Picture this: You have a great idea for a story. It grows in your mind perfectly and you start to plan it out. Characters, names, places, and relationships practically write themselves on the paper (or screen). It’s just jumping out of your skin. You jot down ideas every day and cannot wait to write your next chapter.
Months pass and you edit your manuscript, going through line by line until it’s perfect, or close enough. Your friends and family enjoy reading it and ask what you will write next. Hell, you even hire beta readers and you get your money’s worth when they give you some insights on a larger scale that you apply and adjust to your manuscript. It's impressive what the changes did to your story. It’s even better. Now the manuscript is complete and ready for the world.
So you compile a list of 50 agents that represent your category, write a kick-ass query, and blast an email to them.
No reply.
You wait for a response from them for weeks and months.
And in come the rejections, every single one.
Sound familiar?
Don’t feel bad, it happened to me.
There’s nothing wrong with creating something wonderful and then attempting to sell it. And there is nothing wrong with making mistakes. I’ve made plenty. For example, I was querying agents for an Urban Fantasy book when I should have been querying for Contemporary Fantasy. And yes, there is a difference between the two.
So as you can see, knowing your book category should be the first thing you do correctly in order to land a literary agent, among these other things that I did:
Know your book category
Know the right word count
Define your audience
Prepare your submission package
Wait & Revise
Submit to Mentor Programs
Submit to Contests
Attend Conferences
Now, I cannot guarantee these steps will work for you, but it’s the best way for you to cover your bases and get a smidge ahead of the inundation of query letters that agents receive monthly.
Know your book category
You need to know the category(ies) that your manuscript falls under. Agents are extremely specific in what they are looking for. I’ve seen manuscript wishlists for the following: Contemporary fiction with enemies to lovers, including queer character representation in a non-western setting.
And that is not even the most specific I’ve come across.
Agents read hundreds of manuscripts a month and know what they want – almost like they are picking things from every book they’ve loved and creating this insanely specific manuscript request. We cannot fault them for voicing what they enjoy reading, the least we can do is query the manuscript that fits this category.
There are over 20 book genres, and many novice writers often confuse the similar ones, IE: Fantasy with Magical Realism. There are tons of sites and Facebook groups that you can join and ask which genre your manuscript falls under.
Word Count
In addition to discovering your story genre, you have to respect the word count for that genre. In my experience, agents aren’t too (usually) strict with the word count if you’re over 5k words. And you’re probably thinking, but I’ve read (I hope you have) tons of books that go way over the 150k count. If you are referring to the New York Times Bestsellers, then yes, they do that. And when you become one, you will be able to do it as well.
But alas, we debut authors must follow the stringent rules of publication. Do your research and follow the guidelines. They exist for a reason. If you have an Adult Fantasy story but wrote a total of 75k words, that may tell the agent that you do not have enough worldbuilding to be considered Fantasy. Word count can be a great indicator if your story is missing something or has too much of it.
Define your audience
As a marketer, defining my target audience for my story was easy-peasy, until I realized I chose the wrong one. In publishing, the audience for your novel mirrors the protagonist's age. My main character is 18 years old and adjusting to his new magic, therefore this book can be considered a coming-of-age story for 18-year-olds.
What may be confusing about defining your audience is how many young adult books you've read and enjoyed, but you're a grown adult, way past the age of 18.
Why we enjoy these stories not dedicated to our age? Because they're awesome regardless.
But it's still important to create a character with a realistic life for their age. If you're writing for middle grade, then your main character probably shouldn't be able to drive or live a life without parental supervision.
Prepare your submission package
This point right here is the reason you may land your agent. With the right submission package, you can successfully cold-email an agent and dazzle them with your story. But you're not emailing them your story, oh no, you’ll be sending off documents describing your story. Scared yet? I was terrified when I realized that I had to write a synopsis and that queries require pertinent information relating to awards or accreditations. I had none, simply a story.
My first query was dreadful, no personalization, no catchy summary, no hook, nothing.
Then I found Query Shark and read each entry. Then I paid agents who also consulted on the side to review my query letter. Then I posted it in Facebook groups for other writers to critique it. I learned that a good query letter was a maximum of 350 words, mentioning the protagonist, antagonist, and a secondary character if needed. You need to show the disruption of the status quo and the choice the protagonist must make that gives the book conflict. End the letter with a short bio, and then send it off, wrapped in a bow.
But there was one small, tiny problem: There was no plot in my query because my story didn’t have one.
And this is when I learned, if your query letter sounds tedious with no simplified grab, then something is missing in your actual story. Either your plot is too complex or it’s full-on missing. A query should have the contract, as in if your main character doesn’t do this then this happens.
I had to go back and revise my manuscript – even though I received positive feedback.
Following an elaborate revision, I returned to my query and was capable of writing a decent one. But one thing that nagged at me: Comparable Titles.
I hated this part so much – but only because I wasn’t a big reader at the time, and therefore, wasn’t aware of the recent popular published books. The operative word here is recent.
SIDE NOTE: DO NOT USE HARRY POTTER, LORD OF THE RINGS, or the other most successful stories ever written as comparative book titles! They were written during a different time and are no longer used as the current benchmark for quality writing. The best way to find a comparative title is to join a Facebook writing group and ask the group for one after describing your story.
