...Get Published Now Online Academy: helping writers become authors
ONLINE ACADEMY MAIN DIRECTORY (HOME)
BOOKSTORE
"TELLING" TO "SELLING"
CONTEST
CONTEST WINNERS
QUERY CLASSROOMS
SYNOPSIS LAB
MANUSCRIPT FIRST PAGE
WORKSHOPS / PRESENTATIONS
RAISED BY WILD BOOKWORMS
WRITERS' SERVICES / TUTORING
BOOKSTORE
"TELLING" TO "SELLING"
CONTEST
CONTEST WINNERS
QUERY CLASSROOMS
SYNOPSIS LAB
MANUSCRIPT FIRST PAGE
WORKSHOPS / PRESENTATIONS
RAISED BY WILD BOOKWORMS
WRITERS' SERVICES / TUTORING
What agents want from you is a clearly written query.
The pathway to an agent request for your manuscript begins with the query letter first paragraph. Crafting this first paragraph could be making you feel stressed and more than a little crazy. If you need assistance, you'll find it in my 36-page "Sales Pitch" Query Tutorial/Workbook.
The pathway to an agent request for your manuscript begins with the query letter first paragraph. Crafting this first paragraph could be making you feel stressed and more than a little crazy. If you need assistance, you'll find it in my 36-page "Sales Pitch" Query Tutorial/Workbook.
TUTORIAL includes:
WHY your query first paragraph is a make-or-break situation. The workbook contains:
HOW and why to shift from "telling" to "selling"
WHAT agents want you to tell them
HOW to write story paragraphs to help you write all the sales documents you need (query, synopsis, first page, book proposal)
AWARD-winning first paragraphs to study
WRITING exercises that teach you how to write an effective "sales pitch" paragraph that will motivate the agent to read your entire query
COST? $14.95 -- less than a movie ticket, gallon of chemically flavored cola, and bucket of trans-fat laden popcorn, and a whole lot more beneficial to your writing career.
Order from the BOOKSTORE
WHY your query first paragraph is a make-or-break situation. The workbook contains:
HOW and why to shift from "telling" to "selling"
WHAT agents want you to tell them
HOW to write story paragraphs to help you write all the sales documents you need (query, synopsis, first page, book proposal)
AWARD-winning first paragraphs to study
WRITING exercises that teach you how to write an effective "sales pitch" paragraph that will motivate the agent to read your entire query
COST? $14.95 -- less than a movie ticket, gallon of chemically flavored cola, and bucket of trans-fat laden popcorn, and a whole lot more beneficial to your writing career.
Order from the BOOKSTORE
Agent Updates (April 2010)
The following agents from If Kneerin & Williams Literary Agency are looking for a wide variety of projects. If your writing falls into the categories of interest, check the agent out at their website.
Jill Kneerim
Main sales/interests: memoirs.
Ike Williams
Main sales/interests: serious science-leaning academic brains.
Brettne Bloom
Main sales/interests: writers who will spell her first name correctly, memoirs by thirty-something women, and journalists who write on subjects of interest to public radio listeners.
Deborah Grosvenor
Main sales/interests: military, politics, and baseball.
Leslie Kaufmann
Main sales/interests: YA and middle grade fiction.
Steve Wasserman
Main sales/interests: those with IQs of 139 or over with a cynical view of life but a soft spot for endangered animals with fur.
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More about agents
In today's competitive marketplace, your best route to publication is to align yourself with an experienced sales person—a literary agent.
Most publishers (in most cases, this means editors who work for publishers) don’t accept unsolicited anything. Fortunately, almost all agents will read unsolicited submissions (or query letters) because they're always looking for potential clients.
Publishers think of agents as "Dragons at the Gate." They understand the agent's job is to screen queries and manuscripts to discover those with the greatest sales potential, sign them up as clients, and then contact suitable editors at various publishing houses.
What to expect from your agent
Once you and an agent agree to work together, this places your foot in the door of the publishing world. When your manuscript is delivered (by your agent) to an editor in a publishing company, it will be read instead of tossed into the "slush" pile (the mountainous stacks of unread and unsolicited materials).
The most obvious benefit of working with an agent, besides access, is that they have their fingers on the pulse of many publishing companies. They know exactly who is looking for what.
When an editor at a publishing company expresses interest in publishing your manuscript, contract negotiations begin. Your agent becomes the buffer between you and the publishing company. They negotiate terms for you and represent your best interests in the event of a dispute. They take care of your business, handle any disputes, and free you to write your next best seller (s).
How do you pay your agent? Actually, they pay you. The publisher sends your advance and royalties to the agent who arranged the relationship (made the sale). The agent deducts an agreed-upon percentage, (usually 15% on domestic sales, more on foreign), then send you the balance. If any issues arise, like late royalty payments, your agent is "on it" and handles the situation with the publisher.
Your best interests are your agent’s best interests.
One area of slight disagreement among agents is that some want to know how or where you’ve heard about them. If that's the case, tell them. If you met them at a conference, remind them about your conversation. Then leap right into the subject of your manuscript.
When I was a publisher, I never cared about how the writer had found our name, whether in Writers' Market or elsewhere, UNLESS we had met at a writers' conference. In that case, I'd place them near the front of the queries-waiting-to-be-read closet. Otherwise, I didn't care if they’d found my name on a restroom wall. If they had a great manuscript. . . that’s all that mattered.
The following agents from If Kneerin & Williams Literary Agency are looking for a wide variety of projects. If your writing falls into the categories of interest, check the agent out at their website.
