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Blogs by Terry W Burns
What does it take to get an agent? 12/5/2006 1:09:08 PM
One good thing about reading a number of book proposals every day is the wide variety of genres I'm getting a chance to sample, genres I might not otherwise be reading. I'm learning a lot about what it takes to draw me into the story so I'll want to ask for and read the full manuscript. That tells me a lot about what must be happening to my personal stuff when I send it in.
The process really is what I always have been told it was, looking at a query letter to see if it appears the project is enough of a fit to merit my looking at a proposal. If not, there are a lot of others waiting. If it does, ask for a proposal and look to see who I'm dealing with. Do they have writing credentials, are they the right person to tell the story, do they really know the market they are writing for, do they know who the authors are that define the market they hope to reach? If they seem to be the real deal, read some of the proposal, does it pull me in, is the writing good?
Forks in the road, that's what it is. Publishing is not a selection process, but a survival process. The author has to survive each of these tests to get me to reading the work. It's good, I sign them, then guess what? I have to go on to the next set of forks in the road and again pass every one of these tests over again offering the work to an editor. That's why I have to know if they can pass them with me.
No guarantees. Even if I like it, I may not can find the one place where the fit is just exactly right, and I have to select the very best products to offer. If I take an editor several projects that are just not good (in that editors opinion) he or she will be less likely to want to give full attention to what I'm bringing them in the future. This is particularly true when I'm relatively new at this. I have to pick and pitch some awesome projects, and I have to do a real winning pitch to build the reputation I need to have to do a good job for my clients. I need to pick winners.
The key is people giving me not only a well written manuscript, but the tools to use in taking the project forward. They have to win me over just as I am going to have to win that editor over, and the pitch has to include the things necessary to win at committee with marketing and promotion people involved. Why don't I do all this research and find out all of this stuff myself? Because I'll never know any project as well as the person who wrote it. Want a good agent to go to bat for you? Give them the tools to do the job.
More Blogs by Terry W Burns • New Publishing Industry Numbers - Friday, June 1, 2007 • What does it take to get an agent? - Tuesday, December 5, 2006 • Come to my blog - Tuesday, June 13, 2006
