Results
It should be clear that I did all the research and work and didn’t find an agent.
In total, I researched 165 agents and submitted queries to 34. If you’re counting along at home, for every five agents I researched I submitted to one. That’s a pretty low turnaround rate and looking at it purely numbers-wise, a very small pool of agents I contacted.
I don’t know if that’s normal or not. Maybe I could have queried more, but so many base their representation on identity politics that it was clear we wouldn’t be a good fit. Plus, probably a couple dozen of the agents were closed to queries.
Without receiving comment back from the agents who did reply, I can only assume they didn’t like my book, or at least not enough to give it a further look. Maybe it actually sucks and I wasted a good chunk of time, but I don’t believe that. It just means I don’t have someone who’s going to negotiate a seven-figure deal and movie rights for me.
Do I regret spending all that time? Or wasting it, if you think along those lines? No. I told myself up front that I was going to give it a go. I’d always wonder if I didn’t try. And maybe it sounds trite, but I did learn a lot. More than I wanted, in some cases. I better understand how the traditional publishing industry works and thankfully, there are alternatives.
What next?
Learnings
What did I learn from all my agent queries?
To be organized, for one thing. I mentioned this in the last post, but I did my best to avoid duplicate research or queries. A little work getting organized up front saved a lot of time during my search.
They’re time-consuming. Overall I spent 6-7 weeks on this effort. That’s a lot of time away from writing, but I knew it required dedication and I was determined to give it a shot. On the individual query level, researching, putting together the package required, and sending them off - well, each one was also time-consuming, and that adds up.
About 40% of the agents I queried responded. That doesn’t really bother me as much as it might other people. Some agents mentioned on Twitter how many queries they evaluated, and I think one even had a bar graph showing the volume each month and the backlog. So 40% might seem abysmally low to some people, but not me.
Along those lines, don’t expect any feedback from the agents who do respond. In every instance, the reply I received was nicely worded and a form reply. I knew going in that agents aren’t there to give feedback to an author on their story or writing.
It’s hard to find an agent.
Sources
My main sources in researching agents consisted of two main sources and a number of sometimes relevant ones.
The first was Publisher’s Marketplace. Yes, it costs $25 USD per month, but the depth of research is exactly what a person needs to look for an agent. The industry news is mildly interesting, probably more so to people in the actual publishing trade, but i did scan the new deals lists occasionally to see what publishers were buying.
The most useful piece to me was the ability to search for agents within a genre, in this case SF, and instantly see how many sales they’d made in that genre over the past months and years. If somebody hadn’t made a sale in the SF genre in three years then they probably weren’t going to push my book very well. Someone who’d inked SF publishing deals for their clients in the past six months, on the other hand…
Publishers Marketplace contains info about agents, links to their agency websites, and in many cases, a query submission page that was the only way to contact the agent. That might not be proprietary to their website, but I don’t remember seeing that particular submission method anywhere else.
The second major source for me was Manuscript Wish List, or #MSWL on Twitter. Publishers Marketplace gave me lots of information goodness, but #MSWL gave me the info I needed to know if an agent was right for me.
On the #MSWL site you can also sort by genre and come up with a list of agents. I actually walked the list, over the course of a couple of weeks, and then researched that agent in Publishers Marketplace. Each agent will provide a picture, short bio, and what types of books they’re looking for. Pretty simple. Some contain more info than others, but reading each one is like a mini-interview. This site saved me a ton of time. In short, if it was obvious my worldview and that of the agent were diametrically opposed, I entered their name into my spreadsheet and added a note as to why I wasn’t querying them.
#MSWL isn’t the slickest of web sites, but it’s free and gives an author exactly what they need when looking for editors or agents.
Other sources included Twitter, where I looked up agents to see what they tweeted about. Just like #MSWL, I learned more about some people than I wanted to know. QueryTracker was another site with a database of agents, but I didn’t use it much since I developed a good routine with Publishers Marketplace and #MSWL. Facebook was useful to some degree, but since I wasn’t a member at the time its usefulness was limited for me.
The final source was agency web sites, usually linked to from one of my main sources, but also searchable and easily accessible. In a handful of cases I checked an agency site and found the agent I was researching was no longer with that agency. In those instances I was glad I’d clicked through to the literary agent’s site instead of wasting my time sending off an email that was going to bounce immediately. Other times they would have more up-to-date information, usually saying the agent was closed to queries at that time. I found it a best practice to always check the agency site for more info and status.
