Literary Agents Fiction Romance
Saturday, March 12th, 2011 at
8:03 am
Tagged with: literary agents fiction romance
Filed under: Uncategorized
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You have to classify your book into a genre. Books that are hard to classify are hard to sell, because if a publisher doesn’t know how to market it then they’re not going to buy it. This is what I learned from different literary agents.
And, like the others said, you can look for books that are similar to what you’ve written and see who the publisher is and who represents the author, and what the book is classified as. If you have to, then tone down the graphic sex if that makes it easier to find an agent.
How do I search for literary agents that handle very unusual kinds of novels?
I’ve written a book that is packed full of sex and sexuality to the level of pornography, but it’s not a romance or a “sex book” or anything like that. It’s a serious literary fiction novel full of insights and social commentary, but the main subject that the insights and commentary are about is sex. The fundamental theme of the story necessitates that I write very bluntly about sexual behavior. How do I find the kind of literary agent that would consider trying to sell this kind of book? I am aware of many resources for finding agents, but I don’t know how to specifically search for the kind of agent that would recognize the value of my book and not be afraid to try to sell it. I’m not even sure what exactly to google for this. Any suggestions?
How to find a literary agent?
I thought finding the appropriate agency for me would be easy, considering a lot of my American pals seem to find loads to send queries to, but here in the UK I can’t find any and if I do, they don’t take on what I’m offering. It’s more than frustrating.
Is there a site out there which gives a list of UK agencies for writers of fiction? Even better still if they have categories such as romance, young adult etc.
Cheers in advance.
How do I go about selling short stories?
I have quite a few short stories I would like to sell. However, I have no idea how to go about doing so! The pieces span several genre’s including horror, mystery, romance, and science fiction. Should I get a literary agent for this (keep in mind they are all short stories)?
Dear people of the literary industry, question about literary agents?
I am in the process of writing 4 books, none of which i have finished. One is an action/suspense, another romance, another one is suspense and the one i work on most often is a mixture of suspense, action, romance and new age.
#1 how do i find the right agent for my book?
#2 im 13, would some editors and literary agents find this ridiculous?
#3 would some literary agents take an unfinished manuscript? (Fiction/Fantasy)
#4 what if i need to find a different agent and for some reason i want to hire a different one?
#5 (I know im getting a little ahead of myself wth this question but) If someone wanted to produce a movie out of my work could i choose the actors? -silly question, i know-
#6 When i go to find another publisher for my sequel, will it be published under the same house?
#7 Who picks out the cover of my book? (Ex: the front cover of Twilight is a person holding an apple)
#8 Do I need a literary agent in my state or zip code?
Thank you please answer all of my questions. 🙂
1 how do i find the right agent for my book?
You have to spend a ton of time searching. Figure out what genres your book has, and then search for agents that want to sell books of that genre (a genre is like Science Fiction, Fantasy, Manga, Young Adult, etc. Oh, and young adult does not mean it was written by a young adult. It means that is what audience it is aimed towards, like a childrens book is for children.)
#2 im 13, would some editors and literary agents find this ridiculous?
You don’t have to tell them your age at first. First show them your work and then let them make assumptions. Very often age doesn’t matter. I know of “books” written by adults that I thought were written by a random monkey banging on a keyboard.
#3 would some literary agents take an unfinished manuscript? (Fiction/Fantasy)
Usually no. You at the very least need to have a structured soryline, and you need to stick with it. If you tell them you’re just writing from the heart, they become wary. They will invest much time and effort with you, and if the novel hits a dead end and you don’t know how to finish it, that time and effort is wasted.
So, finish an entire storyline and at least twenty pages before considering finding and agent.
#4 what if i need to find a different agent and for some reason i want to hire a different one?
If you have an agent and find out you don’t like them, tell them politely you are turning them down and search for another. The agent will not steal your work/ideas because if there is a rumor going around that they are not trustworthy, their career is ruined. If it is a scam website, then it doesn’t really matter. I beleive I told you a bit about scam agencies in my previous answer.
#5 (I know im getting a little ahead of myself wth this question but) If someone wanted to produce a movie out of my work could i choose the actors? -silly question, i know-
It all depends on the contract you agree with the producers. But if you tell them that they cannot make a film unless you choose the actors and all this other stuff, they won’t make a film. Your best chance would be saying you have to approve the actors.
