Five Ways to Land an Agent

The only way to land an agent is with a manuscript that she falls in love with and she can think of at least five editors who are looking for something like it. But before she gets to that stage, she has to see said manuscript. Here are five ways to achieve this:

Slush Pile

The slush pile is the most common method for getting your manuscript in front of an agent. It simply refers to sending a professionally written query (and sample pages if indicated on the agent’s website) to the agent. You then wait. And wait. And wait. Sometimes you’ll never hear back from an agent. The silent treatment often means a rejection, unless your query was lost in cyberspace or with the mail service. Unfortunately with non-responders, unless their system is set up to acknowledge your query has been received, you won’t know if yours was in the small percentage that was lost in cyberspace. In other cases, you might get a form rejection, a personalized rejection, or a request for additional material. The latter might then lead to a full request, a rejection, or an offer of representation.

Pitching at Conferences

Writer conferences often have the opportunity for pitching to agents. This is your chance to meet with the agent face-to-face and discuss your project. Some writers love doing this. Others would prefer to email a query. It could also be that you’re interested in an agent who is closed to queries but loves to request manuscripts at conferences. This is your chance to let her know about your project. The advantage of pitching directly to the agent is that you can see if she is someone you would like to work with. If the person is rude or is too busy texting to listen to you, then you might not want to sign with her should she offer.

Typically, you’ll prepare a short explanation about your book that tells the agent who your characters are, what the story problem is, and the major conflict. This doesn’t mean memorize your query pitch. You want to keep it brief so the agent has time to ask questions. The best way to prepare for the questions is to know your book inside and out. If you haven’t read it in a few months, chances are good you’ll struggle with the questions—and that will make you more nervous. But don’t worry if you are nervous. Agents are used to writers who are one step away from being a basket case because of nerves. The best way to lessen them is to be well prepared. And practice, practice, practice your pitch so that you don’t stumble your way through it. Also, bring your pitch with you on an index card. If you get so nervous that you forget what you want to say, you’ll be able to refer to the card. Most agents are fine with that.

Remember, you want to make a memorable impression. This means being professional at all times. This does not mean dressing up as a Viking. It might be memorable, but it won’t leave the agent with the impression you were hoping for. And one final point, don’t pitch a project if it isn’t close to being completed. If the agent (or editor) requests the manuscript, it’s because she wants to read it now, not in eight months. It’s not fair to the agent and it’s not far to a writer who has finished editing his manuscript but was unable to book a spot to see the agent.

Meeting Agents at Conferences

In addition to pitch events (which you have to book ahead of time), you might have the opportunity to mention your book if you end up talking to an agent at a conference. For this situation, you want to be prepared with an elevator pitch (also known as a one-line pitch) in case the agent asks you want you’re writing. If you hook her with your strong pitch, she’ll want to know more about your project. What you don’t want to do is follow her into the bathroom and pass the manuscript under the stall door, or pitch to her while she’s in the stall or washing her hands. If she’s busy talking to someone, don’t interrupt the conversation just so you can spam pitch her. This won’t get you anywhere. The best thing to do when you go to a conference is to not expect to discuss your project with an agent (or editor). That’s not the purpose of conferences. They are organized so that writers can network with other writers and learn more about various topics through the offered workshops. If you keep this in mind, the conference will be less stressful because you won’t be trying to stalk agents. Stalk them on Twitter. Don’t stalk them at conferences—unless you want to come off as creepy.

Contests

Some agents enjoy participating in contests as a way to find new clients. Before you enter one, make sure the agents are looking for your genre. And if they aren’t, don’t lie about your genre in hopes that they will request your novel and fall in love with it anyway. They won’t appreciate it, and you will have taken a spot that someone else rightly deserved.

When you enter, make sure you have read and paid attention to the rules. If the rules state that the excerpt can be only one hundred words, your entry will be rejected if you send in a 150-word sample. Contests of often bombarded with entries, and the easiest way to narrow the numbers down is to delete those that ignore the rules. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your pitch and sample might be, it will be excluded. Worse yet, you won’t know that and will assume the agent wasn’t interested in your entry. This means you won’t query her and might miss out on her offering representation.

