*Oops! I totally posted this on the wrong blog, but now it's in the right spot.*
My agent story is pretty much like everyone else’s. The only difference is the story that
got me my agent, isn’t the one that’s being published. But that
is a different story. :D
Like many other writers when I started querying I had no idea what I was in for. My experience with getting a publisher
came from all the books I’d read growing up, television, and a biography of
Nora Roberts. Needless to say, the
whole process of actually getting a book published was a bit…glossed over.
So, I went to the trusted Internet (because you know it’s
always right. :P) and did some
research, which basically told me I need something called a query letter and a
synopsis.
Following the instructions from said Internet I wrote a
(awful) query letter and a (boring) synopsis and sent it off to a group of
agents. Of course, while I
technically did everything correct, I didn’t realize not only was I not ready to query, but I didn’t even
know what genre my story was!
So I went and found a crit partner, who helped me with a now trunked novel, but when I started my third manuscript, I had her tear it apart as I was writing it. When it was finished, I had several beta readers, read through it again.
Finally I felt like I was ready to query and sent it out. Almost immediately (like 5 hours after
the queries went out) I had requests (and this was just after Thanksgiving
weekend!).
Because of this, I just knew it was just going to be a
matter of time before I found an agent.
This book was going to be the one.
Then, one day, as I was researching my submission list, I
happened to hear of a new agent:
The fabulous Natalie Fischer at Sandra Dijkstra Agency (she has since moved to the Bradford Literary Agency)
Immediately I felt this
buzz and I went to check her out. Everything I found out about her told me she was exactly
what I was looking for, so after a while I decided to submit to her despite the
no response = no policy and the hard copy partial submission.
A few weeks and an offer later,
Natalie offered representation. And
I’m so glad she did. All in all
from the time I started querying my very first (very bad) manuscript until the
time I signed with Natalie for my third manuscript it was a total of 8 months
(exactly—I just checked my log. My very first query was sent out June 16 and Natalie
offered February 16th. O.o)
I got my agent with a different book than the one being published, too!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know how many people got an agent based on their first novel. Can't be many--but try and tell that to someone querying the first thing they ever wrote. I know I wouldn't have listened (and didn't listen). It's a steep learning curve, that's for sure!