Here’s Part Three 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.
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.
Assuming you’ve reached that point, let’s take a look at how to query a literary agent. This post is going to cover steps 1-6!
How to Query a Literary Agent in 11 Steps (Part 1)
1) Write a query letter that captures what your book is about
Before you query a literary agent, you have to write a query letter. I talked all about this in my How to Write a Query Letter post. That’s is where this process starts!
2) Do your research and build a list of possible agents
When you go to query a literary agent, you need to make sure you’re submitting to someone who is right for your book.
The publishing market is broken down by age group (children’s, middle grade, young adult, adult) and genre (fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, contemporary, thriller, historical fiction, etc). Agents typically specialize in a few of these categories, but not all.
So if you’ve written a middle grade fantasy, you need to make sure you’re submitting to agents that represent both middle grade and fantasy.
Here are to resources to help you build a list of potential agents:
QueryTracker.com: Once you make a (free) account on this site, you can search agents and filter them by age group and genre. They also include an agent’s website, email, social media handles, and an overview of how each agent prefers to be contacted. It’s also kept pretty up to date. This was my number one resource for keeping track of agents.
AgentQuery.com: This site has even more information that Query Tracker, but isn’t kept as up to date (which is why I didn’t use it as much). But you might want to cross-reference them–if you’re into that kind of thing. 🙂
There are hundreds (thousands?) of agents on these sites. Take some time to read through and visit their individual websites. Then make a list of your top ten, then twenty others you really like. You may need more but thirty should be good to get you started.
You can also try reading the acknowledgments of books you like/think your book is similar to. Most authors thank their agents, so you can find some names and look them up. (This is how I found my agent!)
3) Take note of submission guidelines and follow them!
When it comes time to query a literary agent, following the directions is critical.
As much as the databases are good for finding agents, they may not always be current. You should always go to their actual websites to check submissions guidelines.
Some agents will just want a query, some will want the query and sample pages pasted into the body of the email, some will want the partial attached. Whatever they ask, DO EXACTLY AS THEY SAY!!
Agents get a lot of queries, and they don’t have an excess of time. If you don’t follow the submission guidelines, you become someone they definitely don’t want to work with.
It also may take them longer to sort through your submission, which again, isn’t something they really have time for. If you want to make a good first impression, follow the submission guidelines as closely as possible.
The only place you have a little wiggle room is with the sample pages. If they ask for 10 pages, but your chapter (or a good stopping point) ends on page 11 or 12, then it’s usually okay to add the extra pages. But don’t abuse this. The agent you’re querying won’t appreciate it.
4) Get a dedicated query email address
Before you query a literary agent, I suggest setting up an email address just for querying. It should be professional, ideally with some variation of your name. This will become your future author email.
I also made sure it was a separate email client than my personal email, that way if I had the app on my phone, I would know that if I got that notification it was a query response.
This meant I wasn’t constantly refreshing my email. If an email came through, it would find me. (Though I did check in online roughly every other week if I hadn’t heard from anyone in a while, in case of technology/notification fail.)
5) Start sending out letters
It’s time!!
Start with your top ten agents. Address your query. Follow the submission guidelines. Take a breath. And hit send.
I would suggest sticking with ten open queries at a time. You might get feedback from an agent at some point and want to make changes to your manuscript. If you sent the original out to every possible agent at once, then you have no one left to send your new and improved manuscript to.
You also have to keep track of all the queries you send in case you get an offer and want to get in touch with an agent who has an open query (more on that later).
This will be a lot harder, and a lot more work, if you have a ton of queries open. So I say start with ten. Then every time you close out a query, send a new one out.
6) Know what outcomes to expect
Before you query a literary agent, it’s a good idea to be prepared fo the most likely outcomes.
The good:
An agent likes your letter/sample pages and asks for more! (Yay!!)
Some agents will go right ahead and ask you to send the entire manuscript. Others may ask for a partial, which is usually between 50-100 pages–the agent will tell you how much to send. DO WHAT THEY ASK!!
Like submission guidelines, it’s usually okay to send a few more pages if it’s a better stopping point, but don’t go crazy. If they ask for 50 and you send 100, it’s starting things off on the wrong foot.
Traditionally, if an agent asks for a full/partial, they’re expecting them within 24 hours. Which is why it’s really important to have your book finished before you start querying.
The in-between:
If an agent likes what they see, but think you/the project are not quite ready yet, they may tell you to keep them in mind for the future. File this agent away!
It may not be the ‘yes’ you were looking for, but it’s still a good thing! It means they see something in you! (Also, this was what led me to my agent.)
The not-so-good:
An agent doesn’t want to read more of your book. (Sad face!) You’ll find this out in one of two ways.
Some agents have a “no response means no” policy, which means if they don’t respond to your query, you can assume it’s a no. These agents will usually tell you right in their submission guidelines if this is the case.
They’ll also let you know that after X weeks, you should consider them a pass (six weeks seems to be the average in my experience).
The second way you’ll find out is with a rejection letter. These are usually form letters that say some variation of “Thanks so much for considering me, but I’m going to have to pass on this project. I wish you the best of luck.”
