A few posts back, I answered the question of “Should I hire a professional editor before I self-publish my novel?” (TL;DR answer: probably not). In that post, I mentioned I was on the cusp of recommending writers not bother querying literary agents at all.
After years of personal experience in the self-publishing and traditional publishing worlds, and after hearing about other authors’ experiences, I’ve now officially reached that conclusion—don’t query literary agents. It’ll almost certainly be a negative return on your investment.
Let me first provide a point of clarity—this is NOT a rant against literary agents themselves. I have no doubt the vast majority are great people who want to represent great books and truly wish the best for all aspiring authors.
It’s the system they work within that’s the problem.
Specifically, here is why querying agents is not worth your time:
- Most agents won’t respond.
Maybe ten years ago, it used to be that agents responded to all queries, even if it was a form rejection letter. Nowadays, with e-mail turning agents’ slush piles into mountains, the new standard is silence. Often agents will have a note on their submission instructions telling querying authors they’ll respond in 6-12 weeks, but as I said in my previous post, if it takes that long then the answer is no, so they might as well have a “no response means no” policy. The simple truth is agents just don’t have time for all these queries, so authors shouldn’t waste their own time polishing up a query letter, a synopsis, and the first fifty pages or whatever (outside of normal editing) just to throw it into a black hole of silence.
2. The agents who do respond will give you a useless form rejection.
It’s not an agent’s job to give you personal feedback, and to our credit most authors don’t expect it…or even particularly want it—we don’t need a detailed account of all the ways our story sucks, thanks. But these robo-rejections emphasize what a waste of time the whole querying process is–expect no feedback besides the word “no.”
3. More querying won’t increase your odds of getting a positive response.
Many robo-rejections include verbiage that says something like, “This isn’t for me, but agents are very subjective so don’t give up hope!” This isn’t true on a few levels. Yes, whether or not an agent wants to represent your work is based on that person’s individual tastes, that is true. HOWEVER, the industry as a whole clearly has a preference, and that preference is for whatever makes money—and whatever makes money is fairly homogenized and dependent on the demographics of the people who make up the book acquisition industry…which is also fairly homogenized. It’s no coincidence that despite the recent call for diversity and #ownvoices, the vast majority of books published today still predominately feature cis white protagonists…while the vast majority of the publishing world is cis white.
This means what an agent is looking for at any particular moment is extremely limited and based on whatever’s hot at the moment. For instance, an agent might say in her bio that she’s looking for “diverse young adult” stories, but what she’s actually looking for is the next The Hate U Give, maybe with an Asian protagonist this time for a veneer of freshness. If that’s not you, then “thanks but no thanks” even if your young adult story features a minority protagonist. New trends branch off old trends, and a literary agent’s priority is to make money, cuz they’ve got bills to pay just like you. The easiest way for them to do that is to acquire the next hot thing that’s just like the last hot thing. Therefore, one querying wave of no’s probably means the entire industry is a no.
4. The slow and steady onslaught of rejection will maul your self-esteem to shreds.
Finally, and most importantly, no matter how strong you are the constant barrage of rejection hurts, whether it’s in the form of silence or something else. It’s not like you have nothing to lose; you do, in fact, pay a psychic price that wears down your self-esteem. And what do you actually get in return? Almost certainly nothing, that’s what, which is why it’s an overall negative investment of your time, energy, and soul.
But if you think your extremely slim chances of getting that “yes” from an agent will make it all worth it, think again—which brings me to my last point…
5. Even if you land an agent and get a book deal, it’ll probably be a crappy deal.
The cold hard truth is very few traditionally published authors make significant money off their work—or any money at all, really. I don’t know if this has always been the case or is a recent phenomenon with e-books, but publishers now do this thing where they acquire books with little to no advance payments (promising royalties instead), then toss the book into the market with minimal publicity to see what sticks. If a book makes a profit, great. If not, they’ve minimized their losses and can move on to the next potentially hot thing. These are called “boilerplate contracts,” they’re everywhere and they suck for authors AND literary agents, because agents are then forced to take on dozens of clients in the hopes that one of them will turn a profit so they can earn their commission. And when it turns out you’re not that special book that somehow makes money despite no support from the publisher, expect your agent to dump you like a box of rocks—and then you’ll have to start this whole goddamn process over again.
So. Now that I’ve crushed your hopes and dreams of a lucrative traditional publishing deal made possible by cold-querying literary agents, I’m happy to tell you there are alternative options with much higher chances of success that ALSO won’t make you cry yourself to sleep!
Here’s what you should do instead of querying agents:
- Self-publish a LOT of books; wait for an agent to approach you.
Your best chance for success in the literary world, hands-down, is to publish a lot of books in any format. Eventually you’ll find an audience if you publish consistently. If you start making real money, an agent might approach you. It’s unlikely they’ll represent anything you’ve already published, but they may want to represent your future works, international or film rights, etc.
