Jitters that did not come from coffee

To borrow a phrase from my agent, we are on submission.

Writers are in a golden age, I think. We are no longer limited to one channel for selling our work. Ten years ago, if we wrote a great book, we had to find a publishing house (PH) willing to take a risk on us.  The book had to be different enough to be fresh and unique, but similar enough for the PH to understand how to promote it and where to shelve it in bookstores. So, yeah—fresh, unique, and the same as everything else. Quite the trick.

Today, if no PH will buy our great book because it's too risky, authors have two choices: 1) try self-publishing or 2) hope the market changes so that we can try again later.  There are pros and cons to both.

I'm sticking with the second option for now. Its pros are more compelling for me than its cons. I like having professional help with editing, distributing, and promoting my books—and those qualities tend to be the strengths of publishing houses.

Several years ago, I wrote a book called I WISH. It finaled in an international writing contest known as the Golden Heart®. It caught the eye of my literary agent, who signed me because of I WISH.

We tried for months to sell IW.  We came really close a couple of times.  Even though the responses was positive, the answer was the same. This book is too different. Too risky. We don't know how to market it.

Fine. Whatever. I archived IW and started something new.  After that something new sold, I pulled I WISH out of archive and took another look.  The world had changed enough in the interim that I thought this book still held promise.

First, I have changed. I am a better author now. I've practiced hard, taken classes, and improved my skills at processing feedback. Secondly, technology has changed. The characters have new computers, devices, and information available to them. Thirdly, the market has changed. E-books have expanded the possibilities. Young Adult fiction, with its willingness to experiment with "formulas," has pushed the market along new and exciting terrain.

Given all of those changes, I took my much-loved I WISH apart and put it back together.  I worked hard. I hired a freelance editor and 2 teen beta readers. I listened to them and applied their suggestions. And together, we've made IW even better than before.

My agent has sent the book out there into the publishing world. It could be weeks or months before we know anything.  Until then, I wait for good news, with the jitters in full force.

It's a Global Reading Community

When my agent sold Whisper Falls to Spencer Hill, she negotiated the contract to include World English rights¹ only.  I retained foreign rights, i.e. the ability to sell my book for translation into other languages.

Earlier this week, Agent K asked me to send her my favorite version of the manuscript.  She believes it's a good time to market my book overseas. So I pulled Whisper Falls out, dusted it off, tweaked a word here and a punctuation mark there---and sent that file winging its way across cyberspace.

As of this hour, Agent T (who specializes in selling books outside the US) has my manuscript.  The waiting begins!

¹World English rights: the right to print, sell, and distribute the book in English anywhere in the world. If readers buy (legally) a English version of the book in Canada/NZ/etc, Spencer Hill will be the publisher.

My agent called...

That phrase brings joy to my heart.  Anytime my agent calls, it's good news.

She called today.

Earlier this week, I wrote a proposal for a sequel to Whisper Falls.  I also gave a one-sentence description of a possible third book.  My agent talked with the acquiring editor, who agreed to buy both.

Oh, yes.  My agent called to let me know that she sold Books 2 and 3 of my Whisper Falls Trilogy!

In Search of the Perfect Agent

When homeowners decide to sell their house, they must choose whether to sell it themselves (For Sale By Owner) or to find a a real estate agent.

Writers with manuscripts to sell face the same choice--with one major difference. Literary agents are much harder to find. After a long, agonizing search, I found the perfect agent for me.  I'll share what I learned along the way.

Why I Wanted A Literary Agent

There are a lot of Internet resources (such as this blogpost) that explain how writers benefit (or not) from having an agent. I didn't need to read many articles. From the moment I began to pursue publication, I knew I wanted an agent.  My reasons were fairly simple.

• Agents enjoy the details of the publishing business. I love to write.  It's a great division of labor.
• Good agents have access to publishing houses that would be closed to an unagented me.
• An agent with market knowledge and good instincts can advise me on my writing career.

Writers who don't share my reasons may decide to use the For Sale By Owner route.

Where To Start

First, I needed a sellable product.  So I spent the early years of my writing career like all artisans or athletes; I looped through education and practice until I got the product right [or, at least, I thought it was right.]

Next, I formed a clear idea of what I wanted in the ideal agent.  Obviously, I want a professional who is capable of selling the product--my books. But I also wanted more.  My ideal agent would handle the legal and money stuff, like contracts, royalties, and taxes.  She would enjoy reading and critiqueing my manuscripts.  She would have an open door policy [or, rather, an open phone policy] to talk me through insecurities or tough decisions.

All other traits were negotiable.

The Search

I had a product to sell and a checklist of  ideal agent traits.  I was ready to begin the hunt.  [I didn't bother to estimate how long it would take, which proved to be wise.  It took four years and 60+ rejections before I found the perfect agent for me.]

The Internet is a goldmine of information.  I started and ended the search there.  Here are some tips and links for the resources available in an agent search.

• agentquery.com is a great tool.  It lists hundreds of agents. It provides an advanced query feature so that I can narrow the search to the agents most likely to be interested in my books. One caution, though: the information is not always current.  Whenever I located an agent that might be a good fit, I always went to the agent's website for submission guidelines.
• Several agents blog on a regular basis.  Not only do they provide great information about the publishing industry and other agents, their postings can give authors a sense of what that agent would be like to work with.  Two blogs I would recommend are written by Kristin Nelson and Rachelle Gardner.
• Writing conferences offer plenty of opportunities to meet publishing professionals.  I made an effort to attend writing conferences and signed up for pitch sessions and author intensives whenever possible.  I made an effort to be friendly, courteous, and enthusiastic about my book.  Although I didn't obsess about my appearance, I was careful to dress and act like the kind of author that an agent would want to represent.

The last tip is how I found my agent.  Kevan Lyon was accepting pitches at a conference.  I was unable to get one of her slots, but that didn't deter me.  I researched her on the Internet and thought we might make a good team. I sent a query (as per the guidelines on her website.) She liked the manuscript and arranged to meet me at the conference.  By the time I returned home, I had accepted an offer of representation.

If you have questions or comments about searching for an agent, feel free to leave a comment and I (or other blog followers) will try to help you out.