This leads us to steps seven, which you can find here!
You can find all 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!
this is so helpful! thank you for laying it out so simply and the tips for keeping organized! I’m still a little ways out from starting this process (I think I want to finish my trilogy to make sure everything is cohesive), but I’ve been trying to gather info now and prepare myself for what’s ahead.
You’re welcome! Though, something to consider: You’re probably better off writing a tight and cohesive first book and just creating detailed outlines for the next two books. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest is that your editor might make suggestions in the first book that will *significantly* impact the direction of the next two books. In my case, I actually pitched my series as a trilogy, but before my editor bought the books she asked if I would consider making each book more episodic so we could write more if we wanted to. This wasn’t something I considered before she suggested it, but it was absolutely the best thing for the story. Even though they only ended up buying the two books from me at this point, her suggestion opened me up to what the story was really supposed to be and changed the course of the series for the better. I’m so glad I didn’t spend time writing the whole trilogy before sending it out. I actually think I’m going to do a post about this topic because there’s actually a lot to consider, so thanks so much for your comment! <3
I hadn’t considered that the editor would suggest things that would change the following books. But now that you say it, that makes total sense. I would love if you would post about this topic. thanks!
Oh, question though. What if you’re not much of an outliner? I’m very much a discovery writer. My outline looks more like a bullet point list of plot threads. I’m not sure how they all weave together yet or what the exact list/timeline of events will be. I do have summaries written of things characters will learn and the struggles that I plan to use to grow them in that. Do editors understand this type of outline, or do they need it strictly linear?
And do you pitch the first book of the series while working on the second? (Currently attached to these characters and wanting to write more for my own enjoyment). Or do you shift gears and go to something completely different? (The book I just finished is very much a traditional fantasy vibe, while the next project I have planned is an urban fantasy set in 1930’s America)
You don’t necessarily need an outline if you’re not an outliner, but you might need a book synopsis(more on that here). It sounds like you might have some version of that already, which helps! Ultimately, your agent will tell you need to submit to editors. I didn’t need an outline or a synopsis, but I know of authors who needed one or both. When you’re querying, an interested agent may want to know where you’re going with the series before making an offer, so I would recommend having the synopsis for the second book written in case an agent asks for it–but this isn’t a really a querying requirement. I didn’t need it for my agent, but I heard of agents who have asked for one and I didn’t want to be scrambling to write and polish it at the last minute, so I had one ready.
As for what to work on next, if your goal is to be published, I would suggest starting on a completely different project. There’s no guarantee the first book is going to get you an agent (mine didn’t), and even if it does, there’s no guarantee it will sell to an editor. You can’t get an agent or sell a second book if the first one doesn’t go anywhere. But even if this series doesn’t sell, it doesn’t have to be dead forever. The more you write, the better you’ll get and you can always crack the first book back open down the line. I have a couple first books like that I’m planning on getting back to. 🙂
I hope this helps!
Hi Meghan, I came across your column from a Pinterest link. I found I had already done a lot of the things that you describe in querying agents. I am in the midst of writing a “medical” memoir and have a formal proposal written. I started out with the list of 139 agencies. Thus far, I have sent queries to 48. I got some type of response from 13 of them with 12 saying vague comments such as “this project is not right for our agency” or some such. I got one request for the proposal which I sent but no response or rely to my polite followup. My question is: How does one improve the manuscript and/proposal with no feedback, comments, or suggestions? Silence is the one thing that is hard to combat. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Ed
Hi Ed,
Congrats on reaching the querying stage! As for your question, it’s pretty rare for an agent to give detailed feedback at this point. They get too many queries and they often don’t have time to keep up with their clients and give feedback to authors they don’t represent. So the feedback you’re getting is very normal. In some cases, your project genuinely may not be a good fit for the agency/agent. I queried over a hundred agents and all but two gave me some form of “this is not right for me” based on the query. But I ended up signing with one of the two who asked to read the book. I didn’t make any changes to the manuscript once I started querying so the book my agent read is the same book over a hundred others passed on. So, you may not need to improve your proposal, you may just have to wait to come across the right agent.
On the other hand, if you truly want some kind of feedback, you’ll have to look for other writers or experts in your own community or online. I talk a little about where to find these people in the fifth point of this post.
I hope this helps! Best of luck!
Meghan
Thanks Meghan, I appreciate your candor. Sometimes this process seems to be tantamount to throwing a hand grenade in a dark room and hoping you hit something! (Colorful metaphor I know.)In the meantime, the trial and error is labor intensive. Yet thanks again for the info and sharing.
Regards, Ed
Ha, that’s actually a pretty accurate description! I’m glad I could help some. Keep with it and good luck!
Thank you for your expert tips! Last year I sent queries to (don’t remember how many) agents with experience in my genre and only got dead ends. I gave up and didn’t follow up. Now I feel after reading your post that I’m ready again. My 2nd novel has nothing to do with the 1st one but I mentioned in my query that I was writing another. Should I let the agent know.? Meghan I feel every writer could benefit from your post! Thanks for being here!
Regards, Annette