Hi all,
I'm finally going to get off my procrastinatory backside and submit my novel to agents. But I have a few questions. Can anyone help with these? Please?

1. This question is so tedious that you'll fall asleep reading it. Where they request that you enclose an SAE with your submission, should I just send a little letter-sized SAE and assume they've got the wit to work out that it's fine to just write to me and I don't need the sample chapters back? Or do I have to spell that out in my covering letter? Or do I send a massive envelope with three million quid postage on the front?

2. I've been getting ready for the standard letter + synopsis + 3 chapters submissions, but one agency I've seen requests a query in the first instance. (More like the American approach I think?) Does this mean a slightly expanded covering letter including an offer to send them sample chapters if they're interested? And if not, what on earth does it mean?

3. There are some agencies I'm interested in where it's not immediately obvious which agent would be best to approach, even though I've looked at the sort of material they accept and at the lists of their clients. Should I just semi-randomly pick one and write to him/her?

Any advice would be appreciated...
Thank you!
AG x

You'll get some good advice here, I'm sure of it; bits of which will contradict, e.g. you probably know I'm going to suggest submitting (at least queries) to publishers as well as agents.

But I wanted more to make an overall point, which is: how confident are you that your novel is publishable? I don't mean, how confident are you that it will be taken on, because that's not the first thing to consider: it's out of your control, anyway, to a large extent.

The reason I ask this is because it's key to how you shape a submission, and how you come across in it. For example, if you're confident in your book, question 2 is a pro-active situation, not one in which you're worried about getting the detail right. If, for instance, the agent doesn't tell you what they want in a query, take the opportunity to do it in a way that shows them just how great your book is. Queries can actually be more useful to a writer who's confident, than the standard 3 chaps/synopsis approach - because it gives them the chance to sell their book first.

So, I think I'm saying the answer as such is in getting into the right mind-set.

As for 1): just put a PS at the bottom of the cover letter to the effect you don't need the material returned.

As for 3): I'd go the extra mile to find out, if at all possible. If not, just send it to the agency in general

Terry

1) - you could ring the agency, but i always enclosed a big envelope for chapters to be returned. And why 3 quid? It isn't the full, is it? so should just set you back about 80p?? Although i'm sure most agencies won't mind recycling themselves, now , you probably could just include a small envelope, but i never liked to assume.

2) Yes, i think you are right with that. I've just sent a letter before, when asked, and yes, just giving more detail. I was then contacted and asked to send in more chapters.

3)I think i'd agree with Terry's view on this. Or ask around for opinions about the certain agents eg on here- what people have heard about them, etc.

Best of luck!

1. Either, I think. But yes, if it's a small envelope, say clearly that please will they recycle the submission.

2. This is Nicola Morgan on query letters (as in, not covering letters)

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/query-letters-dissected.html

3. If you've done that much research already, there's not a lot more you can do, I reckon. But asking around on here might help you refine your list.

Best of luck with it!

Terry, Petal, Emma, thank you for such detailed and speedy responses.

Terry, I (arrogantly) reckon I can put together an enticing query letter for this book. (But feel free to laugh at me in a few weeks' time when I get nowhere.) So perhaps I shouldn't be scared of this slightly different approach to submissions.

Petal,yeah I think I might go with the big envelope approach, if only in the hope that there are still a few agents who might want to make comments on the manuscript even if they're rejecting it. And I know it's not three million quid postage really. I was just having a tightwad moment.

Emma, that link was very useful, thanks. Did someone really falsely claim to have won a Pulitzer prize?! That really is quite breathtakingly stupid.

Right, I'd better go and submit this damn thing. Thanks again.

yes, I always used to send a big envelope. Fortunately most of the children's agents take e-mail subs now, which negates the need for the good old SAE!

But with a big envelope you can instantly tell if it's a rejection as soon as you see that shape come through the letterbox, so you can run away screaming in the other direction...

Or you can open it and hopefully find a nice comment from an editor

I'd read 3 quid, not 3 million Alias, lol - feels like 3 million sometimes!

Terry, I (arrogantly) reckon I can put together an enticing query letter for this book. (But feel free to laugh at me in a few weeks' time when I get nowhere.) So perhaps I shouldn't be scared of this slightly different approach to submissions.

Don't worry, I've got plenty of my own 'nowhere's to laugh at, too! But I think the very act of submitting stuff is important, because it makes us first assess our work more critically; second, present it more professionally; third, it builds confidence, even in the face of rejection.

I agree that there's something about putting work out there which is important - and not just because an infallible way to spot a really appalling typo on the title page of your chef d'oeuvre is to have just come back from posting a copy to your dream agent...

I think it's something about claiming your right to do so - to write, to claim attention (even if negative) for your writing. It's something that lots of the nicer and more retiring kind of aspiring writer struggles with: who am I to expect anyone to read my stuff?