Another issue I ran into is personalizing my letter for a particular agent. Why them? Because they represent Fiction is not a strong enough reason for them to represent you. Check out if they have podcasts, interviews, or panels, where they mention something they are looking for in a writer or a book and put that in your query. I once queried an agent who represented an author whose book was one of my comps. The stars aligned. The agent liked the story but still passed. But at this point, that was the furthest I had ever gotten and I was proud of that progress.
Now, the synopsis. Not only is it impossible to write, but there isn’t an industry standard like the query letter. Some agents request synopsizes 1-2 pages or 3-5 pages long. The one-pager nearly killed me.
So I prepared all three and kept them at the ready.
Once I wrote about my plot, it felt unnatural to reveal it on a blank sheet. It sounded bland. And many other helpful resources will state that your synopsis should sound boring because you’re giving away the ending.
But one crucial component is often missing from a synopsis: Voice.
As a writer, no matter what stage you're in, you have a sound, a voice in your story. It can be dry, cheeky, suspenseful, etc. This voice is in your manuscript, your query letter, and your synopsis. To retain your writing identity, even in the worst submission document ever created like the synopsis is a talent, my friend.
The easy part to add to your submission package is your manuscript. Have ready these versions: The first page, the first 5 pages, the first chapter, and the first 3 chapters. And I cannot stress this enough, FORMAT IT EXACTLY HOW THE AGENT REQUESTS. I follow many agents on Twitter, and they will pass on a query because it wasn’t formatted according to their submission guidelines. Don’t put your name on it if they don’t want it (I don’t know why they don’t want it but just do it).
By creating a folder with these variations, you’ll shave off time querying.
Wait and revise
The publishing industry taught me a lot about patience. Since agents can take up to a year to reply, we have nothing to do but wait.
Before you query, wait. Sleep on your story and submission. You only get one chance to email them. If they say no because they caught typos that could have totally been avoided if you would have simply waited and reviewed your work one last time before querying, you'll lose your shot at this agent. You cannot email them again with a revision. One pass from them for that particular story will always be a pass, even if you use a new email, even if you change your change, even with a new story title. Agents have experienced all the tricks of writers working around their rejections.
I know you’re excited to get this process started but it doesn’t hurt to wait 2 weeks then revisit your work, reread everything with rested eyes. Ask a friend to review it too. Do what you can.
One trick I learned was to pace my querying. I compiled a list of 50-plus agents. I'd query 10 of them, and if they all reject you, then I revisited my work.
I revised my manuscript 10 times before landing an agent. Writing a book is mostly rewriting so don’t get discouraged when you have edits or revisions, they can only better your book.
Mentor Programs
You read above that you will need to include accreditations or any writing experience you can craft up. And it’s totally okay if, as a debut writer, you have none. I freelanced as a blogger, still not enough to impress New York's literary agents. So I needed to build my credit up to prove that I was a serious writer and I figured I needed the help since by this point, I had received well over 75 rejections from agents.
I had read that many writers seriously improved because of mentor programs, some even secured a publishing deal (eventually).
So I applied to around 10 of them, the popular ones (AMM, AWP, etc). I was never accepted. In fact, a few of them told me that there was nothing to mentor! My manuscript was apparently ready to query, but agents were telling me that my material needed work.
It was infuriating.
Contests
So I found a happy medium for me.
Contests for unpublished manuscripts.
Contests for emerging writers.
Contests for first stories.
I found this particular avenue fitting, the middle ground between a manuscript too good for a mentor but not yet established enough to become a published author. I figured the finalists for these contests would be former mentees from the programs that told me I didn't need it. Maybe I was rationalizing it as such because I was 4 years in and nearing the end of ideas. I would have to shelf my book and the 3 others that followed it in the series.
Like hell, I would.
I must have spent hours and hundreds of dollars on submitting to contests. With my trusty submission package all ready to go, well, the submission process was still tedious and exhausting. The formatting. The spacing. The page numbering. The anxiety that hit after submitting when you convinced yourself that you left your name in the margin. The eye strain that stemmed from scrolling through page after page trying to find a contest that accepts your genre.
It was worth it.
I was able to build my accreditations by receiving 2 nominations and 1 honorable mention.
Felt pretty good to finally add something at the bottom of my query letter.
Conferences
If you follow enough agents anywhere online, they will announce which conferences they will be attending. GO. TO. THEM. (If you can)
Pitching an agent at a conference puts you at the front of the line of their submission pile waiting for them in their inbox. It did for me.
This is a one-on-one interaction where they are solely focused on you. The pitch now has your voice and style. They can put a face to the query, which is essential given how personal the agent-client relationship can be.
Also, attending a conference says something: You're serious, legit.
You're telling the agent that you flew, drove, bused, all the way to a conference to pitch them.
They respect that.
Select one conference that has a pitch event, and go to it. Save all year for it. It doesn't matter if it's only one event because you can be pitching 2-3 agents there. Take their business cards and follow up, stay connected with them, and build that relationship.
This isn't a full-proof plan to land an agent but it can be your map if you're feeling lost. When I attended the Killer Nashville conference in 2022, I spoke with an author who had the same journey as me, and he won the award that night. He stated that contests and conferences were what got him recognized and published and that I should continue my process. That, right there, was worth the trip.
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