How to get an agent

Getting an agent couldn’t be simpler!  Just follow these very easy steps:

  1. Write the best book ever.
  2. Re-write the best book ever.
  3. Repeat No 2 several times.
  4. When you are absolutely, positively and utterly sure you really can’t make it any better really, start the pre-submission process, as follows:
  5. Decide who you are going to send your work to.  If you haven’t a clue, start by looking in the current Writers and Artists Yearbook, or Writers Handbook.  Here you will a find a list of agents (if you write for children, there is a Children’s Writers & Artists Yearbook).  You need an agent who takes UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS.
  6. The best way to find an agent is through NETWORKING, which basically means getting out there.  Click on my links for some useful ways of doing so.
  7. Have a look at how your chosen agent(s) like to receive their unsolicited manuscripts.  Most will ask for three chapters, synopsis (the dirtiest word in a writer’s language), plus a covering letter.  Some will ask for a bio or a CV, but you can include this in a paragraph in your letter.
  8. Write a covering letter, as follows. 
  • Make sure you start it dear (name) not sir or madam - agents like to think you have bothered to find out what they are called. 
  • Put the title of your work as a title in capital letters, along with word count and what age group it’s meant for.
  • State in your first paragraph that you are a new writer seeking representation and you thought they’d be interested in what you are sending them. 
  • Now once more state the title of your work, type of work, intended age group and word count.  Tell them what sort of person would read this - agents like to know you’ve done your research.  Identify your market - they love that.
  • In THREE sentences, tell them what your book is about and why it is so wonderful.  Go on, talk it up, pretend someone else wrote it and it’s the best book you’ve ever read.
  • Now, take a short paragraph (agents don’t like long paragraphs), to tell them all about yourself.  You don’t need to give a life history, but include anything interesting, especially if it is relevant to your book.  Try and think of something they will remember you by.
  • State that you have enclosed return postage, in case they would like to return your manuscript (which they probably will, I’m afraid).
  • Mention that you are submitting to X more agents.
  • Say your are looking forward to hearing from them.
  • Make sure this whole letter is no more than a page, including your address, agent’s address and a reasonable space for your signature.  Agents don’t like long letters.  Remember this is their first impression of you, so make it look friendly and tidy.  No one likes to receive a great long letter when they are really busy and have got another 150 submissions to wade through.  It will only get a cursory glance, so make it clear and easy to read (ie nice on the eye, no tiny fonts or anything)
  1. Write a synopsis, of ONE PAGE in SINGLE SPACING.  Your synopsis is NOT an example of your wonderful writing, but a list of what happens.  It might sound very dull - don’t worry, this is normal.  The synopsis (yeurkk, I hate that word) is only there so an agent can see that you have enough plot to fill your book and delight your readers.
  2. Print off the first THREE CHAPTERS of your book, on nice clean paper, with large margins all round and in DOUBLE SPACING.  Make sure you have a header with the title of the book and your name on it, plus a footer with the page number and contact No or email address on it.
  3. DON’T pepper your manuscript with the copyright symbol!  Agents know it’s yours and the last thing they are going to do is steal it.
  4. Print off a TITLE PAGE.  This should be nicely displayed with the title in big bold letters, by your name, what it is (eg a 30,000 word horror aimed at 10 year old boys, or something like that).  Then your name and address and contact details, including email.  Plus website address if you are ahead of me and have a wonderful website already.  Make sure this page looks nice.  That’s the end of the pre-submission process.
  5. Now start the actual submission process.
  6. Print off a large address label with your name and address.  Make sure it has enough space for stamps - the Post Office like to give you as many as possible.
  7. Take a blank postcard, address it to yourself and stamp it.  On the back write something like ’so and so (that’s the name of the agent you are sending to, although I’m sure many agents are so and so’s) has received ’such and such’ (being the title of your masterpiece).  This is your acknowledgement postcard and is normally put in the post when your package is opened, so you know your masterpiece has been received.  Sometimes they don’t come back of course, but mostly they do.
  8. Paperclip your address label and postcard to your covering letter.  Then take your first three chapters, put the synopsis on top and the covering sheet on top of that.  Put a clean elastic band around the whole lot.
  9. Put your covering letter on top of this and put it in a thick envelope addressed to the agent. DO NOT SEAL IT YET!
  10. I would suggest submitting to four agents at a time - be very careful not to confuse your return postcards and make sure you have the right submission in the right envelope.
  11. Trot off to your local Post Office (don’t forget to take some sellotape with you!) and explain that you have four packages that weigh the same, there is nothing valuable or urgent in them (Hah!) and that you would like them to go first class.  DO NOT send them recorded or registered!  You will be given a sticky label for each of them.  Now explain, very slowly and clearly, that you would like four lots of STAMPS for the same postage amount.  This often causes confusion and you will end up with a pile of stamps flying about.  This is why I suggest four submissions at a time, which is just about enough to handle in one go.  Collect your pile of stamps and put them on the address labels inside your envelopes.  Now you can seal them and post them (If you remembered the sellotape).
  12. Keep a note of who you submitted to and when.
  13. Make sure you have more writing to do while you wait for your rejection slips.
  14. When your rejection slips come in, you might want to categorise them as follows:
  • SRL - Standard Rejection Letter.  This is normally a compliment slip and your name may well be wrong.  It will say something like ‘no thanks and PLEASE don’t contact us about it!’
  • NRL - Nice Rejection Letter.  The ‘you write well, but’ variety.
  • VNRL - Very Nice Rejection Letter.  As much as a paragraph, stating why this agent is not going to take you on, but giving reasons and suggestions for improvement.
  1. Each time a rejection comes in, send it to another agent.  Repeat until you have tried about 20 agents.  If you have 20 SRL’s, you might want to read your masterpiece again - it might not be as wonderful as you hoped.  You may well see lots of awful bits in there and wonder why you thought it was perfect.  This is normal.  All you have to do is re-write it, several times, and then begin the above process all over again.
  2. Make note of the NRL’s, and submit to those agents first, next time.
  3. If you have any VNRL’s, think about what you need to do to improve, and DO IT!  Then re-submit to that agent, stating that you have done so.  Agents like writers who take note of their suggestions and act on them.
  4. If you have a request for full manuscript, jump for joy, go down the pub, sink a bottle of wine and at least one bar of chocolate.  This means that you have got the submission process right and your synopsis is OK after all.
  5. Now wait for the rejection of the full MS.  I’m really, really, sorry and you may shoot me if you like, but this happens quite a lot.  You could of course, keep your fingers crossed.
  6. If you don’t get an agent with your first masterpiece, write another one.
  7. Repeat the above process until you get an agent.  It may take some time, but it really does work, and I am living proof.  I did all the above (several times) and got an agent!

NOTE The above numbers should run consecutively, but I can’t work out how to do that - haven’t got to that bit in my HTML and CSS books yet.

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