A few weeks ago, I posted a note asking authors for their questions about writing, querying, publishing, etc. I’ve been away on vacation and doing all kinds of grad stuff for my eldest daughter, and looking back through the questions, I’ve decided to categorize them and focus on a bunch of similar/related questions—otherwise, this newsletter would be ridiculously long! There are also a few questions that I may turn into an entire newsletter if there’s a lot to cover.
So, if you responded to this note, watch for my answers here. And if I somehow miss your question, please let me know!
In this newsletter I’m going to focus on questions that came in that have to do with querying. Remember, the advice and opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of other agents or agencies (including The Rights Factory, where I’m based).
Here we go!
Question 1
Do many agents look further than getting another writer published? Considering the mini-series or movie potential for their story? Is it more appealing to an agent if a writer has a mini-series script of their unreleased books?
Answer 1
Many agencies have film/tv agents and will shop the agency’s clients’ books around the film/tv industry. However, this most often happens after a book deal has been secured with a publisher. I’m a literary agent, so my priority is to sell manuscripts to publishing companies who will turn them into books. The tv/film industry is a completely different ballpark. There are so many great manuscripts and books out there that I might think would make a fantastic film or tv series, but that’s not my specialty—that’s for the film and tv industry peeps to decide. Agents negotiate subrights for their clients, including film/tv. If we’re able to keep them (meaning the publisher doesn’t insist on keeping them), we typically actively try to sell those rights on your behalf—but film/tv industry folks don’t know a manuscript or book exists until it’s announced as a book deal.
As a literary agent, I don’t represent scripts. If I’m able to sell a manuscript and am able to retain the film/tv rights, and if a producer wants to purchase film/tv rights to a book, they may want the author to write the script and they may not—that would be part of the negotiating process at that point.
So, in short, no, it doesn’t make it more appealing to me as a literary agent that an author has a script for their book because that’s not my area of expertise and literary agents aren’t generally representing scripts—our industry is the book industry. It doesn’t hurt to have a script just in case, but it may or may not ever get used.
Question 2
If an author self-published prior to a project they’re querying, is that positive, negative, or neutral for the agent? Does the answer depend on how well it sold?
Answer 2
Yes, and yes and no.
In the US market especially, a poor sales track record can hurt the chances of being picked up by a traditional publisher. Sales numbers matter. Once you release a debut, you have a tangible product that represents you as an author. Not all books sell well—so many things have to be in place to make that happen. The more you can do to position yourself well in the market, the better. This includes a big investment of time and money on editing, proofreading, the publishing process itself, and marketing and publicity. If it sells well, publishers may be interested in the next book if it’s also a manuscript they love. If it doesn’t sell well, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a great story, but it could signal to a publisher that it’s too much of a risk to take.
Caveat: there are always exceptions to the “rule.”
If you’re querying a book that’s already been published, it’s highly unlikely that it’ll get picked up by an agent, let alone a publisher; agents know that publishers are most often not interested in re-publishing a book unless it has sold thousands, or more likely tens of thousands of copies or it’s blown up on social media (i.e., BookTok). Therefore, if a manuscript is going to be more challenging to sell to a publisher, agents will be more reluctant to take it on unless they can see huge potential in it. Publishers take risks on books and authors, and if previous sales tell them it’s too high of a risk, they won’t buy it.
I will also say, though, that I’ve noticed more self-published books being bought by publishers, so again, it’s not impossible! And authors have nothing to lose by trying!
Question 3
Do I need to finish writing the second book of a planned duology before querying?
Answer 3
No. From a publisher’s perspective, in most cases, the first book must sell well before it ever becomes a duology, trilogy, or series. If the numbers aren’t there to support the next book in that universe, they won’t invest in it. My best advice is to put everything you’ve got into the first book, and once you find the agent who falls in love with it and offers representation, then start on that second book once the first one is out on submission (or at least until the first book is completely done and out with agents). This accomplishes two things: first, it gives your mind something to focus on while playing the waiting game that is Being On Submission. Second, it gives you a head start on what will hopefully become a duology/trilogy/series.
Yes, sometimes an acquiring editor will make a multi-book offer, and in this case, many times, they just want to see a detailed synopsis of the second book.
But there’s no reason to wait to query agents once you have that first manuscript completed. Letting them know that this manuscript is the first in a planned series (or even better—that it stands alone but has strong series potential) is a great way to let agents know that you’re serious about writing and have more than one book in you.
Question 4
Contrast the idea of using Substack to get a literary agent or book deal with building subscriber revenue.
