It’s time for another Agent Q&A session! For those of you who haven’t participated before, it’s very simple. Just leave your questions about publishing, finding an agent, writing, and so on in the comments section of this thread. I’ll com
e back late tonight or early tomorrow and answer at least three of them — more if time allows.
Be sure to check back to see what everyone else has asked
(you may share a few of their questions) and to read my replies! You can also visit previous Q&A posts for a quick round up of information.
~Nephele Tempest
6/27/2012
[...] over at The Knight Agency blog. Go ask your burning publishing questions. Share this:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEmailLike this:LikeBe [...]
There’s a great deal of emphasis today for writers to build their public platforms. This seems fairly straight-forward for non-fiction writers – you will likely blog on the same subject your book is about.
It seems little trickier for fiction writers. As as agency that represents several fiction writers, do you have any advice for those writing fiction who are trying to build a platform? It would seem like we don’t want to give our stories away for free on our blogs. Should we simply blog about our other interest areas, in the hopes of gaining followers that will hopefully enjoy our fiction as well?
Thanks!
To piggyback on Clint Hall’s question, do agents care (in the initial query process) about platform-y items such as:
*writing for an influential site that supports your genre
*a first novel coming out soon via a small press
Into how much detail should a querying author go with regards to their fiction-y platform and writing experiences?
Thanks so much for doing this!!
Are their drawbacks to signing with an agent from another territory? Say, Germany or UK? How does this affect being published in the US?
Thank you!
For younger writers, what would you suggest about the bio section of a query? For example, I have only minor writing awards and publications. I am also studying English Creative Writing as my college major. Should I put this in my bio section of my query? Or will it give away my age and I should omit the bio altogether?
Many thanks!
What suggestions can you offer writers for developing a relationship with you or your agency prior to submitting a query letter in order to help ensure the query is submitted to the right person? Thanks so much.
I was reading submission information on a publisher’s website and was wondering what a publisher wants when it asks for your career arc?
Authors – even the most successful ones – are being asked to take on more and more promotional responsibilities. What would you consider to be the single most important, fiscally reasonable promotional effort that today’s authors should spend their time doing before the official publication launch?
After receiving a rejection from one agent, is it okay to query another agent at the same agency?
I have noticed that in many ‘success stories’ authors explain how their agent offered representation a few days after reading the full manuscript. Do agents ever call with good news after 3-5 months? Or does an exciting manuscript beg to be read right away?
Can you recommend one or two editors? I’m looking for someone who only takes work they are sincerely interested in.
Good morning, all! So, a number of these questions deal with what I’ll call “marketing: before and after,” meaning things like platform, bio for the query, getting word out about your book, etc.
First off, when you’re querying agents, the most important thing is your book. Yes, for nonfiction the author is expected to have a platform, but there’s really no such thing as a platform for a fiction writer. You might have some area of expertise that you feel makes you particularly qualified to write your novel — for instance if you’re a doctor writing medical thrillers, or you lived in Morocco for five years and that’s the setting for your story — but don’t worry if that’s not the case. Agents want to know about the book. They want you to pitch them your story, tell them what makes it special and shiny and exciting and un-put-down-able. Your background as a writer or whatever else is secondary, and not even a close second.
When it comes to the bio in your query letter, keep it honest and brief. Don’t make up things because you feel your bio is lacking. If all you’ve got is a sentence saying you live in Texas with your spouse, kids and dog, that’s fine. If you want to say you studied (or are studying) writing, or have won a couple of awards or whatever, that’s fine too, but not vital. Definitely include any pertinent publishing credits–meaning other works of fiction (any length) if you’re pitching a novel. If you’ve published in other areas (newspapers, encyclopedia articles, what have you), you should mention the fact, but not list all your credits. Don’t worry about being “too young” or “too old” because we really don’t care how old you are as long as the work stands up.