2. Make connections and network within the publishing industry; get a deal by knowing someone.
The publishing industry wants you to believe they only publish the best books, as if literary agents only represent stories that are so good they shriek in ecstasy while reading them and then smoke a cigarette afterwards cuz it was THAT GOOD. However, this supposed high standard of quality is demonstrably not true. A casual stroll through your local book store will reveal a plethora of mediocre to terrible books that somehow made it onto the shelves. One common thread you’ll find is that most traditionally published authors have degrees in English or literature in general, and/or have worked in the publishing industry. Does this make them better writers than other self-taught authors? I would say no, given the amount of shit on the shelves.
What they have are CONNECTIONS—friends, acquaintances, and coworkers who can do them favors and cut them breaks people outside the industry don’t get. But this is how a lot of industries work, so no surprise there.
What you need to do is get your foot in this door. If you don’t work in the industry already (which I assume is true, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this article), hit the convention circuit and schmooze up to industry pros. Pitch directly to agents so they have to look you in the eyes and connect a story to a person, imagine what it might be like to work with you, and hopefully feel something positive stir inside their soul.
3. MAYBE query for hot genres, ex. romance, mysteries, or the “flavor of the month,” currently (as of early 2019) domestic and crime thrillers.
If you just can’t let go of that dream of a (shitty) traditional publishing deal, aim for the low-hanging fruit of whatever’s hot at the moment or the stuff that never gets old, like sexy vampires or cozy seaside mysteries. General wisdom says not to chase the trends, but trends are what sells; the key is to jump on that bandwagon before things start to cool. You can tell when a trend is on the downturn when the TV/movie adaptions start to bomb; see the rise and fall of YA sci-fi/fantasy as exhibit A (the cool reception to the second and third Divergent movies was the notice to shelve your YA dystopian work-in-progress). I suspect the recent hot trend of domestic psychological thrillers are headed in the same direction…seriously, how many times is the most seemingly innocent character revealed as a psycho killer going to be the big twist before readers get tired of it? I’m guessing that day is coming soon (and not soon enough…for real, try harder, writers of domestic thrillers).
If you’re gonna query because you just can’t stop yourself, I suggest throttling your efforts way back and giving yourself some boundaries; for instance, query only once a month, to no more than five agents at a time. Maybe set aside one book you’ve got your heart on trad-publishing, and self-publish the rest.
Whether it’s fair or not, the traditional process for acquiring and publishing books is not set up to work in your favor. The only way to ensure success is to take control of the process yourself.
Ah, what an interesting read. I started writing my dark, YA fantasy novel in 2012 (when I was 12). I started querying agents in 2015, which was obviously a huge mistake as I was still nowhere near the level of skill in terms of editing and writing that I’m at now. I actually self-published my book on a website named Booksie, and it did remarkably well there (it’s a hobbyist website, so no money was made). I even garnered a fanbase and had people coming to me with fanart of my characters. It was a great time and I took a two-year break from querying agents to gather feedback from my beta readers, and to just enjoy connecting with people who liked my work.
In late 2017, I began querying again. I thought that with my success on Booksie, I could use it as SOME sort of credibility in cover letters to agents, but on a lot of agency bios – when asking for publishing credits – they don’t want to hear anything about writing blogs, writing hobbies etc. This was irritating. Why does success on a hobbyist site mean nothing? I thought it was a pretty big deal, but now that I know the industry more, I have realised its, well, let’s say, evilness?
I have queried almost 100 agents since 2017, but to be fair, my work has went through drastic edits, drafts, versions and plots since then. I actually found an established children’s author who was willing to read and edit my first page for free. She did so, and left positive feedback with a few changes. I was thrilled, and took her editing points to expand them on the rest of the manuscript. Since then, I know for a fact I have only evolved as a better writer. I believed that I had everything to make it to the YA fantasy market – a unique writing style, relatable characters, tragedy, diversity, dire events, unique, twists on the usual fantasy clichés…
But nothing worked, sort of. Out of the 80-ish agents I have queried so far, three have been kind enough to get back to me with actual feedback (which is extremely rare with UK literary agents, so I was honestly astounded when I saw several paragraphs get sent back to me). I have read many blogs from writers, agents, publishers and authors alike, stating that if an agent goes far enough to leave you actual feedback, you are on the right track.
This is what has given me the sliver of hope that one day I may be traditionally published. Unfortunately, the hope is wearing thin. UK literary agents are a lot more uptight than US ones, from what I have found, and agents who take on fantasy in the UK are miniscule – less than a handful. Perhaps I’m not looking hard enough, but this fact has made me consider turning to US agencies, who seem to be much more open to weirder pieces of work, which I think mine is. The challenge will be finding agencies who accept overseas authors, as I live in the UK. Sooner or later, I will run out of literary agencies to query, I’m sure, and I might have to seriously consider self-publishing – which I preferably do not want to do. But who knows? Perhaps my success lies there instead.
Another thing that vexes me is the amount of literary agencies who, on their website, direct you to editors that you have to pay copious amounts of money for to get that writing style ‘up to standard’ – this itself is a problem because writing styles are distinct and differ from person to person. My writing style for my current manuscript is quick, cheeky and doesn’t linger too long on one description or event (unless need be because of context), to reflect the nature of the world the characters live in.
