So after three years of trying, I finally have a literary agent. This post is about what that means, for those of you (most of you) unfamiliar with how a book gets published. My other blog will have more details later in the week, if you’re interested.
What is an agent? A literary agent represents my work to publishers and others interested in getting the rights. She will also help negotiate any contracts, suggest revisions, talk about future books, and generally help manage a writing career.
So this is a good thing, yes? Very much. Aside from actually writing a novel, getting a literary agent to represent my work is the first step towards getting published. Most of the major publishers won’t even look at a novel unless it’s represented by an agent.
How hard is it to get an agent? Hard. You send them a one-page query letter about the novel. Out of hundreds of queries per week, the agent might request the first 50-or-so pages of a dozen of them. One in ten of those might be good enough for the agent to ask to see the whole thing. And only one in every fifteen or twenty of those full manuscripts might be strong enough, and fit the market well enough, that the agent considers offering representation.
So we’re talking about odds of one in thousands here. I’ve queried two other novels, to about 50 agents each time, but I’ve never gotten an offer until now.
So what happens next? After I work on some revisions, my agent will pitch it to publishers who may or may not buy it. (I’ve heard the odds here are like 60%).
When can I buy the book? The publishing industry is notoriously slow. I have friends who already have book deals, but whose books won’t come out until 2013. It could be as much as a year or more before I even know if this one sells. So the answer: I don’t know, but I’ll tell you when I do.
Like I said, you can learn more soon at the other blog, and I’m happy to answer any questions here in the comments.
Adam Heine
snabott
Cindy Heine