Tracking
One of my considerations was how to track the agents I queried so that I didn’t send duplicate queries. And once I started researching agents another consideration became obvious: tracking the agents I’d researched so I didn’t research them again.
In my regular job I deal with spreadsheets. A lot. Just like many people in the business world, I’m proficient at putting them together and manipulating them as needed. This tracking exercise required none of that skill. This was a simple list where I could put relevant info on every agent Iooked at.
Here are the columns I used in my spreadsheet:
Agent Name
Literary Agency
Submission Date (blank if not submitted to that agent)
Response Date
Email
Status (e..g, Closed to Submissions, Retired, etc.)
Represents (names of author the agent represents, at least the ones I’ve heard of)
Notes (usually the reason I didn’t think the agent was a good fit for me, but also other notes like “Usually takes 8-12 weeks to respond)
Web Page
Query Different Agent at Same Agency if Rejected? (some agents say if they reject it, their entire agency does; others say go ahead, maybe someone else at the agency would be interested)
Not rocket science, by any means. What it did do was keep my research focused and easily trackable. Next time I’ll talk about my sources for research, and you’ll see why it was important to track all of the above and avoid easily wasted time.
Pieces
One thing I learned during my research on finding an agent was that I’d need a number of pieces ready to submit.
The first was a cover letter. I probably obsessed over that part more than anything else on the list. I edited it, did it again, and continued doing it all through the time I submitted queries. It’s tough to write a hook to grab the attention of the person reading your letter, introduce yourself, and give the agent an idea of your book. Did I ever get it right? I don’t know. The end results don’t bear out that it was one of the greatest query letters ever written, but I don’t think it was the worst.
I also needed a synopsis of my book. Talk about more tough work. Distilling my book down to a page or two was an interesting exercise. I think I did just fine on this one. It seemed counter-intuitive to include the twists and the ending in the synopsis, but my research showed this was necessary. Agents want to know you can carry a book through to a satisfying conclusion, and that said conclusion is a logical ending to what came before. If something seems out of whack with the synopsis then they haven’t wasted time reading an entire manuscrip.
The other thing I needed was the first chapter or chapters, first 30 pages, first 50 pages, etc., ready to submit as a sample of my writing. This was the easy part, although it seemed each agent wanted something different. More on that later.
Looking back, it seems like it took a long time to research and prepare what I needed. Maybe it did, since it was late May before I sent off my first query.
Researching
The first thing I needed to do was to figure out how to even look for an agent. Fortunately, we live in a time where that information is readily available.
I fired up the ol’ web browser and typed “how to find a literary agent.” Yes, that simple. The search engine did not skimp on results.
I found articles, videos, articles with videos, videos with links to articles, and on and on. I tried to find common themes in the advice, best practices, if you will. Links to sites with useful resources, some of which were incredibly useful. I found a number of YouTube videos that were incredibly helpful, as was this column by Jane Friedman, who has a ton of goodness on her site. It took a little time, but I started forming a game plan.
I knew I was looking for an agent with a track record of making sales in the SF genre. It wouldn’t make sense to query an agent who specialized in biographies of Civil War figures. Duh. I also wanted someone with demonstrable sales to publishers, not someone brand-new to the game who would use my manuscript to try and develop new networks. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I wanted someone who knew the ins and outs.
Also on my list was that I wanted someone I could work with. We didn’t need to have identical worldviews, but I sure didn’t want to work with someone whose worldview is the complete opposite of mine. As we’ll see in future posts (spoiler alert) that turned out to be one of the toughest requirements.
Once I had an overall plan in place, it was time to start assembling what I would need.
What Next?
At this point we were somewhere around April 2022. I had one book pretty much edited (First) and another with the draft about 67k words complete. On the latter I didn’t like the way the story had turned and knew I needed to do some major rewriting. It languished for the time being while I’d been concentrating on editing First since late January.
What next? With a book ready to go, should I self-publish as I’d done in the past? Independent publishing? Or try to find an agent and get a deal with one of the big publishers?