And you’re right, form rejections drive you insane after you get enough of them. I know it’s a copy-and-paste response to the pieces of work who didn’t make the cut, but a short, simple reason as to WHY the work ‘was not suitable at this time’ or ‘might make another agent feel differently’ would be wonderful. We’re not asking for paragraphs, just a mere sentence.
I have never had such mixed feelings about an industry before, except perhaps Hollywood.
Hi Shana,
I self-publish, and I’m getting there with book sales. But have heard of literary agencies that do pay advances in the six-figure range. Is this true, or something that is very rare in today’s world?
Absolutely not true. A six-figure advance only ever happens with big-name celebrities or public figures (ex. Barack Obama, Prince Harry) or well-established authors who already have multi-million dollar franchises (ex. Stephen King, Dan Brown). It’s definitely a “rich get richer” situation. A new, unknown author getting ANY advance at all is extremely rare in today’s publishing world. That’s late-stage capitalism for you!
late-stage capitalism is still open to creativity, unlike early-stage (or any stage) communism! Ask anyone (me) who fled an actual socialist/communist country. Nobody wants the truth, only the idyllic picture painted by the government media!
Refreshing and a healthy dose of reality. You’re saying what everyone is afraid to admit.
The problem with commentaries like this is that they often lose the validity in the substance of what they say in its form. I see you have avoided cursing out literary agents, firebombing their office and sending them poop in the post…. So well done! As a result, your post is perfect in both form and substance (though a little poop might have been ok; problem is they’ll probably think it a seminal work… and publish it!!!).
I feel you are too kind to agents; they ARE the system. They have in my respectful opinion abandoned the search for good writing in pursuance of the fast selling nonsense produced by celebs or the exact politically correct profile that satisfies the unwashed… this month.
You missed the bit where they boast to represent ‘new and different voices’ whilst representing B list celebs and their vapid memoirs.
Oh and 98.79% of them are white middle class thirty something women with a degree in creative writing, but can’t write. If only someone had taught me to be creative… and honest and 5 foot 10. Cleary these are thing which can be taught!?
Just think of the vacuum in world literature that exists because we had no agents’ years ago. We could have had 9 Charles Dickens, 12 Robert Louis Stevensons and so on. On the other hand, with no agents we’d have lost the remarkable work of Dan Brown and his implausible always running around hero! Swings and roundabouts and meat grinders I suppose.
Hoh boy! The very act of reading about agents and literary agencies and book publishing strategies makes me feel like I am in a dentist’s chair looking up at the blaring lamp knowing he’s just about to hit that really sensitive incisor with his high-speed drill… Yes, you are absolutely right that in the end, it’s not so much the quality of the work that opens the gate and gets the leg in (the body never fully enters unless one is the one-in-a-million that gets on the best-selling list), but the people you meet. I have found that it is usually a single person who is in a position to open that gate that is the key to a published book with conventional publishers. Agents are secondary. It’s kind of a miserable truth, but it seems to stand up to empirical evidence. What is particularly digusting and disheartening, even beyond all that you have put down in this post, is the fact that the publishing world has no sense of duty or loyalty or brotherhood. Publishers, and of course agents, sell their books one at a time. That is, they don’t nurture or support or promote writers: they only promote books. Once the sales number suggest a loser, they forget your name, same as the agent. And yes, publishing has become almost an exclusive conduit for celebrities. I tell the story of sitting with my 20-something editor at one of the big publishing houses at a small restaurant in midtown Manhattan, across from the publisher’s corporate offices. I’m beginning work on my second contracted book. In walks a team of well-dressed, silver-haired men from my same publisher. They all take a seat at a large, reserved table in the back of the place. My young editor leans over to me and in a hushed, reverent tone says, “That’s the team working on Sarah Palin’s new book.” When this second book of mine made little impact, I couldn’t even reach my 20-something former editor or my agent by phone. That’s the really awful part about this: the human factor. And I can’t help but believe there is a lot of bad karma building up in all of this, culturally, historically, psychologically. Writers in general are often quite socially challenged people, who don’t live and work the way most people do, which is why they must write. This double curse of schizophrenic validation and rejection is some very nasty stuff. Since my last book came out in 2012, I have written two novels and a three-act play. Truthfully, I have no idea what to do with them. The larger of the novels literally anticipated the January 6th event. I think I finished writing the story in 2014. Sent it around to all of my old connections. Nothing. It’s almost too late now… The other novel is a Wind in the Willows type story with a very important environmental theme. I believe I got 100 rejections from agents as well. It’s very depressing. I don’t know why anyone would want to become an agent. It’s such a cold and mean-spirited vocation. Personally, I think they’ll eventually teach those AI robots to write shitty books, but ones that the great imaginationless masses will enjoy. Thanks for posting.
Agents and publishers are shoveller’s of shit, and yes, occasionally a real book does sneak past the filtering process they’ve perfected to block them. It is impossible to think of them as credible on any level.