HOW I GOT A book deal - PART TWO

Oct 29

PART TWO

I’m only partway down the path to publication of The Retirement Plan, so I feel a little weird writing as if it’s a fait accompli, but I know what it’s like to be in the query trenches, and hungry for information, so this is my story.  Be sure to check out How I Got A Book Deal Part One for the nuts and bolts of preparing yourself for this journey, as in — resources for agent research.

July 2020 – 2021 I started writing my first novel ever - Book 1. I plugged away and almost a year later I had a manuscript that I thought was really good. Excellent, in fact. That summer I started querying (aka pitching to get an agent) and was puzzled when I had no interest. Not a bite.

Fall 2021, I took the hint, shelved Book 1 and started writing Book 2. I also started listening to podcasts, taking courses, reading craft books and daily monitoring the Publishers Marketplace to see which books were getting deals, and with which agents.

As readers, we know what it’s like to read a tagline and immediately want to read that book. That would happen to me as I read the deals, and I realized I wanted to write a book as succinct and exciting as those. This was also a great way to learn about books comparable to mine and who was repping them.

Most importantly, I joined my first writing group for objective feedback. (refer back to How I Got a Book Deal Part One blog on info on that)

A few months later I had a finished draft of Book 2, and I wasn’t messing around this time; I was committed to make this work. I paid $1500 USD for a developmental edit (I found the editor on the Reedsy website) and my critique group and I all thought that book was ready.

Summer – Fall 2022 I queried Book 2 but still no luck getting an agent. I think I had 2 requests for a full, but ultimately rejections.

To be honest, I also started to feel overwhelmed with all the advice/criteria. So I made two pivotal decisions –

I decided to write a book I’d want to read and to rely on me.

I’ve always been a big reader and with my experience in TV broadcasting, I appreciated ‘words’, and how to efficiently say something. I confess I don’t know what past-perfect-tense is or understand what omniscient is (I can’t even pronounce it) but I know a good story when I see it – so I set about writing one.

TIMELINE for the retirement plan:

I know it’s a little crazy and I am hugely lucky:

January 2023 – I started The Retirement Plan while working full time on a TV show

o Wrote when I could, mostly on weekends — but even walking my dog, I’d think about the story

o I’d share 5,000 words monthly with my existing critique group

o In March I joined another group for more feedback

o Sometimes the feedback was contrary, so I took some, and left some

May 2023 – wrapped on my show

o Had 40,000 words done

o Anticipated being out of work until maybe August

o Decided not to find another TV show, but worked full time on this book

o The clock was ticking because another show could pop up unannounced and I’d be sucked back into the vortex of intense, fulltime work, so I wrote No Days Off (within reason)

June 2023 – simultaneously polished Book 3 & prepared query package

o Widely sought feedback on my query (see How I Got a Book Deal Part One) and revised

July 2023 – finished at 89,000 words and ready to query

o Since I’d already queried Books 1 & 2 agent research was mostly done (again, see How I Got a Book Deal Part One)

o Sent out 2 queries, had 2 requests for the full same day

o Soon I had sent 16 queries and had 4 full requests out

o This was hugely gratifying and also a huge relief – something was working

o BUT I did not stop – I termed it ‘aggressive querying’, queried at least 5 a week

August 2023– waited and kept querying

o DO not rest on the laurels of having fulls out, because I came to learn, chances are, no one’s reading them – it’s a numbers game, and you win by getting as many out as you can

o (that being said ... if you’ve sent 30 queries out with no response, it’s probably time to tweak something – query, pages)

September 2023 – offers of representation began and that meant nudging

o See below section on nudging – do not be shy

Mid October, 2023 – signed with my agent

o Minimal revisions – 1 day

§ A few agents noted I had submitted an exceptionally clean manuscript, and I credit that to my 2 writing groups – I had a lot of eyes on my pages, and that helped me

o Delayed submission to follow the Frankfurt Book Fair

Early November – on submission in UK/US/Canada

o Crazy lucky to hear same day that pre-empt offers would be coming

o A week later the deals were all firmed up

when to NUDGe:

This is useful information that is different from what you read everywhere else.

