Wattpad Fantasy Writer's Advice

What is a Literary Agent?

Going through the process of attempting to be published can be exciting, heart wrenching, devastating and a million other emotions I can't even describe. The best way to deal with it all (and distract myself) is to try to pass on the experiences to others. Since I can't really talk about the other half of the process at this point (actually getting a book published) I can at least share info about the process of getting agent and how it's been doing edits with him, ect. 

In the previous chapter we discussed a little bit about publishing. Which paths are available and how you go about it. One of the requirements for the traditional route (the big publishing houses) is a literary agent.

So, What Exactly IS a Literary Agent?

A literary agent is the go between for you and the big publishing house. They have all the contacts that will get you in the door. What does that mean? It means that YOU can try to show up at Random House and talk to an editor about your awesome book idea, but you'll be dragged out by security. However, your agent can call up the editor and take them out for lunch and pitch YOUR awesome book idea to them.

What Else Do  They Do?

My agent is part literary agent, part career advisor, part babysitter and part therapist. I'm still SO new at this "author" thing, and there are so many different and confusing aspects of it, so I often email him in a near panic, asking advice about platform building, or handling negative reviews, or my latest blog post, or anything that is making me have a mental break down at the time. He provides both advice, and reassurance.

Agents are also experts in literary contracts which is something that you can't simply hire a regular lawyer for. It's the agent's job to get you the best possible contract, with the biggest payout on the best terms. They'll make sure that there are no parts of the contract that would hurt your future career in any way. 

Agents also sell foreign rights for your book, and negotiate film rights

The agent's job is also to know the market. In other words, they'll know what type of story they can take to publishers, what publishers are buying at the time and what they're not. That way, when you tell your agent "Hey, agent! I'm going to write a dystopian novel about vampires fighting to death in an arena", the agent can put the breaks on that brilliant idea right away.

So How Do I Get an Agent?

The bad thing about big publishing houses is that you usually can't send them mail directly. Well, you can, but they'll ignore it. The great thing about agents is that you CAN send letters to them and they WILL read them.

You get an agent through the process of querying. By writing a query letter, which is a letter that tells the agent who you are, and what your book is about.

When am I Ready To Query?

Since agents are the "quality control" that stand between a billion horribly written books and the already swamped publishers, your book has to be good to begin with, and once it's good, you have to take it and make it perfect. Okay, technically not perfect. But you need to send it out to beta readers (people who proof read your book for mistakes and plot problems). There CANNOT be spelling mistakes, there cannot be plot holes, and you HAVE to have the manuscript formatted properly.

I Think I'm Ready to Query, What Now?

1) Make sure you have a professional query letter (there's tons of advice on how to write one on the internet).

2) Find agents who represent what you've written. You can't send a query for your romance novel if the agent only reps fantasy and horror, your story is going to be rejected. (You can find guidelines on the agent's website, make sure you follow them).

Read widely, read everything you can get your hands on about literary agents and the query process. I found the most helpful things to read were samples of ACTUAL query letters online, letters that had got agents. Also, reading interviews by literary agents that said what they were looking for, and what they DIDN'T want.

 

My literary agent, Jason Yarn has just done an interview on my blog. He's stated what he wants for stories, what he DOESN'T want to see, and some of the biggest mistakes he sees writers make all the time. You can read the interview by clicking on my "writing blog" link on my profile. If you have any questions for Jason, you can leave them in the comments and I'll ask him during the next interview.