Literary Agents: It's Not Who You Know

I’m listening to Life’s What You Make It by Talk Talk on my Internet radio while I write this. It’s a random track, but somehow timely to what I want to say about the business of getting published. Specifically, getting an agent.

These days there are a lot of people out there with their dreams saved on a hard drive; digital hopes floating around in .doc files containing the latest draft of a novel, a work-in-progress memoir, or some other passion project that so far has only culminated in a long list of missed social events, late nights, early mornings, and acid reflux from more coffee than is safe for any human to consume.

The summit these dreamers seek to reach is the same for nearly all – to walk into a bookstore and see their book on a shelf. That’s a big mountain to climb, especially in today’s publishing market. I won’t lie; the odds are stacked against you.

But here’s the thing – if I can do this, anyone can. After all, I’m nobody.

This week, an article titled “The Right Fit”:Navigating the World of Literary Agents appeared on the online magazine, The Millions.  Written by Michael Bourne, the essay seeks to give the reader an insight into how futile the endeavor of seeking traditional publication can be, given the incestuous nature of the New York publishing industry. Basically, unless you’re an insider, you’ve hardly got a chance. 

Like any good journalist, Mr. Bourne spent some time with his boots on the ground at Folio Literary Management, a bustling agency in New York City, where he shadowed a few agents. While there, co-founder Scott Hoffman explained to Mr. Bourne “that the agency receives roughly 100,000 unsolicited queries a year, or about 200 a week for each of the nine Folio agents who accept unsolicited queries. Hoffman has taken on four new writers in the last year, only one of whom came in through the slush pile, putting the odds of an author without connections getting Hoffman to take on his or her book at roughly 1 in 11,111.”

One Hundred Thousand queries a year seems about right for a substantial agency like Folio. An agent taking on four new clients for a year is fairly reasonable, too. That's some stiff competition for an agent's interest. At this point in the article, what he learned with the limited time he spent with these agents is applied to the industry as a whole. What I have a problem with is Bourne’s suggestion that unless you are connected, your odds of finding representation are miniscule. In what turns into something of a mild-mannered rant, Mr. Bourne expresses his frustration (suggesting occasional anger) at the constant rejection he’s seen in his unsuccessful attempt to find representation. There are some valid points made on the benefit of interacting and socializing with others in the industry, but they're overshadowed by his assumption that his limited time with these agents is how it is all the time, in all the agencies. 

Let me say this before it seems I’m piling on the author – a writer like Michael Bourne will get an agent. He’s good. But his problem, like a lot of us, is simply finding the right story. At the end of the essay, Mr. Bourne finally stumbles onto this simple truth that we all face when trying to break in. “I haven’t written a book an agent can sell yet,” he writes.

That’s all it takes. That’s the whole recipe to getting your book onto that store’s shelf. I’ve been represented by two agents. My first was with William Morris Endeavor, one of the biggest entertainment agencies in the world. My second, the brilliant John Rudolph, is with Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, one of the most successful literary agencies in the world. I got hitched to both of them the same way – an unsolicited query. A shot in the dark.  Every author I know has been born from the slush pile, including me. To get an agent’s attention – a good agent – you don’t have to know a soul in the industry, you just need a good query letter and a manuscript that keeps the promises the query makes.

Everyone gets rejected. In this industry, you’ll see an epic amount of No Thank You, but there doesn't exist some inner circle that's conspiring to keep you out of the club.

The odds are still long, but even if you’re a thirty something-year-old nobody in Alabama who’s never even sat foot in New York City, take heart that it’s not who you know, it’s what you know. So long as what you know is how to tell a damn good story.

Fake Pointy Ears

Last night I went to a midnight screening of The Avengers. It was, to put it simply, the most fun I’ve had in a theater in a while.

I was asked to tag along by a friend who was probably more excited than any 35-year-old man should be to see a movie, and I figured (since I wasn’t getting any sleep at home with the new baby anyway) what the hell.

Now, midnight screenings aren’t really my thing. 1999. That was the last time I’d gone to midnight screening and it had left an excruciatingly sour taste in my mouth for the whole experience. Having waited what felt like a lifetime for the heroes of my childhood to finally appear again on screen, only to open their should-be-epic story by responding to mild discontent in the form of a galactic trade dispute, will do that to you.

*Jedi Knights: The Customer Service Representatives of the Universe*

Yawn.

Yet, here I was, 13 years later, in a theater filled with a quite underestimated crowd for a school night. Unable to sit together, my friends and I were lucky to find seats at all in the sea of comic book t-shirts and unending bags of Sour Patch Kids which had undoubtedly been snuck into the theater.