When it comes to having the desire to do all the things necessary to market my book, I’m like a lot of authors: I don’t want to. I’d rather spend my time writing and let someone else take care of the things I’m not good at.
I know there are some things that are a bit easier these days if I go down the self-publishing route, compared to 10 years ago when I did it myself. Some companies sell packages that include cover art, copy editing, proofreading, formatting, and blasting my book to all the regular sales channels. That’s kind of cool, actually, but still puts the onus on me to publicize and do all the things that keep me from writing more. At the time, I kept that option in my back pocket.
I thought I had a good book with a relatable story that could sell very well. I knew it was a long shot but I decided to take the time to search for an agent. Having someone do all the back-end work for all the things I mentioned earlier really is appealing. If ever I was going to make the attempt, this was the time.
So in the spring of 2022 I set out on a journey that lasted almost two months. To get started, I had some research and work to do. We’ll pick up there next time.
Sketch
I kind of got things out of order a little with how the whole editing thing went. Namely, character sketches.
That was one of the suggestions from my editor, who told me I should spend time writing a background sketch for each and every character in my book.
Face-palm. I knew that and I totally bypassed it during my writing. It was another of those techniques I should have been able to pinpoint as one of the undefined problems with the whole thing. I kept track of certain tidbits, like eye color or references to things like hometown or relatives, but never developed a full backstory. If you read anything on how to write a novel, most every one will tell you to write out sketches for your characters. Just like world-building in SF or fantasy, it’s incredibly important.
I spent several days, probably a week or more, doing exactly that. Probably 95% of what I came up with was never used in the book, but it gave me a glimpse into more well-rounded characters. When I did one of the edits, I was able to use some of what I’d written in a character sketch to make a better character for the reader.
When I wrote the second book over the early part of last year, I did character sketches as I introduced new characters into the book. For my third book I’m doing it like I did with First: writing the entire draft, then doing the sketches before the initial edit, and using those to enhance the book. Not sure which method is better, but in each case I’ve done it where it seems to make sense. Even if I did ignore the conventional wisdom with the first book and had to be reminded.
Editing
After I received the First editing feedback, I made another pass through the manuscript. I added a couple of chapters, bringing my page count to about 125k. It shored up points of the story, like providing background on the main character and his abilities earlier in the story so that the second section made more sense.
One other thing my editor mentioned was dialogue. Again, this is an area where I had that nagging feeling. In some conversations, the dialogue crackled. In others, I felt it wasn’t as crisp. After the original editing pass, I did something different. I don’t remember if I read about it somewhere or how I decided to do it, but I made yet another editing run through the book.
Except this time I read it out loud.
Fortunately, I write in the morning before most of the family is up. That minimized the wife or kids walking by my office and hearing me mumble to myself.
It was extremely valuable, and I highly recommend the practice. Hearing the dialogue out loud allowed me to see how it flowed and where it sounded unnatural. It also served as another proofreading exercise, finding words left out, for example. Overall, it was a great way to make sure the entire story, not just the dialogue, felt right.
I’m sure it’s not perfect, but so much better than it was because I took the time to read it out loud. And unlike hiring an editor, this one comes free and you’ll learn more than you imagine.
Next time I’ll talk about what I did regarding characters based on a suggestion from my editor.
Editor’s Feedback
This was the first time I’d ever paid a real-life professional to edit something I’d written. When I belonged to a writer’s group over 20 years ago we would give peer feedback to others in small groups, but this was a new experience for me.
This editing was an overall look at the book - continuity, plot, characters, etc. It was not a proofread or a formatting edit, since those would naturally come later. My editor provided back to me a multi-page document with what worked for her and what didn’t, inline comments in the document, and an hour conversation for me to ask questions and discuss some thoughts on what to change.
To say it was an enlightening experience would be an understatement. I think what was best was that I’d had those nagging little thoughts in the back of my mind about some aspects of the book, and my editor called them out in a way I hadn’t been able to. For example, in the middle section of the book the main character is alone in space, in danger, and has to work his way out of it. My editor said (in a nice way) that it seemed like he was a different character and there wasn’t anything in the first part of the book to make a reader think the character could do what he did. Her spotlighting that defined the little tickle in my brain - knowing something wasn’t right but not able to pinpoint it.