All that said, you should have some sort of presence on the internet before you start to pitch your work. At the very least, you should have a simple, one-page website — a placeholder if you will — that includes your name, what sort of things you’re writing, and a viable e-mail address where someone interested in your writing can contact you. Later on you can bulk up that website if you’re inspired with related ideas, or when you get a book deal, etc., but you don’t have to have a complicated website with all the bells and whistles prior to that.
If you want to blog, blog. But be consistent and avoid digging yourself into a hole. It can be hard to come up with fresh material once every week or several days a week, so think about it before you start. Twitter is a great way to participate in the social media world, just be sure you contribute content and make yourself part of the community. Don’t just go on Twitter to toot your own horn. You will be boring and no one will like you. Chat about what’s important to you, books you’ve read, authors you like, that great museum show you attended, your favorite sports team… Make friends. You can chat up your book (in a tiny percentage of your Tweets) when the time comes. Plus the beauty of Twitter is that it’s free.
Regardless, find your social media/internet outlet and commit to it. Don’t try to do everything at once. Look around and see what feels right for you. You can always change your mind or add on later. But at the end of the day, word of mouth is still the best way to get your name known, and the internet loves to spread the word.
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Regarding learning about the agency and its agents, check out the rest of this website, sign up for the agency newsletter, read our blogs and follow us on Twitter. Most of us are all over the internet in varying degrees, and we all periodically state what we’re looking for in submissions in the newsletter. Plus doing all the above will also give you a feel for our clients and their work.
I imagine a publisher inquiring into a writer’s career arc wants to know your publishing history, and if you intend to write in other areas beyond the genre you’re submitting. But you’d have to ask the publisher to be certain.
Re: agents in other countries, I suspect it will depend on the agent. There are plenty of agents all around the world that sell to major publishers. If you’re writing in English and expect a US book deal, just make sure that the agent in question does actually sell into that market and not just locally, wherever they are.
Most agencies will consider a rejection from one of their agents as a rejection for the agency, but some will allow you to resubmit among their numbers. Check their submission guidelines to be sure. At The Knight Agency, we’ll pass around a project that we think has potential but isn’t right for one of us personally, so when we reject, it goes for the entire team.
I think most agents make a decision regarding whether to offer on a manuscript pretty quickly after reading a manuscript. I suspect what you mean is within a few days of receiving a manuscript, which is a totally different situation. Submissions are the very last thing we have time for, and generally get read in our “free time.” That means if I’ve already worked a 14-hour day, I’m not looking at my submissions pile come 9 or 10 at night, and I’m certainly not going to start to read a manuscript. Most agents try to read submissions in a timely manner, but the reality is that there is never enough time in the day and so it’s quite common for material to languish for months until we work our way through the stack of stuff that came in before it. So yes, I have definitely signed on projects that have spent a few months in my inbox. Yes, I’ve also on occasion read something immediately upon receiving it, but I try not to jump projects in the queue that way unless there’s a pressing reason because it’s not fair to the writers who have been waiting patiently.
Try to keep in mind that, on any given day, I have between 5,000 and 10,000 pages of submitted material waiting for my attention. That’s (generally) unpolished, unedited fiction to read, with an open mind and an eye for its potential, on my personal time. So sometimes it’s going to take months to get to a project, but nothing is more exciting than finding gold in your inbox.
Re: editors, I don’t actually work with any independent/freelance editors, but even if I did, they typically work with specific genres so I wouldn’t be able to recommend anyone with no knowledge of what you’ve written. I’d check out some of the online writers’ forums to see if your fellow writers have any suggestions.
Okay folks, that’s it for this round. Keep an eye out in the future for additional Q&A sessions.
~Nephele Tempest
6/28/2012
This is incredibly helpful advice and information. Thanks!
Aww, dang it. I missed it this time
Sigghh…. I have one question: should we mention our blog/Twitter in our query if we don’t have many followers on neither? I completely understand if you chose not to answer, and I’ll save it for next time. Thanks so much for this! It is SO helpful. I think everyone worries about the fiction platform.
Thanks so much for answering all our questions, Nephele! I truly appreciate it!!