Answer 4
Hmmm. I’m not sure I fully understand what you’re asking, but I’ll do my best. Using Substack to get a literary agent is a different way of looking at it. I think writers should be using Substack to work on building a loyal audience for their book(s) and for building connections with other writers and industry folks, and this in turn might help you secure representation if you find an agent who loves your project. If you’re talking about writing fiction, then having a huge platform isn’t (yet) a must-have—but it certainly doesn’t hurt. (And I’ll also say that it could help, because I’ve heard more editors at publishing houses/imprints say that platform is becoming increasingly more important, even for fiction writers.) If you’re talking about nonfiction, then yes, you absolutely must have a large platform. Substack is a fantastic way to build an audience of subscribers who are truly interested in hearing what you have to say. Using it to earn revenue is completely separate from getting an agent and publishing; if you do earn a revenue, that’s fantastic, but not a requirement for publishing.
Question 5
Do agents view cross-genre authors favorably?
Answer 5
I can’t speak for other agents, but for me, I’m neutral on the matter. I have some authors who are writing in more than one genre. I will say that it’s best to pick the genre you want to build your author brand in first and then consider switching genres after you’ve established yourself in the industry.
Question 6
What’s more important to an agent: great writing or a great social media following?
Answer 6
Story comes first. If an author has 1M followers on Instagram but not a great story, there won’t be anything for the agent to sell. An agent has to fall in love with the story (and the writing) first, and the author second. Having excellent bones of a story and magnificent writing are of equal importance (and are two different skills). Having a large following on social media is gravy (for fiction writers).
Question 7
How important is it to have a large following/social media platform, specifically for a first-time memoir author?
Answer 7
Even though some of this has been answered above, I wanted to include it here because the author specifically mentions memoir. Memoir is increasingly difficult to sell in today’s publishing landscape. If it’s a straight memoir, it must be so completely compelling that no publisher in their right mind would turn it down. If you’re not a celebrity, it’s a good idea to have a hybrid memoir or memoir plus. This means that it’s not just about something that happened to you personally—it’s about how a universally resonating circumstance fits into what happened to you. It’s how to emotionally connect with a reader when it’s about you, who they don’t know. And a memoir should read like fiction—it should have great plot points, tension, emotion, stakes, etc. In this case, the bigger your platform, the better—because it’s technically nonfiction. A memoir reads like fiction in the compelling nature of the story, but it’s all true. And to sell a true story, a platform is necessary.
Question 8
Why are agents so selective on representation?
Answer 8
This one is a big one, and it’s a multifaceted answer. (It could probably be its own newsletter… 🤔)As a writer, it’s hard to understand why agents can’t just represent all the books. We say we’re looking for ABC, you query us with ABC, and we say it’s not what we’re looking for. I get it. I’ve been in those shoes before. But here’s the thing. Well, here are several things:
The publishing industry is an industry built on relationships. Agents must get to know editors at hundreds of different publishing houses/imprints so that we are sending each editor only the projects that we think are a good fit for them. We also pay attention to what’s happening in the industry and we listen to what editors are telling us about the publishing landscape. We read book news, we pay attention to what’s happening in author circles on social media, and we see what readers are saying about certain books. We see what editors are acquiring. We must be selective about what we choose to represent because we know editors are doing the same thing on the acquisitions level. The more we network and get to know the editors and what they’re looking for, the better our chances of selling them a book that’s perfect for them.
Editors are looking for as close to perfect as possible because if the manuscript isn’t ready, they won’t take it on. Agents can’t take on manuscripts that need a lot of work or coaching because we just don’t have the time for all that extra work, we likely won’t see an income for it, and some of us are not editorial-minded and trained in editing. (Technically, our job is agenting, not editing, but some of us offer some editing (like me) so that it’s in the best possible shape when we submit it to houses/imprints because that’s what editors there are expecting). Agents are not paid by authors out of pocket. Ever. We only earn an income on the manuscripts we sell, and if it’s not a big advance and the book never earns out (meaning it doesn’t sell thousands of copies to the point that it pays for the advance and then some), then we don’t make a lot on the book. We put time, energy, brainpower, and expertise into the projects we take on, and if you were to add up all the hours we put into them and compare it to the average book deal, you would see that agents don’t make a lot of money, on average, per project.
This is why we take on only the projects we REALLY believe in, the projects we are confident we can sell, and that are already in fantastic shape when the land in our inboxes. We have to love, love, love the story, the writing, and the characters (and the author!) because we’re going to be putting a lot of time and effort into preparing it for submission and trying to sell it. The more we love it, the more passionate we’ll be when we try to sell it (just as authors are passionate about writing it). If we do sell it, that means contract negotiations, meetings with editors and sales and marketing teams, and having your back every step of the way.
Aside from that, there are only so many hours in a day. We can only take on so many clients, and we don’t want to be in a position where we have too many clients and not enough time to tend to all their needs. Clients are at various stages on the path to publication; they might be on submission, they might be doing agent-requested revisions, they might have a book deal and be working on edits with their editor, they might be heading into launch day and doing all kinds of publicity, they might be drafting their next project. Agents have to almost play Tetris with our schedules and fit in all our clients’ projects, depending on what stage our clients are at.
