how i got a book deal - PART ONE
PART ONE
The past three years I probably spent as much time at my computer googling and reading as I did writing. Somehow, I knew completing a novel was only part of the journey to getting published, and that I needed to learn as much as I could about the other part. I started that research long before I had a finished manuscript and was glad I had.
The first thing to know is — if you want to be traditionally published, you need to :
Write a novel.
I can’t offer advice on that because I barely know how I wrote my own. I will say, I read all the ‘How-To’ books, and didn’t understand any of them. So I decided to just write.
Get a literary agent.
There’s a specific process to follow:
The first step - prep your query (in layman’s terms – pitch) materials.
The second step - figure out who to query.
MY ONLY WRITING ADVICE:
GET CRITIQUE PARTNERS
Okay, I will offer this one thing about my writing process – I needed critique partners.
I signed up for Bianca Marais’ Beta Reader Match-Up (you can google it) and I also recommend her podcast: The Shit No One Tells You About Writing). I’ve seen other groups on Facebook. If you google, you will find.
Bianca grouped me with about five other writers in my genre.
Every month we exchanged approximately 3000 words each, via google docs, and offered comments and critique directly in those pages, and then met for a 2-hour zoom call.
It is an investment of time to do that reading, but I was so hungry for critique, for me, it was (and is) time well spent.
They Help With Craft
The feedback ranges from correcting each others’ dialogue tags and punctuation to raising issues of clarity and plausibility. Pointing out when we’re info-dumping or telling-not-showing. Admittedly, we’re the blind leading the blind – but we are all readers, so we must know something.
No one knows the story like the author. BUT...if four out of five of your readers are confused by, or don’t believe the same thing… well.. it’s probably a note worth addressing.
See What You’re Up Against
The added bonus, is these groups provide a microcosm of what’s landing in agents’ inboxes (or as some refer to it – their slush piles). Reading others’ pages, you can immediately spot the polished ones that feel as though you’ve pulled them off the shelf at the bookstore. You want to read more, and an agent would too.
Conversely, reading some poorly written pages, I worried perhaps mine were just as challenged, only I was so deep in them, I couldn’t tell. And that’s where critique partners help — we work together to lift everyone’s pages.
Objective Feedback
And most importantly for me, in the early days this was the only feedback I had. Writing a book is a lonely process. It’s not like accounting, where you know you’re on the right track if the numbers add up. In writing, you need the opinion of others. So I’d post my pages and hold my breath. Those monthly meetings offered me the only encouragement I was getting. And it kept me going.
My writing partners loved my book first. And when I sent it out in the world, they were sure it was good enough to be published. And surely, all of us couldn’t be wrong. I just had to find the right agent who’d agree with us.
QUERYING 101:
o The first step to getting a literary agent is to essentially ‘cold call’ them – aka querying.
o Each agent prefers a specific way to be queried – either by email or Query Tracker (a free website, more on that below).
o They all require a query letter – this is your pitch letter where in approximately 400 words you tell the agent the basics of your manuscript, and enough of the story that they’ll be enticed to read your pages.
There’s a prescribed format for this letter, and many resources offering advice on how to write a good one – you can’t skip this research.
A good letter is your key to the kingdom, a poor letter is most likely a pass.
o 99% of agents request pages accompany the query letter – varying from 5, 10, 25, first 3 chapters – all from the beginning of the book.
o IF those pages pique an agent’s interest you’ll get every querying author’s Holy Grail – the request for more – sometimes a partial manuscript, but hopefully the full.
o In a perfect world, the agent reads the full and loves it, contacts you to request a call to discuss representation, and you’re off to the races – meaning they’ll work with you to get the manuscript ready, and then submit it to editors at publishing houses, hoping that someone will want to publish it.
o In a less perfect world, they may ask you to revise according to their editorial suggestions and resubmit to them when you’ve completed the rewrite.
o In an even less perfect world, they may or may not read your pages, and they’ll send you a rejection, with or without any specific feedback.
o In a shitty world, and in the majority of cases, you will hear nothing from the agent, and after enough time, assume they have passed.
HOW TO FIND AN AGENT:
This is a roundup of websites I used to find the literary agents I wanted to query, and also how to construct my query. There is nothing here about craft, or structure, just the agent search. And that search is a numbers game. You only need one yes, but you might have to hit up dozens to get that. So each shot you take, you aim it as close as you can.
Tracking Agent Information:
o This was a long road, so I started a spreadsheet where I entered every agent I thought could be a good fit.
o As I queried, I tracked the date, what materials I’d sent (eg synopsis, 5 pages etc.) and their response (if there was one).
o I noted other agents at the same agency – some agencies permit querying another agent following a rejection, a few agencies specify ‘a no from one is a no from all’.
