It's time for you to start approaching the task
of getting a literary agent... the same way that literary agents approach the task of getting publishers.
If you try to
get a literary agent on your own, 6 months will go by and you probably won't have achieved your goal.
But for years he could
n't get a literary agent or publisher interested in his work, so he concluded that his childhood ambition was unrealistic and went back to computer programming.
If you're
getting literary agents requesting your work and then getting lots of literary agent rejection letters, it doesn't necessarily mean you should revise your manuscript.
It's time for you to start approaching the task
of getting a literary agent... the way that literary agents approach the task of getting publishers.
If you're a fiction author, you might be able to
get a literary agent WITHOUT a book proposal (most fiction literary agents don't require book proposals), but you STILL need to know how they work.
But I love what I do and I'm really good at it (that's not ego talking, but experience); I have a 95 % success rate helping authors
get literary agents asking for more material.
Before getting a literary agent you need to understand the different types of publishing agents and what they do, and you need to know which genre (s) or category your book best fits into.
As an author coach, I've helped authors with zero
platform get literary agents and book deals, but... it's a lot EASIER if you have some type of platform.
* Query Letter / Synopsis / Proposal: Create an irresistible query letter that
gets literary agents asking to read your material and offer representation.
Most often this question comes from writers and bloggers who are feeling stuck and frustrated with their careers — they ca
n't get a literary agent to sign them, or they haven't been able to get the book deal they wanted, and they just don't understand why.
Most authors still try the traditional route
of getting a literary agent, then a publisher for their masterpiece, and there is no denying this is still probably the best way to advance your writing career (especially if you can pick up a nice three book deal from you new publisher!).
The good news is that it's never too late for a previously published author to
get a literary agent, traditional publisher, and book deal... but it can be tricky.
That could be beneficial, not so much if / when you're trying to
get a literary agent, but if / when you're trying to sell books.
I tell my clients to (temporarily) disregard the feedback in literary agent rejection letters, because, if I'm working with the author in a long - term program to help
them get literary agents reading their work, I know their writing is at a high enough level that they should give the manuscript a chance before making radical revisions and / or hiring an editor.
Some of the writers reading this short essay will already know this disappointing truth:
Getting a literary agent is a prerequisite on the road to getting a mainstream publisher; but getting the wrong literary agent is a dead end.
As an author trying to
get a literary agent, it could take you years to get an agent if you query them one at a time.
One last thing: New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker once blogged that the best way to
get a literary agent is to write three books — because first - time contracts with first - time authors typically cover three or more books.
When you enter the Directory of Literary Agents ™, you'll also get free, instant access to our article and audio library with additional information to help
you get a literary agent looking for diversity.
Everything matters when you're trying to
get a literary agent.
There are 125 different things you can say (or, in some cases, not say) when writing a query letter that will
get literary agents to trust you — most authors are only aware of a few.
Most authors (unknowingly) have a false sense of how easy (or difficult) it's going to be to
get a literary agent.