The process

Before I managed to find an agent, never mind a publisher, I spent a lot of time wondering exactly how the whole business worked (I’m still trying to figure that out, but have a slightly better idea now than I did then).  I wanted very badly to be published but had no idea how to go about making that happen.  I looked online and found a lot of information there, a lot of it conflicting.  Some said you absolutely don’t need an agent until you get your first novel published, others said you absolutely need an agent if you’re ever going to get your first novel published.  The scattered sources all had a lot to say and some smacked of experience, some conjecture, and some just didn’t sound right at all but having made no headway of my own who was I to judge?

I love the internet, and I love the fact that anyone can throw anything out there that they like because that’s part of what makes it what it is.  That being said, it also means you have to take everything you see there with a grain of salt.  Sifting the truth from the rest is a skill that has to be learned especially when digital manipulation makes it impossible to even trust your own eyes anymore.  I tend to start off assuming anything I see on the internet is not true until I at least begin to see some kind of consensus then I’ll consider it might be true.  The problem was, even a consensus wasn’t really emerging.  Everyone had ideas and opinions as to how to go about it but few of them completely agreed.

I decided this was because there were many ways to go about it and I still think I’m right about that.  People describe their experiences and many people’s were different.  I can only add to that, I’m afraid, and describe my own but to any others out there who may be making the attempt maybe it will be useful to you.

For me, I used the Guide to Literary Agents, which can be found on Amazon or probably any bookstore.  It had a lot of good information and of all the agents listed there were only a few that were no longer active (including one that was actually a scam for a gambling site…not sure how that got slipped in).  That aside it’s a great reference.  It gives a good breakdown of information that can be tricky to track down otherwise, and it will tell you who handles what kind of material and also what they are looking for in a submission.  Some wanted a three-page synopsis, some wanted a ten-page synopsis.  Some wanted the first three chapters.  Most wanted a query and cover letter and some only wanted a query and cover letter.  They all have their own preferences so you’ll have to hand-tailor your submissions.  The Guide will go over how to format cover letters, etc. and I followed their format.  I think the gist of it is to provide something that will hook them and grab their interest, but also something that looks professional and shows that you’ve done your homework and are serious.  If that seems underwhelming I’m sorry but I think that’s the long and short of it; find a good collection of agents (or publishers if you want to go the direct route), target your submissions based on what they’re looking for, then go to their websites (almost all of them have one, both publishers and agents) where most of them have more detailed information about how they prefer to receive submissions.

I got a ton of rejections before finally getting a bite and the tone of them across the board struck me as very businesslike.  Unlike short story rejections which often included notes or critiques, these rejections tended to be more along the lines of ‘the property isn’t right for me’.  I got the sense it’s not just about the quality of the writing; I had many rejections to simple queries that didn’t even include a writing sample.  There also needs to be a good match, I think, someone who likes and deals in the type of material that also appeals to you.

That said the writing matters.  Endless books have been written on the subject of writing and I’m by no means an authority so I won’t pretend I am one, but I will say this because I think it did help me in the long run;  Early on I decided that my novel may get universally rejected, but that it wasn’t going to be rejected for technical reasons.  If it wasn’t the right time for my book that was one thing, but that it wasn’t going to be excessive typos or grammar mistakes or sloppy structure that killed it.   That meant getting feedback, some of it bad, and accepting and processing it.  It also meant editing; writing and rewriting then rewriting again.  I saw mistakes on subsequent runs through I just didn’t catch on the first go.  I hope to get better at that but until I do, I’m committed to as many drafts as it takes.  When I finally found an agent (Jack Byrne), he remarked my novel was ‘unusually clean’ which to me said the efforts paid off and that the time is well spent.

Once I got the call, I was asked to send a digital copy of the novel alone with two hard copies (which together filled a box about the size and weight of a cinder block).  He pitched it first to Ace Books, and made the sale right there.

I’ll break down what happens moving forward as it happens and try to provide some insight for those out there who may be interested.