As I write this, what stays with me from last night is the energy in the air. It was everywhere and for everything. The excited anticipation for the lights to fall and the first trailers to roll. The seconds ticking away until their favorite comic and movie characters appear together on screen.

Everyone in that theater was an Avengers fan, and many dressed accordingly in cosplay (a term I've recently just learned meaning costume and role play...look, nobody said I was the brightest bulb). In fact, just before the film began a costume contest took place, won by a Hulk who seemed that much more committed to the look, having pumped his body with what I can only guess had been a few years' regimen of a steroid program. That’s dedication, people.

Go see the movie, by the way. It’s a blast. And to see it with every comic fan in the city, cheering and applauding; the experience was that much better. Joss Whedon, the director, and a bit of a comic geek himself, should direct all the movies. I’m not talking about all The Avengers movies. I’m saying he should direct ALL THE MOVIES.

He’s that good.

The night got me wondering, though. What does it take to have an intellectual property like The Avengers reach that status where its fans dress up and stay out to the witching hours to catch a first screening? It’s not just movies and comic books, either. I recall being in London and seeing the queue stretch down the block at Waterstone’s for the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Twilight has the same kind of following. Star Trek, too.

What makes the fans so dedicated?

Agent Jessica Papin at DGLM linked to a Salon.com article about what it takes for a book to reach blockbuster status. I have no idea. Nor, it seems, does anyone else, but author James W. Hall of a new book Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the 20^th Century’s Biggest Bestsellers, thinks he’s found some common denominators.  It’s an interesting article (which explores some ideas of Hall’s book), but what happened last night at the movie reaches beyond blockbuster. That sort of love of something is special.

It’s a cult, in a way, requiring dedication and loyalty, and not just market success.

So, what is the X-factor?  I’d love to know.

As would every entertainment exec on the planet.

If you’ve got some reasons, leave ‘em in the comments.

NEWS: HERE'S THE DEAL!

Stephen L. Duncan's THE REVELATION SAGA, pitched as a sweeping adventure with elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Harry Potter in which seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adam - an archangel born as a human - must travel to England in a plot to stop the second war between Heaven and Hell, to Emily Steele at Medallion Press in a deal by John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

How to Succeed at Query Rejection

(The obligatory query post.  Don’t act surprised.  It’s a writing blog.  You knew this was coming.)

There is a place in every writer’s career, a time both mixed with elation from having just finished (and hopefully edited) a manuscript and confusion, where a single question pops into the mind:  What now?

If you’re the type who walks into a bookstore and picks out where on the shelf your book might fit in, the next step is Querying an Agent.  Let’s do ourselves a favor here and side step the whole self publication / ebook / indie road to publication discussion, or for that matter, the argument over the need for an agent.  Firstly, I know jack about self publication and in my experience, an agent is a must.

My blog.  My rules.

I’ve had two agents.  My current one, John Rudolph, is with Dystel & Goderich.  Both relationships began with a simple, one page letter known as a query.  This might get a little elementary, but that’s okay.  If I'm going too fast, please raise your hand.  Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. 

Right.  Where was I?  Yes, the query letter.  There are many places to learn how to write one, but the website that helped me the most is AgentQuery.com.  Instead of regurgitating (apologies) everything I learned there, I suggest you click the link and get to studying.

Of course, the hook, synopsis, bio format isn’t the only way to write a query, but it worked well enough for me.  Feel free to experiment with what is most effective for you, but remember – the query should be about the book.  It should not be about your inflated dreams of celebrity or all the useless market research you’ve done, offered as evidence for why your book sales will make J.K. Rowling’s figures look like a Girl Scout’s cookie rush invoice.  Do yourself a favor and skip that crap.

The only universally accepted rule to querying is this: your query will be rejected.  The other only universally accepted rule is: follow the submission guidelines of the agent.  Okay, pardon the math there.

Rejection at the query stage is okay.  It should be expected, in fact.  If your manuscript is in great shape (read: polished after several drafts) and your query is an honest reflection of your voice and book, a rejection simply means that there is a conflict of taste. 

And there’s no accounting for taste.

To imagine an agent’s perspective, I like to think of my own regards to foie gras, often found on fine dining menus.  I mean, that’s freaking duck liver.  A dish made from an organ that filters all the impurities and toxins from the blood of an animal that walks around all day in its own feces?  Not my thing.  But that doesn’t mean that the quality and presentation isn’t spectacular.  It just means that for the next several months I don’t want to spend my days helping you perfect the recipe before we sell it in a restaurant.  I’m just not the guy for that.