Publishers Marketplace:
o long before I was ready to query, I subscribed and started checking the deals daily.
o Yearly membership is $280 US, but there might be monthly, or 6 month.
o Deals Section: I’d look for activity of debut authors and my genre.
o it was good to see what was selling, and how some of those books I could hardly wait to read – I knew mine needed to be as succinct & interesting.
o Any comp books listed, in my genre I read and considered as my own comps (needed for the query letter).
o I’d google the author because many debut authors write blogs about How I Got My Agent, How I Got My Deal – a peek behind their curtain.
o I’d enter the agent name on my spreadsheet.
o Dealmaker Section: the best place to track an agent’s track record– how many deals, what genres, when, which authors, and what kind of money.
o I searched the top 20 agents by genre, noting their most recent activity, the number of 6-figure deals.
o My approach was to shoot for the stars – aim for the big dealmakers with a proven track record and work my way down the list to the smaller ones
Query Tracker:
o Some agents prefer to be queried through this site – their agency website will specify, but it’s also a good source of agent information.
o It’s free, but for $25 a year you have access to that information.
o Pay the $25 bucks.
o After you query, you can see where yours falls in an agent’s inbox.
o For perspective… one agent I found on Twitter stated she was opening for queries on a specific date.
I queried the day she opened & checked her status – I was number 190.
Over the next few weeks I could see her move down the list, either rejecting or requesting full manuscripts.
She came to me and skipped it & never came back – I don’t know why.
o Check an agent’s Response Rate.
I love that this is offered on Query Tracker – agents who consistently respond and in a timely manner are worth their weight in gold – and the type of people I’d want to have a professional relationship with. I find the hardest part of querying is that most agents don’t close the circle – even with a rejection – so you can cross them off and move on - it gave me a real appreciation and respect for those that do.
You can see any agent’s response rate — but only for those who recieve queries via this website – not relevant for emailed queries.
it reports a %age of responses ranging from 0 - 100%, and how many days an average response takes.
I targeted fast & high responders to query – especially in my first queries so I could gauge if my query was working.
If several passed I could infer my query letter/pages needed work.
o They post success story interviews from agented authors.
o They post successful query letters- some are so compelling I’d want to become and agent and rep them.
I just checked my Query Tracker status now and fyi even though I have a 2 book deal with major publishers, and a movie deal, I also have a 100% negative reply rate on Query Tracker --- meaning every agent I submitted to on QT – rejected me — or my query expired after 90 days with no response.
Manuscript Wish List:
o Not as insightful, but still something about the agents – most often a copy and paste from the agency site.
Specific Agent Research:
o Regardless of where I found an agent name, I cross referenced to their agency website.
o If any of their authors wrote in my genre, I read them. I also read the books agents listed in their bio that they liked – in search of my own comparable titles.
o I cross referenced their dealmaking track record on Publishers Marketplace.
o I googled their name and the word ‘interview’.
I read or listened to any interview they gave or panel they sat on, paying particular attention to their querying preferences.
Do they like personalization?
Do they like a tag line?
What are they looking for now?
What are their pet peeves?
o I’d try to find a successful query from any of their authors, and check the format that had worked for them.
o Social Media – I checked their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, X, TikTok for what they were reading, if they seemed a fit for me.
Author Research:
o Any author of a book similar to mine, I’d google to see who repped them and if there was anything on how they found them.
o Many post their own query letter (and I will later, when I get to that part) — sometimes I’d read them, and could see right away how they got repped.
o I’d look for interviews where they were asked how they got their agent.
o In their acknowledgements at the back of the book they often mention their agent.
THE QUERY LETTER:
o This is as important as your book.
o It has very specific requirements:
some are easy – title, word count, your bio.
some are not so easy – genre, two comparable titles - and in what way are they comparable, plot summary.
some are easier than others – agent personalization.
some are downright hard- it has to be short and punchy, yet informative and revealing in about 400 words.
o there is a lot of advice to be found, read it, and look for every opportunity for it to be critiqued.
QUERY LETTER & FIRST PAGES CRITIQUING:
Query Shark Website:
(** A sad update — Janet Reid passed away in 2024, I would have sent her a copy of my book because her advice was so valuable.
Her blog still exists, and every querying writer should read it — just google Query Shark)
o One agent I researched advised any querying authors to go to this website and read every post – going back 20 years – I did, and it took awhile.
o It’s run by agent Janet Reid who is constructively ruthless as she rips query letters apart, and suggests ways to build them better. For example — don’t write that you’ve written a fiction novel — she’ll point out they’re the same thing. It’s not a big deal but when you have seconds to entice an agent, you don’t want to have any unnecessary strikes against you.
o In addition to the public forum of her website, for a $250 fee Janet will also privately critique your query and first five pages, allowing for 2 follow up revisions.
o For me, her objective eyes made a big difference. I routinely quote Janet in my writing groups when we’re talking about first pages — start your story at the race, not the warmup.
Manuscript Academy:
o I signed up a few times for The Manuscript Academy agent critique one-on-one zoom sessions for $150ish.
These get snapped up quickly, and at the beginning of every month they allow members access to advance booking .
You pay the membership fee at the end of the month, get membership early access, book your session and then – yeah, it’s kind of dodgy – but then cancel your membership.
Other Opportunities:
o I looked for contests on Twitter (x)
o I sent to the podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
One debut author wrote that the querying process is a numbers game. The more you have out there, the better chance you have of cutting through the clutter. But at the same point, if no one is nibbling, you may have to change the bait.
But you don’t know if you don’t try. And … why not you?
Coming next….. Part Two … More on how I got my agent, and my successful query letter.