Having the book edited was extremely valuable. Like a lot of writers, I resisted it because it costs money. It’s not cheap to have someone read through your book and give you detailed feedback. It’s also not cheap to have it proofread or formatted, unless of course you are fortunate enough to get an agent and a book deal with a major publisher. For those of us going the independent or self-publishing route they’re all out-of-pocket expenses. Everybody’s in their own financial situation, and I know it’s just not possible for everyone to pay an editor. All I can say is: if you’re on the fence about whether or not to pay an editor to evaluate your manuscript and you have the financial means to do so, then do it.
More on the editing experience next time.
Wayback Machine
Let’s jump in the wayback machine to 2021. This will set the stage for the next few posts about having my book edited and my experience searching for an agent.
In July 2021 I started writing First, which had been percolating in my brain for several months. I finally decided it was time to stop thinking and start writing. As documented in a previous post, I moved my morning wakeup time progressively earlier. One other thing I did was to purchase a new personal laptop so I wasn’t using my work computer for writing. That way there’s no questions later. It’s better to keep the personal that way, and besides, IT policy is to not use the work computer for personal business. So, all good there.
That project took about three months and I finished the first draft at the end of September 2021. It came in at about 110k words, which is pretty long for a novel. I immediately started on The Assignment, which later became Assignment Day. This allowed me to put First out of my mind for a bit.
In November 2021 I paused writing the new book and did my initial pass at editing First. I shared it with some of my family members but then put it back in the e-drawer while I worked more on Assignment Day.
My sister put me in touch with one of her friends, who is a professional editor, and I queued up on her schedule for late January. Right at the beginning of January 2022 I did another round of editing so First would be in tip-top shape, at least as far as I was concerned. Then back to writing Assignment Day while I waited for the edits.
And that’s where we’ll pick up in the next post…
In Between
I find myself in an interesting situation. I finished my first draft of Next Time on Christmas Eve. It is now sitting in a virtual drawer for at least a month before I begin the first round of edits. I find that any story I write needs some time to get out of my brain since editing is a much different process than writing on it every day for two months.
I’m looking at ways to publish First, which currently needs no extra work on the manuscript. I have some leads but right now that’s not taking up all my morning time I set up for writing.
So, I have a few options to use the time wisely, other than writing this blog entry, of course.
#1, I could begin writing my next book. That would occupy me until at least March, meaning if I need to do other things for getting First published I’d have to interrupt the writing. It’s possible, but not my first choice.
#2, I could edit Assignment Day. Like #1, though, that’s going to take up some serious time. Maybe I could do some initial brainstorming, though, on the major edits that I need to make.
#3, I could do character sketches on everyone in First. I found it’s a good exercise. Some people do them before writing a book, but I like to let the characters develop and then go back and add things into the sketches that might not make it into the next version of the book, but help me add texture to their lives. For this option I go back to #1, where everything needs to stay in the drawer for a while.
#4, I could write a short story. This idea has some appeal since it could end up being a bonus for when I eventually set up an email list on this site. Bonus stories are a nice add to entice people to sign up, especially if they’re in the same universe as a book I’m promoting.
#2 and #4 look the best right now. I shall ponder this a little bit more, but not too long. Time’s a-wasting.
GOALS
Sure, it seems like every person who lists out their goals at the beginning of the year starts with something like, “I’m not really a New Year’s resolution kind of person…”
I’ll forego that intro and just say I think it’s important to have some ideas in mind of where I want to be at the end of the year. I have things I want to accomplish in 2023 and I might as well put some of them into a list. These could change, and probably will. So here goes:
Publish two books - FIrst is ready to go, and Next Time needs a little editing and should be ready in a few months
Edit two books and get them ready to publish - Next TIme is first on the editing block, and then Assignment Day is going to need a lot more work to be something I’d share with the world
Write one book - I’m keeping this as writing one new book instead of multiple. With all the editing and work around publishing I hope to have time to write First Step, the sequel to First
Market published books - I anticipate this will take a lot of time away from actual writing. What will that look like? No idea.
Be a guest on at least one writing/author podcast - This could be part of #4 but I listed it separately since it’s kind of a stretch goal
Get 100 reviews combined on Amazon and other sites where my books will be sold - A thousand would be even nicer, but I figure if I get 100 then that means probably over a thousand people read a book. I’d be okay with that.
