Finding a Publisher or Agent for Your Book

 Finding a Publisher or Agent for Your Book

You've written a book? Well done!

You've spent your spare time writing and creating something wonderful. You've researched, edited, cried and searched your inner self to make this the best piece of literature possible. You then had your writer group edit it and a professional editor give you feedback so you can make it commercially viable. You're now ready to seek out a publisher and/or literary agent. So what do you do next?

I have some unfortunate news for you and every other hopeful writer: you have as much chance of gaining representation from an agent as you do winning the lotto.

The good news is that your persistence will be how you reach your goal of becoming traditionally published. This means writing lots, reading lots and submitting your best work to agents, publishers, magazines and writing competitions.

How do I submit to an agent or publisher once I have a good author portfolio and a good online presence?

There are many ways to search for publishers and agents. The easiest is to do a general online search and find an agent who suits you. You can also search via writer websites such as Writers Digest, Australian Literary Agents Association, Litrejections and many others. Once you find an agent or publisher who suits your style and/or genre of writing, check the submissions tab on their website and read through the submission guidelines. These guidelines should be followed exactly. The person checking the emailed submission from you may not be the actual agent or publisher who decides your work is good enough, and instead may be an unpaid intern who just wants the day to be over. Regardless, this person will be looking for an excuse to delete your submission without reading it. If you email your submission with even the smallest error, such as the subject line not being as specified, or using the wrong font or applying the wrong spacing, it will immediately be deleted no matter how amazing the manuscript is.

How do I find the right agent or publisher?

You can check the supplied information in books you enjoy reading, then research the publisher/agent/agency online. You can also search agents or publishers online and type "interview" to see if you can find an online interview where the agent chatts about what types of work they are looking for. I attended Thrillerfest in NYC where I found many agents and publishers looking for the genre I write. Maybe you could attend something similar?

What happens after I submit?

Don't hold your breath on getting a reply. It's unlikely you'll receive a response if your work wasn't what they were looking for. Or it may be a generic message they reply with, which is what they send to everyone. If you sent an unsolicited query, then you are allowed to send it to as many agents and publishers as you like. If the agent or publisher requests to see whole or a part of your manuscript, then you should only send it to that one person. If you send it to multiple people you'll find they will be annoyed at you and may not want to represent you. If you do not get a reply after three months, you can start submitting to other agents/publishers again.

Should I submit to an agent or a publisher?

Generally you should send to agents. This is a good filter for publishers because if your manuscript comes from an agent, it means it has been through at least one check to ensure it is ready for commercial publication. Sending to a publisher, then an agent, means you'll find that agents won't want to receive your work because they will have such a hard time selling it to a publisher if it has already been rejected by the publishers you sent it to directly.

It's a very long process and requires patience, so please don't give up after a few years of writing, rejections and edits. Stick with it and maybe I'll be reading your book from the shelves one day.

Cheers,

Mat Clarke.

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What is a genre story?

From the mind of Mat Clarke. 

 What is Genre Writing?

Is 'email writing' a particular genre? If so, then that could mean blogging would be too, right?

Do you find that you often question what genre it is you’re writing and if you can classify yourself as a particular genre writer?

Do you think you’re keeping to the required norms of writing.

Do you mix your writing so it’s part comedy, part romance, part nonfiction and part suspense?

 

I promise this next question coming up is going to be the last stressy thing about genres. I just hope I haven’t made you want to put these thoughts into the too-hard-basket.

Don’t give up and throw your pen and paper in to the bin and smash your laptop with a hammer. I’m going to help you through this and I promise there’s a rainbow at the end.

 

Will readers stop reading your stories if you don't stick to one particular genre while keeping within the standard conventions of that particular genre so your readers know what they are buying each time they pick up your book?

 

The short answer to that last question is, no, not anymore. This was the convention in the past, but you can now freely write more than one genre as well as mix genres and dabble in sub genres.

 

If you decide you want to traditionally publish, you’ll need to read the instructions from the agent’s or publisher’s website before you submit. There are many hoops you’ll need to jump through and much information they will want from you. This includes writing a synopsis, classifying your work into a genre, mentioning what authors and titles are close to yours in style or plot or other, and you’ll need to write up general information about you as a writer.

 

When I first started writing, I did so for fun. I was ten years old and all I wanted to do was write what was entertaining to me.

Is fun a genre?

I didn't need anyone to read my stories. Instead I enjoyed creating new worlds where I could insert people and creatures into them to explore, create, conflict and interact.

 

Then came the idea of one day being published. Don’t get me wrong, it was lots of fun writing and not needing to edit. I still enjoy sitting down not knowing how a story will play out. It was just that in 2010 I decided I wanted other people to read my work and for them to actually enjoy it. To do this I needed not only to amuse myself, but to work out what my readers liked too. I also needed to learn how to edit properly. (With both of these, you never stop learning.)

 

After writing over 70,000 words of my first novel, I decided I needed to explore what genre my story might fit into. I did this by comparing my story to other stories already available from other known authors. I made notes on how my story matched a proposed genre before knowing it was definitely that. I wrote a synopsis and a blurb and compared mine to other published authors to help cement my work and what it was similar to.

 

I initially thought my writing was general fiction. I shouldn't have been so boring. I later thought adventure, due to the journey aspect that my main characters often would take. However, I still wasn’t sure. I kept digging and was about to settle on crime (because I often include murder/crime that would be investigated by police), but then I discovered the thriller genre.

 

Thrillers are often fast paced, have a character that is either pursuing or being pursued and has police investigations, although as a secondary aspect.This fit my general story writing style. Huzzah! I could now call myself a thriller writer.

 

Enter sub-genres from stage left.

 

You don't have to constrain yourself to a particular genre. There are mixed genres and subgenres that allow you to write whatever you like. Yes, your story needs to have a plot, have interesting characters and be edited well, but as for genre, you’re allowed to call yourself a thriller-adventure writer. A romance-comedy writer. A psychological thriller writer. Create your own and be proud to be a comedy-crime writer.

 

I write blogs and email.

 

Yes, you can write blogs or emails in a certain specified way, and that could then make it a particular genre. Maybe your job has conformity when writing emails. This is a genre. You write your blog in a comedic way. Guess what, genre writing!

 

So what does the word genre mean? A class or category having particular form, technique or content.

This is the dictionary definition and really sums it up well. I don’t think we need to dwell on that any further.

 

I write many different genres. Or I want to try other genres.

 

Yes, yes, yes! You should.

In years past publishers wanted to be able to classify you as a particular genre writer so they could market you in a certain way.

Then, if you wanted to stray from your specified genre, you would need to have a serious talk with your publisher and maybe even search for a new publisher.

Marketing you is as essential as marketing your book. It’s just that now the marketing angle has changed slightly so it doesn't have to be all about what genre you write. It can instead be about the interesting stories you bring into the world. It was a subtle change that the readers themselves brought about, and it’s an important one.

 

As for me, I recently wrote a crime novel even though I am a thriller writer. And that’s ok. I’m trying to offload it onto a publisher as we speak. I’ve also written children's stories, young adult and adventure.

 

Now you should go and explore all the genres out there and have fun! Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t write what you want to write (just keep in mind that when a story can be classified more easily into a particular genre, publishers are more interested in publishing your work - new authors only. Established and already published authors have much more freedom).

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