Comments on: Best of the Blog 2009: Shattering Publishing Myths: You Can’t Sell a Book Without an Agent

By: Wendy Lawton

Wendy Lawton — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:04:59 +0000

Emily, Congratulations! What an exciting start to your career.

If you’ve had your eye on an agent, now might me the perfect time to contact that person. You’ll need someone to negotiate your contract and to help direct the rest of your career.

The nice thing is that since you have a contract in hand you get to jump over all the steps like querying.

By: emily

emily — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:03:40 +0000

I submitted a book proposal for one book at a writers conference this summer. First book proposal I’ve ever written. I have no agent. The editor liked it, the team liked it, the Pub Board liked it…and I received an offer to publish not only that book, but a second one as well. Haven’t signed yet, as this just happened yesterday. But you are right: it can and does happen without an agent

By: Eva Ulian

Eva Ulian — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:54:56 +0000

Nice of you to say I could even think of WANTING to publish without an agent, Dale. I don’t, I have to. After the first manuscript is rejected over & over, okay maybe it’s not right… the second… then the third and when it comes to the fourth and 40 years later I simply said- blow it- I’ll publish without an agent- I don’t have another 40 years to spare in sending my manuscripts around… there HAS to be another solution or not? I found another solution. I only wish someone told me this 40 years ago. Hopefully making this known to others will spare someone else those 40 years of anguish I went through- and yet I still believe I am a writer.

By: Dale Cramer

Dale Cramer — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:32:25 +0000

Yes, you can publish without an agent, but why would you want to? If your manuscript is strong enough to climb over a publisher’s slushpile it’s strong enough to climb over an agent’s. Get a deal with a publisher and you now have the ear of one publisher. But if the same effort gets you an agent, you now have the ear of fifty publishers, plus you’ll never have to write another query letter. Also, Janet (previous commenter) is exactly right when she says agents won’t consider a manuscript if you’ve already shopped it to publishers.

You absolutely can get an agent if you’re unpublished. I did, with a cold query, no referral, and only a couple short story credits. It’s simple— not easy, but simple. Agents, like editors, are looking for good books, so put your effort into craft and give them a book they can’t refuse. Hard work is the only shortcut. More time working on the book translates to less time selling it. I worked on my first novel for three years before I shopped it, but my first round of queries landed an excellent agent. Wonderful agent. SUPERB agent. (How’m I doing, Janet?)

By: Eva Ulian

Eva Ulian — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:51:01 +0000

In my 40 years of querying agents and publishers alike, I found that apart from commercial publishers as those involved with romance, science fiction, YA, etc every other publisher worked through an agent. Smaller publishing houses also are open to un-agented authors- but this was a decade or more ago- not sure if it still holds true nowadays. What I do know is that even the above named publishers will really only take a look at an agented author even though they say they are open to un-agented writers- well, with all the competition, if an agent presents you a work would you not look at that, rather than one who has only themselves to recommend it. So you see why I don’t rage and try to denigrate self-publishing as some writers’ associations do, because as someone commented on my blog:

“People have a desire to say something, and they have that opportunity and freedom here in the United States!”

After 40 years I grab what I can and good luck to everyone else.

By: Cat Woods

Cat Woods — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:49:51 +0000

I only ever submitted to editors until very recently. I think one poster had it right when she stated that if you start with the editors, there is no place to go once you get through the list. However, if you begin with agents, you always have the editor route as a second option.

That said, I have received my best feedback from editors. But I think juvenile literature is still fairly open to unagented subs–comparatively.

I think which ever way you choose, a healthy dose of faith in your manuscript goes a long way. Without it, pitching live would be a train wreck!

By: Bill Giovannetti

Bill Giovannetti — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:34:29 +0000

As an angler, I’m not sure it’s good form to say I “landed” my wonderful agent, Janet Kobobel Grant, after Mt Hermon Christian Writer’s conference, but that won’t stop me.

I clicked with her and she took pity on me. One editor had asked to see more of my proposal for How to Keep Your Inner Mess from Trashing Your Outer World. Janet also looked at it, and offered to take me on. Some people marry-up; I “agented-up.”

Direct quote from a phone call 6 weeks later: “I think your voice is strong enough to take you on as a client.”

She doesn’t know, but I did a silent cheer.

I’d advise anyone who can afford it to go to high quality writers’ conferences, and make those 15 minute appointments. Be humble enough to take advice, make the needed changes, and don’t quit.

Also, realize the publishing industry exists in its own slow-motion temporal bubble. This is the hardest part for me.

I’m simple-minded enough to believe that if God has given you a message, then, through hard work and faith, he’ll give you the platform to express it.

By: Best Part of Being an Agent: Discovering Treasures | Between the Lines

Best Part of Being an Agent: Discovering Treasures | Between the Lines — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:04:20 +0000

[...] get an agent to even look at your manuscript.” I addressed that fallacy in an earlier post but the truth is agents love nothing more than to discover a [...]

By: Nikki Hahn

Nikki Hahn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:12:28 +0000

It’s frusterating when I see a potential magazine or publisher or agent and they only consider queries from published authors or queries from agents only. The fiction market for short stories is slim unless you have an agent. I’ve gone to the Literary Market and learned a little in the process. It’s doors are wide open for short fiction, but it is a different way of writing.

By: Bonnie Grove

Bonnie Grove — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:03:01 +0000

I landed my agent based on the book I’d written. It was through a professional connection (a wonderful and connected friend who knew me and knew my work, sent the agent a letter of introduction on my behalf). It was over a few e-mails and phone conversations that I was offered representation. That novel, Talking to the Dead, will hit shelves June 1.
I was amazed by what my agent could accomplish in one phone call – it would have taken me literally weeks to accomplish what she can do in a moment, because of her position, connections, and skills.(If I could have accomplished it at all, that is – some things are simply beyond the reach of an author).

And my agent has been working with me, educating me, and making certain I don’t fall flat on my face ever since!