Referrals

One way to jump ahead in the slushpile is with a referral. If you have a friend who is a client of the agent you want to query, she might refer you, though not all agents accept referrals. However, it is better that she offers to refer you than for you to ask for a referral and put her on the spot. Please don’t contact someone you haven’t talked to in a while and ask for a referral. Chances are good she’ll say no. Most people don’t like being put on the spot like that, and most clients prefer to have read the manuscript first so that they know it is well written. However, this doesn’t mean you should send your manuscript to the writer in hopes that she will refer you. The other thing you want to avoid is pretending that one of the agent’s clients, who doesn’t even know you, referred you. The agent will check and you’ve just guaranteed yourself a rejection.

Which of the above have you done or will be doing in the near future?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.  She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available. LET ME KNOW (Carina Press) will be available Sept 1st, 2014.

Conference DOs and DON’Ts

As we approach conference season, many of us are ordering promo materials and making travel plans in the hopes of furthering our careers at professional conferences. As they are not cheap, it’s important to make the most of your time at conferences. So in the spirit of Miss Rosie (but without the proper nouns and scolding tone) I’d like to provide some guidelines for making the most of your conference experience:

1. DO attend workshops; that’s the reason you’re there. This may seem witheringly obvious, but once inside that hotel it becomes all too easy to skip the workshops and hang out in the Starbucks—or the bar—instead. There will be plenty of time to socialize later. Get a schedule and mark the sessions that seem most pertinent to you, and then go to one that doesn’t. You’ll learn something.

DON’T be “that person” in the workshop audience. You know the one I’m talking about: she uses the Q and A part of the session to discuss her magnum opus or to impress everyone with what he thinks he knows about publishing. If you have a valid question, ask it. But save the networking for lunch or cocktail hour.

2. DO dress appropriately. Again, this seems obvious, but you would be surprised. Business casual is the way to go, and unless you’re wearing sequins or a tuxedo, slightly overdressing (a day dress, a skirt and cardigan, a shirt and tie for the guys) is rarely a mistake. Donning your yoga pants or sporting your kid’s college wear IS, however. And have a lightweight jacket or sweater handy—hotel air conditioning tends to hover between freezing and Arctic.

Dress like the professional you are!

3. DO be prepared for the cliques, especially if you’re a newbie or attending alone. No matter how welcoming an organization might be, there will always be those few (Miss Rosie would capitalize here) who need to prove that they are in the know and/or running the show. Now and then a friendly advance by an attendee meets with a rebuff, and it can be a bit demoralizing. If that happens to you, take on the chin, smile, and graciously excuse yourself with these words: “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.” And they have: because now you know whom to avoid.

4. DO reach out to others, particularly those attendees who appear alone or lost. Making a friend is the quickest way to get over feeling lost yourself, and now you have someone to sit with at lunch. (And after you are a famous author, that person will be the first one to buy your book, after telling everyone how kind you were to her at her first writers’ conference.)

5. DO volunteer if the opportunity arises. It’s the best kind of networking there is. I attend a local conference yearly, and long after I already had an agent, and even after I had a contract, I continued to volunteer for the pitch sessions. I help organize the flow of traffic, soothe nerves, and time sessions. I offer to fetch water or coffee for the agents and editors in attendance, and cheer writers on when someone asks to see their work. It’s very simple—people remember kindness. And sometimes they ask for your card as well!

6. And speaking of agents and editors, DON’T pitch an unfinished project. Please. You’re taking up precious minutes that could have gone to a writer with a full manuscript to sell. And you’re asking for trouble should an agent or editor demonstrate interest, because not everyone asks for a partial. Just how fast can you bang out those last 200 pages?

7. DO network wisely. Start by chatting and trading cards with other hopefuls like yourself. Ask others what they are working on before you jump in to talk about your own project. And for heaven’s sake, don’t make a beeline for the NY Times bestselling author or that agent from Writers House. If you can work your way over slowly, go for it. If you can introduce yourself, even better. But wait until they ask about your work.     One last word: the ladies room is sacrosanct. No one wants to hear a pitch delivered over a toilet stall.

                          
8. DO have a drink at cocktail hour. You deserve it.

A Jersey girl born and bred, Rosie Genova left her heart at the shore, which serves as the setting for much of her work. Her new series, the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, is informed by her deep appreciation for good food, her pride in her heritage, and her love of classic mysteries, from Nancy Drew to Miss Marple. Her debut novel, Murder and Marinara, was named as a Best Cozy of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. An English teacher by day and novelist by night, Rosie also writes women’s fiction as Rosemary DiBattista. She lives fifty miles from the nearest ocean  in central New Jersey with her husband and two of her three sons.