Submission Basics

by literary agent Ginger Clark

Hi, everyone: I’m writing about basic rules for submitting to agents for WriteOnCon. A few disclaimers before I begin:

• Every agent has their own preferences for how they want to receive queries or submissions. Those preferences usually can be found on their websites; on their Publishers Marketplace page; or in recent interviews or profiles.
• Most of my rules will apply to non fiction as well as fiction, but there are some differences. For this piece, I’m going to be talking about a young adult novel. But this can apply to adult fiction and most non-fiction as well.

So, before I start with Step 1, there is a Step 0. Step 0 is to read the field you think you’ve written in thoroughly. Read everything—the bestsellers and the midlist and the books that barely made an impact. Read books that are being published now and the recent backlist and the deep backlist and the classics. Read everything before and during and after you are writing your own book.

(If at this point, you think to yourself, “Wow, that’s a lot of hard work—and I’m not sure I want to do all that reading,” then perhaps writing a book is not for you?)

Once you’ve thoroughly read whatever genre or category you want to write in, here is a step by step guide to approaching agents:

Step 1: Finish the book. No, I am not kidding. You really need to FINISH. THE. BOOK. Then, revise the book. Do you have a writing group? Please avail yourself of their feedback. Then, revise the book again. Perhaps you’ve got some other writer friends you think might be free to give editorial comments on the book? Ask them to do so. Take their comments graciously. Revise the book. Repeat as necessary.

Step 2: Figure out where in the bookstore your book would appear. Is it adult or kids? If it’s adult, what kind of fiction is it—romance, mystery, science fiction? Something else? If it’s kids, is it a picture book, early reader, middle grade, or young adult? Do you know the differences between these various age groups?

Step 3: Have you ever picked up a book by an author and seen a quote from another author on the cover? As in:
“This book, WEREWOLVES ARE AWESOME, by Sarah Smith is totally awesome!”—Jane Jones, author of VAMPIRES ARE FANTASTIC.
What authors would you want to approach for a quote for your book? They should be authors who have written a novel similar to yours in genre, age group and style. Let’s say you’ve written a high fantasy young adult novel. Some authors who have written young adult fantasy recently include Kristin Cashore, Shannon Hale, Robin McKinley, and Tamora Pierce.

Do not approach these authors until you’ve actually sold your novel—and at that point, your agent or editor will do it for you. But for right now, maybe the agents for these authors would be interested in seeing similar work? Like your book?

Step 4: Begin compiling a list of agents whose represent books like yours. You can do this from the method I just mentioned. Another option is to search the deals database at Publishers Marketplace. You really should be subscribing already to Publishers Marketplace—why aren’t you? It’s worth the $20 a month. Come up with a list of agents, and Google them. See what their websites look like. See what their clients are saying about them. See if they show up with a “not recommended” listing on Preditors and Editors (http://pred-ed.com/). Find out what their submission preferences are like. Do they take emailed queries? Are they email only? Are they paper only? Research and then respect the submission preferences of these agents.

Step 5: Work on your query letter. There is a lot of great advice online about query letter writing. Some of which has already been posted during WriteOnCon.

Step 6: Proofread your query letter. Proofread your book. Print out your query letter and proofread it again. Sometimes I receive emailed queries and they are hard to read due to formatting that the sender is probably not responsible for (odd margins, strange underlining, garbled words). So do a test run by emailing your query to a friend or by emailing from one of your email accounts to another.

Step 7: Are you sure your book is ready to go? Do another last sweep through it. It’s not a good idea to keep editing your book while you are also submitting it. What if you discover a huge flaw while you are editing it—and you’ve already queried two dozen agents and several are reading your partial? Do you withdraw the partial? Withdraw the queries? Feverishly try to fix the book under a time crunch? So, again—make sure your book is truly ready to go.

Step 8: Email or mail the agents. Do not mass email. Do not address them as “To whom it make concern” or “Dear Agent.” Spell their names correctly. Use the correct name—I get emails every week addressed to “Ms. Brown.” Treat the email or letter as an actual business letter. You are trying to go into business with a literary agent. Approach them like a professional. Keep a log of who you have queried, when, and if they are an agent who responds to every query or only to the ones they are interested in.

Step 9: If an agent requests a partial or a full, that’s great! Send it to them however they want it. Do not follow up for at least six weeks, unless the agent has invited you to do so. Keep sending out queries, and start working on a second book or a third. Focus on something else for a while, to keep your mind off the agent or agents considering your work.

Step 10: If an agent offers you representation, congratulations! Inform every agent who has a partial or full from you, and give them some time (I usually ask for a week, but you can give them less time if there is some kind of issue) to read your work before accepting the offer of representation from the first agent. You might also consider letting any agent who has not responded to a query letter know you have an offer—but that’s not required.

I’ve actually written before on what to do when an agent offers representation here. And I know that other agents and authors have written about that situation.

One last piece of advice: never, ever call the office to follow up on a submission (unless the agent called you) or even consider showing up in person.

Finally, just stay professional. Do not panic. If you have questions, there are resources online to help you. You’re not alone. Thousands of authors are going through the exact same journey as you are right now.

Ginger Clark has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown, LTD. since the fall of 2005. She represents science fiction, fantasy, paranormal romance, literary horror, and young adult and middle grade fiction. In addition to representing her own clients, she also represents British rights for the agency’s children’s list. Previously, she worked at Writers House for six years as an assistant literary agent. Her first job in publishing was as an editorial assistant at Tor Books. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and a member of the Contracts Committee of the AAR. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Ginger is taking on new clients, and she prefers emailed queries.