Jill Kneerim
Main sales/interests: memoirs.
Ike Williams
Main sales/interests: serious science-leaning academic brains.
Brettne Bloom
Main sales/interests: writers who will spell her first name correctly, memoirs by thirty-something women, and journalists who write on subjects of interest to public radio listeners.
Deborah Grosvenor
Main sales/interests: military, politics, and baseball.
Leslie Kaufmann
Main sales/interests: YA and middle grade fiction.
Steve Wasserman
Main sales/interests: those with IQs of 139 or over with a cynical view of life but a soft spot for endangered animals with fur.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
More about agents
In today's competitive marketplace, your best route to publication is to align yourself with an experienced sales person—a literary agent.
Most publishers (in most cases, this means editors who work for publishers) don’t accept unsolicited anything. Fortunately, almost all agents will read unsolicited submissions (or query letters) because they're always looking for potential clients.
Publishers think of agents as "Dragons at the Gate." They understand the agent's job is to screen queries and manuscripts to discover those with the greatest sales potential, sign them up as clients, and then contact suitable editors at various publishing houses.
What to expect from your agent
Once you and an agent agree to work together, this places your foot in the door of the publishing world. When your manuscript is delivered (by your agent) to an editor in a publishing company, it will be read instead of tossed into the "slush" pile (the mountainous stacks of unread and unsolicited materials).
The most obvious benefit of working with an agent, besides access, is that they have their fingers on the pulse of many publishing companies. They know exactly who is looking for what.
When an editor at a publishing company expresses interest in publishing your manuscript, contract negotiations begin. Your agent becomes the buffer between you and the publishing company. They negotiate terms for you and represent your best interests in the event of a dispute. They take care of your business, handle any disputes, and free you to write your next best seller (s).
How do you pay your agent? Actually, they pay you. The publisher sends your advance and royalties to the agent who arranged the relationship (made the sale). The agent deducts an agreed-upon percentage, (usually 15% on domestic sales, more on foreign), then send you the balance. If any issues arise, like late royalty payments, your agent is "on it" and handles the situation with the publisher.
Your best interests are your agent’s best interests.
One area of slight disagreement among agents is that some want to know how or where you’ve heard about them. If that's the case, tell them. If you met them at a conference, remind them about your conversation. Then leap right into the subject of your manuscript.
When I was a publisher, I never cared about how the writer had found our name, whether in Writers' Market or elsewhere, UNLESS we had met at a writers' conference. In that case, I'd place them near the front of the queries-waiting-to-be-read closet. Otherwise, I didn't care if they’d found my name on a restroom wall. If they had a great manuscript. . . that’s all that mattered.
Agent update: Jan 26
May Wuthrich will join Rob Weisbach Creative Management as a senior associate, developing her own clients as well as contributing to the company's efforts for their other clients. She has worked in film development, scouting and electronic business initiatives.
NOTE: Agents joining firms want to build (quickly) their own client list: meaning they are looking for you!
Agent update: Dec '09 and Jan '10
P.J. Mark, formerly an agent and international rights director at McCormick & Williams, will join Janklow & Nesbit Associates in January as an agent, to expand his list of award-winning young talent in fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels.
Susan Hawk has joined The Bent Agency, focusing on authors of young adult and middle grade fiction, as well as fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction and mystery. For the past 15 years, she has worked in children's book marketing, most recently as the marketing director at Holt Children's.
Gwendolyn Heasley will join Artisans and Artisans as an agent, focusing on young adult. Her own debut YA novel, Confessions of a Teenage Recessionista, was sold to Harper Collins in a two-book deal in July.
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May Wuthrich will join Rob Weisbach Creative Management as a senior associate, developing her own clients as well as contributing to the company's efforts for their other clients. She has worked in film development, scouting and electronic business initiatives.
NOTE: Agents joining firms want to build (quickly) their own client list: meaning they are looking for you!
Agent update: Dec '09 and Jan '10
P.J. Mark, formerly an agent and international rights director at McCormick & Williams, will join Janklow & Nesbit Associates in January as an agent, to expand his list of award-winning young talent in fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels.
Susan Hawk has joined The Bent Agency, focusing on authors of young adult and middle grade fiction, as well as fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction and mystery. For the past 15 years, she has worked in children's book marketing, most recently as the marketing director at Holt Children's.
Gwendolyn Heasley will join Artisans and Artisans as an agent, focusing on young adult. Her own debut YA novel, Confessions of a Teenage Recessionista, was sold to Harper Collins in a two-book deal in July.
CLICK HERE to return to page top
CLICK HERE to return to School Classroom Directory (HOME)
The slush pile of unopened queries and manuscripts agents face every day. Yikes!
NOTE: Your manuscript, when submitted by an agent, will "fast track" and move more quickly from the slush pile bottom to the top. Much more rapidly than if you send it without an agent.
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JOIN the Online Academy mailing list and receive a 12-page tutorial, "25 REALLY Dumb Query Letter MistRakes," (not available anywhere else). Plus, you'll be the first to receive notification about contests, special offers, upcoming tele-chats, agent updates, and new tutorials as they become available.
JOIN the Online Academy mailing list and receive a 12-page tutorial, "25 REALLY Dumb Query Letter MistRakes," (not available anywhere else). Plus, you'll be the first to receive notification about contests, special offers, upcoming tele-chats, agent updates, and new tutorials as they become available.