So don’t be afraid of rejection.  Embrace it as part of the process. 

Since I brought it up, I’ll include my query letter here.  If you have any questions about the querying process, feel free to ask in the comments!

Dear Mr. Agent,

I am querying you today as a former client of William Morris Endeavor, following a heartfelt decision by my agent to cull his fiction catalogue in favor of celebrity memoir and nonfiction.  This manuscript has not been submitted.

When an assassin burns his cathedral home and leaves one innocent murdered in a style not witnessed in centuries, seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adam’s father reveals that Gabriel is one of four Archangels, born human and sent to stop Armageddon.  Now, he must leave behind dreams of attending NYU to fulfill a prophecy kept secret by a phantom religious sect charged with the pre-biblical traditions of the End of Days.  Thus begins THE SECRET OF GABRIEL ADAM, a 73,000 word young adult novel.

Sixteen hundred years ago, the Roman Empire declared a prophetic book, The Apocalypse of Solomon, heretical and banned it from Biblical canon.  With every copy soon destroyed, all the information it contained to secure mankind’s right to the Earth realm disappeared forever.  However, its secrets survived in the knowledge of a professor, whom today resides in England.  With the assassin still in pursuit, Gabriel and his father travel to the English university town of Durham, hoping that the book will guide them.  Joined there by Micah - the Archangel Michael born as a girl - Gabriel must learn to have faith in himself and accept the role he must play in the coming war without being distracted by his new life as a college student or his religious skepticism.  But with two of the four Archangels hunted down and presumed dead, the only chance at stopping the assassin’s plan to ignite the apocalypse remains hidden inside the Ark of the Covenant, somewhere in Ethiopia.

I'm a practicing attorney and have studied international legal systems in England. My time abroad encouraged an academic interest in religious histories throughout the British and Roman Empires. THE SECRET OF GABRIEL ADAM represents the culmination of my research from an agnostic perspective. 

Thank you for your consideration.  Should you like to see more of THE SECRET OF GABRIEL ADAM, please feel free to call or write. 

Sincerely,

Me

The Backup Plan

So, today there were some minor ripples in the world of publishing.  My agency, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, has made an announcement that they will be offering a new service to their clients: a sort of e-publishing advocacy. 

Strictly speaking, this is a service for their clients who wish to see a second life for their out-of-print work and hold reverted rights.  This service is also useful for that doomsday scenario where an author’s manuscript falls into submission hell and no house is buying.  Here, e-publishing might be the only option left for such a manuscript, unless the author should prefer to trunk it for several years in hopes that one day new editors are working at the houses.

So why should you care?  Well, the times, they are a-changin’.  E-publishing has gained an extraordinary momentum due to technological advances.  You probably have an e-reader in your pocket.  Most smartphones these days are capable of becoming digital books with the touch of an app.  That is a huge potential market of book buyers.

However, this doesn’t mean publishing houses are going away.  And it doesn’t mean agencies are going to become publishers.  DGLM will remain a literary agency and only advocate and advise for e-publishing, keeping in tact the 15% agency fee and quashing any possibility of a conflict of interest.

But with all change, there is resistance.  Some are uncomfortable with the blurring of duties and borders.  Though, for me, such feelings are behind the times.  Agents are now taking roles that used to be traditionally for editors – you need only look at the track changes John made on my last draft to see just how much editing they do. 

Personally, I like having this option – and that’s all it is.  An author can elect to do this, or not – it’s a choice. 

Any thoughts on this new trend?  Share away!

EDIT: Here's an excellent in depth breakdown of where DGLM fits into the agency becoming publisher trend: David Gaughran's site.

Summer and the City

In New York City, the frenzy that was Book Expo America 2011 came to a close yesterday.  Many articles written by those in attendance seem to echo a common sentiment that publishing isn’t dead.  In fact, according to Paul Yamazki, head buyer at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, Hardcover Fiction is Back. 

It’s good to see some positive energy coming out of an industry that has had a tough recent couple of years.  Be sure to swing by BEA 2011’s podcast to catch up on some great presentations.

As many of you know who are sweating in upper eighty and lower ninety degree weather, Summer feels like it’s here.  I know the solstice makes it official, but I’ve got a sunburn that says different.  Apparently, the publishing industry also judges the change of season in its own way.  Following BEA, many of those working in New York City begin a time-honored tradition called Summer Fridays: Work till one and spend the rest of the day enjoying the weather, a book, or doing whatever they fancy.  Our Subsidiary Rights Manager at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, Lauren E. Abramo, will tell you all about it here.  Try not to hate your life after you read her post.