Embrace the fact that half the job is writing a book, the other half is selling it. You might be pushing your comfort zone but do it. No one else will do it for you at this point.

Everyone advises that agents only want to be nudged when you get an offer. I checked and double checked that. My thought was, I have 9 full requests, surely that matters --- but everyone says it doesn’t. BUT … there are exceptions—some agency websites will specify or have an automated response that bounces back and says: please update us if you have an offer OR a full request. Love those. That’s what happened to me. Be sure to read everything on the submissions page or you’ll miss that. (Also, you might miss that other nugget of information – some agencies only allow one query for the whole agency, while others are fine with submitting to another agent after an in-agency rejection – good to know when choosing specific agents.)

I submitted a query, and finally, I was able to tell someone I had 9 full requests. They came back quickly and requested the full themselves, and asked, given the great interest, did I have an offer yet? I replied no, that their agency was the only one who knew I had that kind of interest.

The agent, who didn’t have to tell me this as it could potentially heat things up (which it did)--- strongly urged me to go back and alert the other requesting agents of the high level of interest my query was receiving (even though everyone says not to). She said that that information prioritizes agents’ reading.

So why not? What did I have to lose? It’s an email. And if an agent is that easily irritated, I don’t want to work with them anyway. This is a business, and I had a commodity that might potentially have competitive interest, and at this stage I needed to inform my potential business partners.

I started working my way down the list, nudging the 9 agents who had the fulls and I hadn’t got halfway through before the responses began arriving – they thanked me, said that information was useful, and assured me they’d read soon and get back to me.

By the end of the day I had a request for ‘the call’.

Two days later I had a formal, very promising offer of representation. Then I nudged everyone who I had queried, who had not rejected me. I got some more requests for the full, some more rejections, and some more offers of represenation. But I kept nudging … 2 days later. And another 2 days after that.

How to nudge:

o forward the original email

o change your subject line – eg: NINE REQUESTS FOR FULL, OFFER OF REPRESENTATION

o write a short note

§ I’m updating you that I have (eg offer/9 fulls)

§ I queried you because (expertise/interest)

§ I wanted to double check if this could be a fit for you

§ Can you please let me know if this holds any interest by (deadline)

§ Original query is forwarded below

o reattach requested materials

Understand that if you’re not hearing back, it doesn’t mean you’re being rejected – you are more likely NOT BEING READ. At this stage, it’s not a ‘no’ until you hear it is.

I learned the first 2 agents who had requested my full within an hour of receiving the query, had still, two months later, not had time to read it.

They hadn’t rejected me, they just hadn’t got to me.

TAKEAWAY:

It’s not a ‘no’ on a full until you hear (or read) it. From the moment I sent the first full, I waited for a reply, and then thought they read it and hated it. They never even read it!

I knew I had ‘something’ because I had a good ratio of responses – 4/16. If I sent 30 queries with no response or no requests, I would pause and either pivot or look harder for the right agent.

I had 198 agent rejections and I kept reminding myself – I don’t like all the books in the bookstore either.

The agency I ended up signing with, was probably about the 50th I queried for Book 3. It still baffles me, that in all my research, I somehow missed them. I only found them because I kept reading anything that could have been a comp, and after finishing The Thursday Murder Club, I saw Richard Osman was represented by Juliet Mushens. Her agency, Mushens Entertainment, wasn’t on my radar at all. Which just goes to show you, you have to keep digging. I queried her agency and haven’t looked back yet.

Keep reading, keep writing, and be prepared to pivot.

The book that I’m publishing is radically different from the first one I wrote, but I couldn’t have written it without writing the other two.

I kept saying — why not me? Well…. why not you?

The only thing we know for sure, is if we don’t try — nothing will happen.

Good luck!!

Sue Hincenbergs