Well . . .

I looked back over some of those How to Land an Agent books. So many of them talk in terms of months, not years, not several months. This got me thinking. How do they calculate the time to find an agent?

The most obvious is----take the first day you sent a query out and then add up the time to when you got the contracts in the mail. (always thought it would be a phone call myself) Ok--so if I do it this way----I sent the first query on this novel in March of 2002. So it would be about 11 months to find an agent.

But, looking at those books and knowing the reality of the game, lived by myself and many other writes I correspond with, the books seem wrong.

So this crossed my mind. What if they are calculating this way----Take the date of the first query you sent out---THEN take the date you sent the query to the agent who accepted the manuscript. Not the acceptance date (the day you got those contracts) but the day you sent a query to your agent. Hmmmm----

Now I get something like this---I found my current agent in May of 2002, and sent my first query to them the end of that month. So, March, April, May. It then took 3 months to "find" my agent.

That date more closely matches what the books come up with.

I think of all the head banging out there. The why don't they accept my work, screams. And then I think of this. Wonder which way they do it? And if they do it the later way, it makes the How To book writers look good and makes the hunt harder for the rest of us.

The agency I am with has been very professional in their dealings with me through the process of query, partial, complete. Each "you will hear by" date was met early.

Too bad more agencies can't be this way.

Shawn

I do research on agents and then send the subs to the ones I want the next day. (or I did)

For a long time all I read was how to books---now I look at them and think--you know none of these had the magic bullet. I can't say anyone book changed me or made it possible---with the exception of that article I read and have spouted about before---on what makes a good first seller.

I did have a thought about the idea that you need to not give up and be persistent. It is all to true—but I think the first place that needs to be applied is to the writing of the novel. You need ot research, look up, learn, and be persistent in your story. Make it the best possible work you can. It has to better than your best. You have to be willing to take into consideration the markets out there and if your idea is going to sell.

Knowing the rules before you break them—I think that means more than unorthodox grammar and sentences. You have to write a first novel that follows the industries idea of a first novel. IMHO anyway.

I heard so much talk about the “good” match with your agent. I thought well, hell—how do you know if you are a good match? I finally looked for agents that reped similar works. Ok that worked for me–but the funny thing is my agent and i seem a lot alike. In his letter to me he used dashes—lol I use them a lot. In my writing as well. When I spoke on the phone we both have this habit of adding a strange little laugh to the end of our sentences.

What does this have to do with time spent on research----it pays off.

If I had to start again I guess I would abandon the blitz approach to submissions that I used. (Sending 30 at a time). I’d back off of just highlighting every agent from A-Z who reped SciFi and research. Because if I had found this agent back in March of 2002—ugh I’d be done with rewrites by now.

Shawn

quote:

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You have to write a first novel that follows the industries idea of a first novel. IMHO anyway.

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That's the ethos I'm working from, but whether I'm doing it the right way remains to be seen. I don't expect instant acceptance, but a mixture of research, persistance and lucky timing, perhaps.

I still think I can earn the right to see the first volume of "Chronicles of Empire" published one day. I imagine that I will see it published not as a volume of five novels, but as crushed into one very fat novel. Darn well marketed enough - and more soon.

Anyway, I sincerely hope it holds well for you, Shawn - they say getting the foot in the door is the hardest part, and you've got that far. Just hope to see your success builded upon, and a string of published novels over the years.