(Ex.
If you are to produce a movie out of my novel, ______, I will allow you the copyrights only on these conditions:
I want (either) __% or $______ out of it
I want to approve the actors
I want ___________
So on, so forth.)
#6 When i go to find another publisher for my sequel, will it be published under the same house?
Usually a publisher will stick to you like glue. Even if you change agents, the publisher will bargain with you a price to remain your publisher. If they accepted you, they want you. However, you still can change publishers if you think the deal is unfair (comprimising with publishers is like the movie thing I stated above, although it can get a bit more complicated, like, “I want $____ for _____ amount of sold books, and for every book sold above that amount, I want $__)
#7 Who picks out the cover of my book? (Ex: the front cover of Twilight is a person holding an apple)
The author usually has no say. You may be able to bargain with the publisher, but again, they may deny you simply because of that. They don’t want the author to have an amateur drawing they demand to have as the cover. But the deal pf this is very unlikely.
#8 Do I need a literary agent in my state or zip code?
No. Agents will email you or use other forms of communications. You send them a virtual copy, and they use this copy to advertise your work. SOme agencies move around for different times of the seasons, and sometimes agents will even take a plane ride simply to come to you and have a face to face chat.
Anyway, age doesn’t matter. S.E. Hinton was fifteen when she published, “The Outsiders”, which is now famous and used for school reading. Christopher Paolini, the author of the Eragon books, was only fourteen when Eragon first got published. I think I’ve made my point.
Oh, one last thing: You will be denied by agencies. That is pretty much a given. Don’t fret; it has happened to everyone who has attempted to publish. Sometimes it won’t even be because of your writing. The agent could be preoccupied with current clients, your book may not match the exact genre (like there is fantasy, but they may only be looking for Urban Fantasy, but don’t say so).
Anyway, good luck!
Get a copy of the Writer’s Market, look for specific magazines that might accept your genre, and submit by following their guidelines explicitly.
Check out magazines from a retail outlet that could accept your style and topic of writing.
Also consider locating a literary agent that might accept your genre and do the same. Chances of securing representation is slim to none, but you must start somewhere.
I wish you success, but expect a lot of rejections.
Search the writer’s marketplace or other online agent listings. Find a list of agents that accept your genre, and pick one genre for your novel. If you want to pitch it as a romantic thriller, then query agents who rep thrillers. If you want it to be sold as a romance with crime elements, pitch it to romance reps. You can’t have a jumble of genres like that though! Pick one, narrow it down. And fantasy is fiction, so you don’t need to say both. And you can’t sort of be a thriller. Your book either fits in the genre or it doesn’t.
Do your research on agents. Most of them have websites that list recent sales. If they sell books like yours, querying them would be a good idea. If not, don’t waste your time. Take your time and write a really good query letter, follow their submission guidelines, and make sure your manuscript is finished before you query.
Since you mentioned your parents, I assume you are under 18. You don’t need to mention it in your query, but if you get someone to rep you, your parents need to give consent.
If anyone here gives you names of literary agents, don’t query the agent and say “so and so referred me to you.” Most agents will ask so and so if they gave a referral and why, so unless someone with an agent reads your stuff and agrees to pitch it to their agent, you are better off doing your own research.
P.S. an agent never charges fees unless they sell your book, in which case they receive a commision. They don’t charge reading fees or editing fees. Some may charge minor printing fees if they have to print your book to ship to publishers, but this is rare with all the online submissions now. If an agent charges you for anything else, it’s a scam. If an agent doesn’t have any sales (and they’ve been working for a substantial amount of time) its a scam. Check Predators and Editors to discover who the scam agents are.
Hope this helps!
You need a copy of The Writers and Artists Year Book, it has lists of agents and publishers, what type of writing they accept, how to submit it and who to etc. I bought my copy cheaply off Ebay or go to your local library they should have one.
does anyone know of a good literary agent?
genre coming up in a second lol.
my parents arent taking very big steps, and im forever saying COME ON!! lol.
so my next step is trying to find a literary agent (or if possible, a publishing company!!) that may accept my book
the genre of the book is:
romance
thriller (sort of)
fiction
fantasy
crime
🙂
thankyou if you know of any 🙂
i will try and reply to all comments (by editing) 🙂
thanks
meg
x
hmmm
i kind of get that kari 🙂
ok thankyou 🙂