Seems like a good list. Like I said, things can change. For instance, my next book after writing the draft of Assignment Day was going to be First Step, as noted in #3 above. Instead, I had one of those middle-of-the-night ideas and had to write Next Time instead. Sometimes you just have to go where the waves carry you.
WHO?
Now we come to the last of our questions - who?
From previous posts you can tell I’m not a bestselling author dishing out advice. I’m just a guy who works a regular job every day and sets aside time for writing every morning. If I can write a book, anybody can.
We’re all familiar with stories of people who have great ideas for a story but never get around to setting the words to paper. In my view, the worst story is one that remains untold.
Think back to school days and when the teacher handed out an assignment for a two-page report, or five pages, or whatever. At the time that seemed like so much writing. Now I can knock out two pages in short order. And if you do a couple of pages each day, it begins to add up, until one day you have a book.
Maybe it’s just part of my personality, but writing a book takes more than a day and I’m in it for the long haul. Are there days where I’d rather sleep in? Sure. Are there days where I sit in front of the laptop and feel like I’m fresh out of words? Yes, and on many of those days I end up with close to 2,000 words. It’s crazy but true.
Like I said, I’m just a guy who likes to write. And as I like to say, I have to write the story so I can find out how it ends.
WHERE?
Where to write is an interesting question with as many answers as there are people.
I don’t think it’s a complicated question. My preference as of late is to sit at the desk in my office every morning, open up the laptop, and get to typing. I’ve also written in hotel rooms, at the kitchen table, sitting on the sofa, sitting on the back patio, on an airplane ride, and many other spots.
In other words, I’ve written wherever I wanted. I know of people who can only channel the writing muse in one particular spot. I’m clearly not of that persuasion, but also totally understand it. Writing wherever you want is a personal choice.
I know this isn’t really advice, but then again, I didn’t promise advice. Just passing along what I do and trying to communicate that there are an infinite number of ways to do this writing thing. Take all the inputs from here and everywhere and incorporate what works best into your approach.
WHEN?
The question of when to write was partially answered in the last post. Waiting until after work each day was a non-starter for me.
In July of 2021 I decided to change my routine. I’ve always been a person who wrings the most sleep as possible out of a night. That meant I was getting up close to start time for work each morning, cramming in a shower, breakfast, and coffee. That month I started pushing back my alarm. Fifteen minutes the first week, another fifteen the next, and so on. Over several weeks I was getting up an hour earlier than I’d been before.
That ended up giving me about 75 minutes of writing time each morning to knock out a chunk of words before the workday started. Depending on my state of mind, I usually get from 1,200 to 2,000 words in that time. I also try to end before I run out of thoughts. If I have the next few paragraphs already in mind, then the next day starts easier.
In the eighteen months since I started this routine, I’ve only missed it a couple of times, not counting vacations or travel. I do this Monday-Friday and often on Saturday. I’m very protective of the time, which means foregoing late nights occasionally. For example, I have a friend who wanted me to join in on hockey season tickets, but that means about 40 nights where I wouldn’t get home until after 11 p.m. That makes for a rough start to the next day, and writing takes priority over hockey or most any activity on a weeknight.
That’s what worked for me. Can you work all day and then write in the evening? Plenty of people do. Finding a routine that works for you and committing to it is the key.
How?
How do I write?
I’ve been to enough writer’s conferences, read enough books about writing, and been part of enough conversations about writing, to know the question, “How do I write a book?” comes up more than frequently.
It’s a question with a simple answer, one that seems almost rude to say to someone: you just have to sit down and do it.
I can’t tell you how to write a book. I can only tell you what I’ve done. Which will probably not help you much because you and I are not the same person. But like I said in the intro to this writing blog, maybe there’s a nugget of truth or wisdom in this somewhere that makes sense to you as you’re putting it all together.
What’s changed my writing is routine. I work on a computer all day long and have for decades, and the last thing I want to do is spend more time in the evening starting at an empty Word document. For the first several books i wrote, the unpublished ones, I actually wrote them in notebooks. Longhand. Yes, it took longer, and I had to eventually transcibe the notebooks into an electronic document. It worked for me at the time, though. A notebook was portable and didn’t require two minutes to boot up.I’m a fast typist and naturally the move to writing on a laptop eventually became my preferred method.
