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I need an agent. One never seemed real necessary when I was writing non-fiction for specific and well-defined markets, but now that I’ve branched out into other areas, getting an agent has become a priority. So I was thrilled to come across How to Land a Literary Agent by Noah Lukeman.
In it, Lukeman, himself a literary agent of long standing, starts out by making a clear distinction between writing and publishing:
“Writing is not a business,” he says, “but publishing is.”
Good point, and one I make during my creative and memoir writing classes. I can teach people to write, but I can’t teach them to be writers. Writing is a craft, not a science, and being a writer isn’t about money – altho it’s a nice benefit! – it’s about telling the story. Once the story has been told, then the business of sharing it with others begins.
And that’s where an agent comes into the picture.
It all begins with research, something most writers love anyway and are generally good at. Lukeman suggests culling through sources – things like trade pubs, search engines and even book acknowledgements – until the names, contact information and client lists of 50 agents have been gathered.
“As a rule of thumb, beginning writers stand a much better chance of landing an agent
if they target an agent who is just starting out,” he says, “someone who has been an agent for three years or less, someone who has proven himself by securing at least a few deals with major
houses but is actively looking for more clients.”
Once the list has been compiled, a query letter needs to be written. (Lukeman offers an informative lesson on writing great query letters as well. You can download it here.
And then the stamp-licking begins.
“I recommend your sending a query letter to five or ten agents at a time, for instance,
in five rounds of ten agents. I would wait no longer than 2 to 4 weeks to hear back from
that round; if you haven’t landed an agent by that time, send off the next round.”
If – and when – an agent requests sample pages, Lukeman suggests sending them exactly what they’ve requested – while you continue to send query letters to more and more agents.
The entire process should take six months. If, at the end of six months an agent hasn’t been landed, either start making a new list or spend more time writing.
Sounds like good advice to me.
I’ll keep you posted!
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