The cherry on top is that, since many/most agents aren’t making millions off their clients’ books, we need to have second jobs to supplement our income. That means fewer hours for agenting—so we have to be careful to only take on the number of clients we feel we can handle, and it becomes infinitely more important to be extremely selective on what we offer representation on. Agent burnout is real, and nobody wants that.
Question 9
What does an agent want from an author to be able to start an intense and exciting bidding war? Is there a checklist for an agent?
Answer 9
A really, really great story that’s unputdownable and that is so compelling, no one can walk away from it.
That’s it!
We don’t have a checklist (at least I don’t) of things we’re looking for in a project that will lead to a bidding war. Bidding wars are not the “norm.” It’s great when they happen—it means more than one publisher wants your book! But that means that the book has to have something that no publisher wants to miss out on. It means you have to have something that is so polished and so intriguing and so compelling that it’s undeniable. It’s the Next Big Thing. It’s the next big thing that everyone will be talking about. It causes conversations to happen, maybe even debates. It causes people to talk about it. In a world where there aren’t really any more “original ideas,” it takes an idea and spins it on its head, throws it for a loop, puts a twist on it that no one sees coming.
But even then, if we get something like that in our inboxes, it doesn’t guarantee a bidding war. We have to take it out on submission and see what happens. If more than two editors offer, then an auction can technically happen, but there are no guarantees.
Question 10
Foreign Rights—is this bulk income for writers? What makes it easy for agents to sell foreign rights? What should authors consider? (The author also wants some insight on how agents sell or withhold subrights.)
Answer 10
Selling a book in your “home” market is fantastic. Selling it in other territories? That’s amazing! If your agent is able to negotiate subrights with the offering editor/publisher and keep them, that means your agent can work to sell foreign rights (and other subrights). BUT. The story must have something that other countries’ readers will find interesting and compelling enough. For example, if a US author writes a book that takes place in another country, and the book sells in the US, that other country would be a good bet to sell to for obvious reasons. If it’s a niche story or a small town location or a country-specific story (i.e., Canadian author telling a Canadian story that takes place in a small town in Canada), it’s less likely to sell in other countries because they just won’t have the readership for it. And Canadian publishers, for example, are a hard sell for projects that don’t have some kind of connection to Canada, especially if they’re written by a non-Canadian author. At the end of the day, you want a story that’s accessible and interesting to readers in other countries.
In terms of how agents sell or withhold subrights, it’s almost always in the author’s best interest if the agent can negotiate keeping the rights for the author. If your agent is going out on submission with US editors, an interested editor might make an offer for world rights, or world English, or North American English, for example. World rights means the publisher owns the rights to publish it anywhere. World English means they can only sell it in English-speaking countries. North American English means your agent can sell anywhere else but North America. Your agent might also be able to retain audiobook rights, merchandise rights, film/tv, etc. There are all kinds of subrights, and I won’t get into them all here, but unless the publisher offers a very large sum of money for an advance to keep all the rights, it’s better to keep what you can (outside of print and e-book) and have your agent try to sell them for you. It means you get to go through the process of advances and royalties with each and every right that’s sold to each and every territory.
Question 11
How do you decide which manuscript to send to agents if you have two books that are very different but in the same genre?
Answer 11
Go with your gut. (Truly, this is my advice on so many things!) Whichever is the book of your heart, the one that you feel most attached to, the one that contains the most passion from your author heart and mind, the one with your most favorite characters… That’s the one you should go out with.
Question 12
Does having a “working cover” for a manuscript submission help or hurt? Many authors are doing this, but [as a book cover designer, I believe the author said] I was told this was a no-no.
Answer 12
If you’re querying agents, that means you want to traditionally publish your book, and that means you don’t need (or get ) to choose a cover. A publisher will take care of that for you. And while you might have some input in the cover, the publisher will have the final say. Spending the money on having a cover made ahead of time will, unfortunately, be a waste of money for you. It might be something you become attached to and fall in love with, and the chances of you being able to use it are slim, sadly. Having a preemptive cover will not make an agent want the project any more or less, and certainly not a publisher. (Of course, there are exceptions to this, and that goes for some other answers too—but this is most often the case.)
Question 13
What kind of agent or publisher would be interested in a nonfiction story, specifically a century-long family memoir?
Answer 13
That, my friend, isn’t something I can answer, unfortunately. It will require research on your behalf to find out what agents are looking for that kind of story. There’s no need to research which publishers are looking for it—that’s the agent’s job. Focus on finding agents that are looking for memoirs, maybe even specifically family memoirs. If you’re able to acquire an agent, they’ll research which editors are looking for the kind of project you have.
And that about wraps it up for this first Q&A session—Substack edition! Thank you to everyone who responded with a question. If I didn’t get to yours, I’ve either categorized it into something other than querying or I may want to spend a little more time on it.
If you have a question about querying, working with an agent, or the publishing industry in general, reach out and let me know or leave a comment. Please share with your writerly friends!
I’ll be back soon with Part Two of #AskMeAnything: Substack Edition!
Until then, happy drafting!
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