ask why bother trying to get published in the first place? What’s the point?

There are two obvious answers: one is because I want people to be able to read my book; the second is to make money.

I worked hard on this book and I think a lot of people will enjoy reading it. Not everyone, certainly, but there are gajillions of fantasy super-fans out there, and an original story that appeals to that demographic (whether it is a movie or a book or a video game) will always find a warm reception if the thing is well done. In the most plain terms, ‘publishing’ your book is just a glorified way to say ‘sharing it.’ I could go stand on a mountain and shout, “It’s done! Whoever wants to read it, come on over!” And how many people would hear me? Like, six? And they would say, “Hey, Jeff, can I get a copy?” And I would say, “Actually, no, you can’t, because it is cost-prohibitive for me to print out 1,500 pages every time somebody wants to read it and my printer would probably break down before long. Not to mention the cost to mail it…”

Publishing means: get copies printed and distributed to people who are interested in reading it. Sounds simple, and it is. But we are starting at Ground Zero, here—it helps to know exactly what we are trying to accomplish. In fact, reframing the whole thing makes it sounds far more attainable: rather than say, ‘My goal is to get published,’ I should be telling myself, ‘My goal is to convince a publishing company that they can make money printing and distributing my book to fantasy super-fans.’ Seems a little more reasonable. Everyone likes to make money. Which brings me to the second reason for publishing…

Gotta earn some money! That should be self-explanatory. All I will say about this part of the equation is that a lot of authors want to be the next J.K. Rowling and rake in the cash, but that is extremely unlikely from a statistical standpoint. The next most commonly-held goal is to earn enough to be able to write full-time; while it sounds nice, even best-selling authors do not always generate steady income sufficient to realize that dream. Ultimately, if you are in it to make millions, you are going to be disappointed. Better to focus on the first element: sharing your work with people who like the sort of things you write, and go from there.

100% Done!!!

I finished The Alleys of Olde Architecture this afternoon. Like, really finished it. No more revisions, no more ‘final’ read-thru’s. No more nothings. It’s done. Done, done, done, done, and done.

On the other hand, there is still a lot of work to do! Artwork to finish. Decisions to make. Letters to write. Mountains to climb.

So, is the manuscript set in stone? Yes… for now. I have no intention of making any further changes unless I happen to be flipping though random pages and notice a glaring typo. Aside from that, though, yes, it is set in stone. If I end up getting a publisher to publish this (which is the whole point!), undoubtedly they will try to request additional editing/revisions, at which time I will either have to roll my sleeves up and dig back in, or tell them it’s already perfect the way it is, and storm out!

It is a bit like a parent sending a kid off to college… on the one hand, your job is done. On the other hand, you know they will be coming back for holidays and will probably end up living in your basement for a few years after school, and you resign yourself to the fact that your job is never really done.

Here are some numbers, because I am just about out of words:

This book took me nine and a half years to write, from start to finish. Approximately 10,000 hours. I went through two desk chairs, two printers, two computers, three changes of address, and spent a small fortune on ink cartridges (before I started filling my own to save money, and that before I finally bought an ink-tank printer to save even more money.) Probably 40 reams of paper, at 500 pages each. Countless red pens.

I started writing this before I met my wife, and before I met Bill, who I worked with for nearly seven years. I had no gray hair back then, I was delivering pizzas part-time, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. When I started, I had two nieces; now, I have four, and two nephews, as well. There have been numerous weddings—and funerals—two presidential elections, one global pandemic, and even a Cubs World Series.

The manuscript, as currently formatted, is 1,518 pages long. That is 526,896 words. For reference, the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is only 455,000 words.

I would be happy to let anybody read it who is interested, but it will take some brainstorming as to how we make that happen. I am not comfortable disseminating digital copies just yet, and it is hardly economical to print out 3 reams-worth of paper and deliver a 15 lb. stack of pages to would-be readers. I may have a few ‘sample’ copies printed-on-demand, but that will take some figuring out, and will likely (based on the little research I have done so far) have to be split into two volumes and would have no artwork. Which is fine, for now. Just to be able to put something on the shelf, or to pass along to friends and family who don’t want to wait for a published copy, which could take years.

I am going to take the rest of the day off, and next week I will be starting the long, uphill battle of getting this thing published. More updates on the details of that process as we go along.

Soooo Close...

No, I am not quite done yet, but I do want to get into the habit of posting once a week, even when there is not any big, breaking news. I rather think that will be one of the running themes of this blog, as it centers around the process of trying to get published—the long waits in-between, the lack of news.

I did finish working through that huge stack of papers (see previous photos) and almost all my lingering notes. During the thick of writing this book, I maintained several separate, ongoing Notes Files, each in different formats and with different purposes, which amounted to several hundred pages at any given time. As of this Monday morning, I have one note left to implement. One! The note involves a change that needs to be incorporated in 14 different locations throughout the story; some spots may only need a few words tweaked, others may need a new paragraph inserted, or even a whole page ‘adjusted.’ Not major surgery, but it will take the better part of the day.

After that, I need to visually scan through the whole manuscript looking for large, obvious formatting errors that may have slipped in (usually an extra space inserted between paragraphs or an extra blank page erroneously tacked on at the end of a chapter) or passages highlighted in red that I forgot to un-highlight while editing. 99% of that triple-checking is already done; this will be the final review. Last, I will save duplicates of the text file to every form of digital media known to man, and after that… done!

I have a lot to write about when I am finished. A little about the process over the last 9 1/2 years, some about the state of things now (meaning both of my own ‘professional’ status and of the publishing industry), and a lot about what comes next… but I really ought to get back to work!

(Sorry, no picture this week.)

Almost There...

Just a quick update, here. I am about 80% of the way through this final step, and I think I ought to be 100% finished by next weekend. That will feel very good. I have been working on this book for over 9 years, and I am ready to be done. Of course, that is when the real work starts—the long, uphill battle of trying to get published. There is a lot of stuff I am anxious to start doing on that front, from letter-writing to artwork-polishing to posting the first few chapters… but I guess I will have to wait one more week. <sigh>

80% done

New Year

I wanted to write a quick post to mark the first day of the new year—2021—even though I have not finished the final mark-up of Alleys yet, which is the milestone I am waiting for before I start recording in earnest my effort to get this behemoth published. I have roughly 8 days to go before I am 100% done.

I am hopeful that over the course of the year I will be able to get an agent and even sign on with a publisher, although each is a time-consuming process in its own right. I will post more about each step of the process in the future.

Wish me luck, and by this time next year I can be writing a post that says ‘Mission Accomplished!’

Halfway done!

First Ever Blog

I will keep this short, since very few people are ever likely to read this. Just a trial run, really, to see how these posts are formatted and stuff like that.

My idea is to keep a weekly blog going next year about the process of getting my book published. (The Alleys of Olde Architecture.) I thought it might be fun to keep track of the numerous rejections, setbacks, disappointments, and defeats I am in store for!

Currently, I am 1,000 pages into my Final Read-thru, so I am not quite ready to start sending out query letters and chapter-samples to agents and publishers; that process will begin in January 2021. For now, though, and through Christmas, I have another 500+ pages to read and mark up, followed by a few weeks of very minor revisions to finalize. When that is done, I will blog again!