Here’s Part Four of my Querying series! (Find the other posts in this series here.) This post is focused on the querying process and how to query a literary agent.
A few reminders before we dive in: For this process, I’m going to focus on how to query a literary agent because that’s what I have experience with. But if you’re approaching a small publisher, the process is going to be similar when querying an editor.
First, you should not be considering querying until your book is as finished and as polished as you can get it.
In Part 1, we covered about steps 1-6, so if you missed that post, make sure you read that first! This post is going to dig into steps 7-11!
How to Query a Literary Agent in 11 Steps (Part 2)
7) Reframe your thoughts on rejection
Rejection can be pretty disappointing–especially if you query a literary agent you really like and they end up passing on your book.
But when you query a literary agent, rejection is a very likely outcome. It’s important to be prepared for it. I had queried three books before I got my agent.
You would think that at some point this would have started to get discouraging, but I found that the more I queried, the less rejection bothered me. I eventually realized that by the third time through, I had started to think about rejection differently.
First:
I realized that I didn’t want to get an agent (or to be published) because I wanted to be validated as a writer. I write because it makes me happy. No one has to validate that for me.
I wanted an agent because I loved to write so much that I wanted writing to be my job. As much as it may have sucked to hear that my book wasn’t wanted, I had to believe that in the long run, it was for the best.
If an agent didn’t LOVE what I’d written, I couldn’t imagine they’d be able to put me in the best position to succeed.
It may be hard to see past getting an agent when you’re querying. However, the fact that you’re looking for agent tells me that you’re probably not just looking to publish a single book. You’re most likely looking to build something bigger than that.
If that’s the case, you deserve someone who loves your work and who will do everything they can to put you in the best possible situation, book after book.
Second:
When you only have ten letters out at a time, that means that there are a whole bunch of agents who haven’t had the chance to read your book yet. The agent who is the right fit for you could be out there and you just haven’t sent the email!
Once I knew I wanted an agent who loved my writing (and got used to the idea that rejections came from agents I didn’t want), I started seeing every rejection as an opportunity.
Each rejection gave me a chance to contact a new agent who might be The One. And if that one turned me down, it would still give me another opportunity to send another letter.
Clearly, I’m really good at reframing situations into seeing the glass half full, but thinking about things this way really helped me!
It also really helped to understand why I wanted to be published. Only you can decide why you want to be published, but I would encourage you to find a reason other than validation. I truly believe you will be happier if you do.
If you want to see more thoughts on rejection, I talk a little about it in my Redefining Failure post.
8) Keep good records
As you’re building your list and going through this process, you’re going to find that every agent/agency has a slightly different procedure.
Some will say if you don’t get a response it’s a no. Others will say if you don’t get a response after six weeks, flow up or resend your letter. So, some will ask for a partial and say if you don’t hear anything in two months follow-up. Some will ask for a full.
You need to keep track of who you queried, when you queried them, if they responded, and if they asked for more. You need to know who has your work.
I suggest a spreadsheet! Here’s a screenshot of mine.
My columns are: agent, their agency, date I sent the query, if they responded (an X for I got a “no” response, and O for closed/no response), when six weeks would be up (or when I should consider the query closed–six weeks is average but some are shorter or longer), and if I needed to follow up if I hadn’t heard from them.
Then when I sent a query out, I’d highlight the row in green so I knew it was active. I took the highlight away when I closed it. If an agent asked for a partial, I highlighted it in blue and made a note of when I sent it and when I should follow up.
9) Follow up if/when it’s appropriate
Some agents will say it’s okay to follow up on a query if you haven’t heard from them after X weeks. You should absolutely do this–just make sure you wait until after the time frame they’ve given you.
Also, nearly every agent I encountered encouraged a following up if they haven’t gotten to your partial within 2-3 months. (This is also something that helped me get my agent).
In both instances, be brief and polite. Here’s an example: “Hello, I wanted to follow up on a partial I sent you on X/X/XX. Let me know if you’d like me to resend.”
I also suggest replying to the original email and keeping everything in one thread. Agents handle a lot of submissions. Even if they liked yours, they may not remember it after a few months. Make it as easy as possible for them to see your prior exchange.
10) While you wait, work on something new and don’t give up
One of the hardest parts when you query a literary agent is how long it takes to hear back. Like I said in part one of this query series, an agent’s priority is the clients they have already signed.
And that’s good! In the future, when you are one of those clients, you will want your agent to prioritize you. But that means as querying writer, you wait.
And while you wait, you might as well work on something new. If you do get an offer, your agent will like to know that you have more in the works. And if the book you’re querying doesn’t get you an agent, you’ll have another book to send out.
I queried a book until I had a new one to submit (which took about a year), then I pulled the first book back and focused on querying the new one.
But the nice thing was once it came time to do the next book, I already had a big long list of agents I thought would be a good fit for me, so I just had to double check that everything still lined up and they were still open to queries before sending a new query off.
11) When an agent makes an offer
YAY!!!!!! THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!
How you get the news can vary from agent to agent. Some will email to set up a call. Others will just call–like mine did. (I didn’t pick up–I was straining chickpeas at the time. I called back REAL fast.)
It’s okay to ask questions if you have them. If you have other partials/fulls out, it’s considered professional courtesy to let those agents know that you’ve had an offer and give them time (about a week) to read what you’ve sent them before you accept anything.
I’ve heard conflicting things about open queries. Some agents want to know if you have an offer even if they only have a query, others aren’t that worried about this.
I believe it comes down to how much you want to work with the agent making the offer. If the agent was high on your list, you like what they’re offering and you feel like someone else would have to really blow you away, I think it’s okay to say yes on the spot–if you want to. (I did!)
On the other hand, if there are things you’re on the fence about, or you’ve queried an agent you think might be a better fit, take some time to think about it and check in with your open queries while you do.
Though I should note, this only applies to open queries. If you have open partials/fulls, you really need to get in touch with those agents before accepting an offer.
It’s also okay to turn down an offer if it doesn’t feel right to you. Remember, once you accept that offer, your agent becomes your teammate. They are helping you build a life and career. You need someone who is going to put you in the best possible position.
If you don’t think the agent making the offer is that person, say no. Trust me when I say, no agent is better than a bad or incompatible one. If you get an offer from the wrong person, you will get another offer from the right person–just keep going!
I hope this gives you a good idea of how to query a literary agent!
You can find the other posts in this series here.
Now it’s your turn: Have you tried to query a literary agent before? If you have, do you have a tip to help others query a literary agent? If you haven’t yet, what’s your biggest concern as you get ready to query a literary agent? Tell me in the comments and follow me on Instagram.