One thing that’s really helped is the flexibility of writing on a computer. By that, I mean if I need to move around chapters or sections, I can do it easily. If I need to refer to a scene earlier in the book, I can search easily. I can keep multiple drafts and history for later reference. And when I go down a rabbit trail or decide that the book is going in the wrong direction, I can easily delete a block of text and pick up where I want to. There’s nothing quite like highlighting 10,000 words and hitting the ‘Delete’ button. Trust me: it happens.
What about the routine part I mentioned above? That’s for the next post.
WHAT?
What have I written?
So, what have I written?
Thus far a handful of books, some short stories, and columns for a writer’s group newsletter.
Let’s go back about 25 years to when I was part of a writer’s group of probably 60-70 members, maybe more. Over the course of a few years I became the president (or whatever it was called) of the group, which was actually pretty cool. And then I moved to a different state. Oh, well. During the time I was in the group I wrote several front-page columns for our monthly publication. If you think you can phone it in for a newsletter, especially content consumed by other writers, well…
Also during that time I wrote several short stories, mostly SF, and had a few picked up by a very, very small-press publication. Even though they didn’t get much exposure, it was still gratifying to see my stories in print.
I wrote several books, I think 2 1/2 out of a series I was working on, but those have never seen the light of day. I think to myself occasionally that I should go back and see if they’re publishable. I suspect they need a lot of editing and I’m too busy with new stuff right now.
I grew up in southern New Mexico in the U.S. and always thought the scenery would make a perfect backdrop to a story, almost like becoming a character of its own. And then along came Breaking Bad, which did exactly that to perfection. The desert and mountains as well as the city of Albuquerque itself all became integral to the show. I can’t claim the same level of award-winning goodness, but I was still determined to tell a story in and around my hometown. Hence, the three-book series (let’s not call them a trilogy) of Sunset, Sundown, and Sunburst.
As of this writing, I’ve finished writing three books in the past 18 months. First, which is ready to publish; Assignment Day, which needs quite a bit of editing before it’s ready; and Next Time, which I finished less than a week ago and is sitting in a virtual drawer for a couple of months before I go back and do a first editing pass.
The next one I write, unless I get a different idea, will be First Step, the sequel to First. 2023 is going to be a busy year.
WHY?
Who needs another blog about writing?
Does the world really need another author’s blog where some hack tells you how to write and be successful?
Probably not. So I’ll try to not give advice.
What I will try is to tell my own story. If it serves as a warning to others, then maybe that’s the best I can hope for. If it gives you a different perspective on something you already know, even better.
I don’t think we can learn everything about writing from one person. We have to take bits and pieces from different people and roll them all into our own approach.
Think about it like this: in my professional career I’ve learned more from bad managers than from the good ones. Not that I haven’t learned from my good managers, but I learned a ton of what to avoid from the bad ones, and applied all those lessons to my own style.
Same with writing - I’m not a bestselling author and the odds are extremely long that I ever will be. But maybe, just maybe, there will be moments where I serve the same purpose as one of those bad managers and you will remember what to avoid. And if things go right, maybe you’ll learn a little bit from the “good manager” part of my writing journey as well.
What to Expect
It’s my writing journey in blog form. Maybe it’ll help you. Or maybe it won’t.
2023 will be the year of publishing for me. Please join me as I journey through the ins and outs of getting my books to market.
I’ve already done some work trying to find an agent. I’ll have more thoughts about that in another post.
It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’ll be going through an independent publisher or self-publishing. Maybe my mistakes along the way will provide lessons for others, and hopefully the eventual success will show it can be done.
I have one book in the can, ready to go after some proofreading, formatting, and cover art. I had an editor review it earlier this year and I’ll write about that experience as well. I have another book that needs some extensive editing and rewriting, and another I just finished the day before Christmas. That will probably be the second book I publish in 2023 since it doesn’t need as much work as the second one.
This author website is my first step in gearing up for what’s going to be an exciting year. I probably also need some social media exposure and I’ll cover that along the way as well.
I’m not an expert, and I doubt I’ll get rich from writing and publishing. Regardless, I’m going to do what I can to be successful and share that with you, Anonymous Reader. Let’s get started.