One YA Author’s Journey to Publication
When I had my first child in 2005, I decided to resign from my job as a high school English teacher and yearbook advisor. My goals: To be a great mom. And to write a novel and get published.
What came next? I wrote. And wrote. And wrote some more. And I researched. A whole-crazy-heck-of-a-lot.
What did I research?
My Genre: I readreadread every YA novel I could get my hands on.
How to Land an Agent: I spent almost as much time on this as I did writing that first manuscript. Seriously.
When I completed my first manuscript, I had no idea how much time it would take to land an agent. (BTW, I keep saying “first manuscript” because I didn’t land my agent until I had completed my third.) So, if you’re at the beginning of the process, take a deep breath.
Now start researching.
How? Where? Lucky for you there are tons of resources.
Let’s start with the steps. There are only 3 (according to me). Ready?
1. Get your manuscript in tip-top shape. That means you have to COMPLETE it. Next, take a break from it (a week or a month, you decide), and read it again after you’ve had some distance. This will give you a fresh perspective and help you revise one last time. Don’t start sending your query letter to agents until you’ve hit this point. (But do start working on your query letter, and researching the agents that will be the best fit for your manuscript).
2. Perfect your query letter. If you don’t know the rules for querying, figure them out! Follow the rules. That part is so important I’m going to say it again. Louder this time. FOLLOW THE RULES! It shows professionalism and respect, two things that are essential for your relationship with your agent. (For some great guidelines on how to write a query letter, check out this link: http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx).
3. Research which agents will be a good match for your manuscript. There are about a zillion resources that compile the names of agents and list exactly what kinds of material they are interested in representing (and what they are not interested in representing). I love books, we all know this, but I found that internet sources tend to be the most updated for agent searches. Which is great because they’re free! Here are a two of my fave sites:
http://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx – check out the “Quick Agent Search” at the top left of the page. You don’t have to join anything or sign in – and it’s totally free! Brilliant? Yes! There’s so much info listed for each agent. You can find out their special interests, submission guidelines, current clients, and much more. These details will help you decide if a specific agent may be interested in reviewing your manuscript. It’s important that you pay attention to this information; you don’t need to waste anyone’s time querying an agent for your paranormal if she specifically states that she’s not interested in paranormal.
http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/ – This site gives you the opportunity to check out the reputation of specific agents and agencies. They list a “$” next to agents and agencies who have made official sales, and list others as “Not Recommended”.
There you have it. The three things I spent nearly two years obsessing over. It was a painful process, but essential to my success. If you have any query questions or want to mention any of the essential things you did to land your dream agent, just post a comment. I’ll do my best to answer any questions that come in. I’m no expert, but I have been researching this business for the past four years. Not to mention that I did land my dream agent, the lovely Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident Media Group, in 2008. So I might be able to help someone out there. And, in my opinion, life is always about paying it forward.
Query on, my writer friends!
K
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.