TRANSCRIPT

Querying agents is very similar to querying publishers – and it is just as tedious and boring. Even worse, having a literary agent doesn’t guarantee that your work will get published.

And this shocked me. Before learning about the publishing industry, I wasn’t aware that agents submitted manuscripts the same way unagented writers do. They write query letters, they target the editors who they think will be most receptive to each particular manuscript and then, like us, they cross their fingers. I always thought they simply met at some New York restaurant with their editor and over martinis they signed a seven-figure deal. But that is not the case. Not even close.

Over the last few years, I’ve started following agents and authors on Twitter. And time and again, I see posts from authors stating that their agents have had their manuscripts on submission to publishers for years, and with no success. And I’m not saying this at all to depress you, but to actually help you feel better about your querying track record. After all, if agents struggle to sell manuscripts like you do, you’re actually in really good company. You can feel better about your journey and yourself because rejection is simply a part of the publishing industry for everyone.

On top of this, getting representation from an agent can be as difficult as getting a contract from a publisher on your own. In my case, it was actually much more difficult. After five years and literally more than 2,000 rejections from agents, I finally signed one in the fall of 2023.

Despite the fact that getting an agent doesn’t guarantee publishing success and that signing with one can still be extremely difficult, I definitely recommend you purse representation for several reasons:

First, only agents can submit to the biggest publishers. As mentioned in an earlier video, the biggest publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. To have your book published by them, you need an agent first.

Second, agents can get you the best book deal. So while I’ve signed 12 contracts, I never really felt like I had leverage to negotiate the contracts. I was so excited to be simply signing a contract that I agreed to the terms. I did have my first two contracts reviewed by lawyers, but doing that was so expensive that I haven’t bothered since. Agents have experience and expertise with contracts to ensure that you get the best deal possible.

Third, agents can provide manuscript feedback. While you should have a near-perfect manuscript before submitting to an agent, agents can help to refine your manuscripts even more. I'm lucky, my agent provides exceptional editorial feedback. Just when I think a manuscript is perfect, she finds a new way to make it better.

And finally, agents give you the time to focus on what you want to be focusing on: writing. The querying process is slow, it's tedious and takes up so much valuable time. With an agent handling this, you can have more time to focus on your writing.

In the next videos, I’ll go into the steps on how to query agents.

So what has been your experience in trying to find an agent? Let me know me in the comments and, thank you so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, please like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.