Hi,
I'm going to begin approaching agents quite soon with my novel. There's lots of sensible-sounding advice out there on how to find and approach agents without getting arrested for stalking. I just wondered how people actually do it? To those of you who have submitted (brave souls), how heavily have you relied on each of the following methods? With hindsight, would you have done anything differently? Advice is all very well, but I just want to know what people really do - and whether it works.

(i) Phoning agencies listed in WAAY to ask which of their agents are taking on new people. (Don't they just reply, "nobody"?)

(ii) Emailing agencies to ask the same question.

(iii) Looking for names of agents in the acknowledgements pages of first novels. (Do you phone them first?)

(iv) Looking for names of agents in The Bookseller.

(v) Sending material to an agency without naming a particular person.

(vi) Loitering (wearing dark glasses) on street corners outside agency offices, ready to pounce on anyone emerging from the building and thrust your manuscript at them.

(vii) Anything else?

Thanks and best wishes,
AliasGrace

I usually email to see if they are 'presently accepting submissions'.

Almost always - in my experience - you'll get an invitation back to send in your work (i only email ones which i know accept unsolicited submissions, ie unagented) and, if lucky, you'll get a name.

This way you can start off your covering letter in a more personalised way - "As suggested, i am sending you..." and hopefully mark it FAO someone specific.

Good Luck!

Casey

I used to address all submissions to "The Reader" at whichever agency unless I knew the name of the submissions editor (big agencies) or I was sure that in the smaller agencies it would be the named Agent that did the reading. It really doesn't matter.

Phoning could put you off if they say their list is full - almost all agencies have a full list, but still look out for something new. I would never not send a sumbission because an agent said their list was full - send it anyway!

Email is pretty pointless in the early stages because all they are ever going to say is to make a submission via the standard channels - if anything it makes you look amateur. However, do include an email address. I've had an agent email to say the submission has been received and a follow up email to request the full script.

Do include a personal bio on a separate sheet to your covering letter. This doesn't have to be a full CV, just a few lines about you, your background and hopes etc - don't include a photo, but do include a website address and have photos and other personal info on there.

Keep a synopsis - no matter how impossible it seems - to a single page (don't cheat by using 6pt type)

Submit in batches - ten or more at a time. Most will come back within the first week. When one comes back, send out another somewhere else.

If an agent you really want rejects you, revise and resub within six months.

Best of luck

Colin M

I'd disagree that email is 'pretty pointless', Colin. I've avoided sending my submission off, ie spending money needlessly, to agents who say in WAAHB that they accept unsolicited submissions, but when i've contacted them they are 'presently overwhelmed' and not interested - yes i could have sent it anyway, but i doubt it would have been read.
Personally i think this initial contact does help the process.

Of course, i am unpublished and unagented Colin, unlike yourself, so no doubt AliasGrace will decide who she wants to listen to

Casey

The reason they will put you off over the phone is because 98% of submissions are utter crap - but if you're on here and putting the work in to become a better writer then you'll be getting closer to that 2% they want to see. I would still send something.

Colin
ps - I'm not published.

One of the ways agencies deal with the torrent of slush is not to make their willingness to accept submissions too public. It's not a very good way, but it happens. I used to heed a clear 'no unsolicited submissions', but if they don't say it (or the website differs from WAYB) I go for it. No agent will turn down something really outstanding that they fall in love with, even if they generally reject by saying 'sorry, we're not taking anyone on.' The latter is often because 'it's not good enough' is too unkind, and opens the door to argument, not because it's entirely true.

FWIW, I, like Colin, gritted my teeth, bought the stamps, and sent what they ask for on their website, or if they didn't say, my standard package which was 3 chapters + synopsis + bio. My covering letter was pretty brief, because what I do isn't high concept: it's the quality of the writing that (I hoped) would seduce them, not the snazzy idea. I sent it to a named agent if humanly possible, or if not to the 'submissions department'. Acknowledgements are one place to look for names but many don't say. Authors' websites are even more fruitful, because they're fairly pointless without those contact details, so we all have them. Also yes, the Bookseller, if you can get hold of it at a library or whatever - it's expensive to subscribe. You can get at more info free at Publishing News online, but it's a bit hit-and-miss.

And submitting in batches is excellent advice. It dilutes the agony of pinning all your hopes on one thing, so when you do get a rejection you know there's still stuff out there.

Good luck!

Emma

<Added>

cross-posted with you, Colin, and you're saying the same thing, I think, only more forcefully.

Good point there. Write Emma's line in double bold, caps and underlined on the top of your monitor:

No agent will turn down something really outstanding

... as long as you add 'that they fall in love with'. Which apart from anything else means that you can have a terrific book, and it will still be rejected by someone who can see its quality, but it doesn't ring their bell. Which is another reason for submitting widely.

Emma

I meant to copy the lot - that was the key to the quote. Excuse me while I slap myself on the head.

Thank you, Casey, Colin, Emma, for your advice. Any other ideas still appreciated...
(Meanwhile I'm tempted to hide behind a bit more editing for a few more weeks.)

AliasGrace

OK, well my experience is entirely different. I emailed two agents with a query letter - i.e. a cover letter with a description of my book, which admittedly is pretty 'high concept'. One of the agents got back to me and asked for the full manuscript, I sent it, she loved it and signed me.

I wouldn't discount using email, myself, but I didn't realise at the time how non-standard my approach was, as I'd been on a US-based course, and what I did was standard procedure in the USA.

Luisa

Waxlyrical - JB - got a publishing deal just from email - but that was dealing with a US publisher, not a UK agency.

Yes, there does seem to be a real cultural difference between the two sides of the Atlantic on this subject.

Emma

At various events at Edinburgh book festival a lot of agents and publishers talked positively about email. Perhaps its a matter of finding out particular preference of each agency.

I think that's true, if you can find it out. But while email may help if you want to query before sending anything, reading attachments is something everyone hates doing, and I'd never send a query without at least a few pages of my work, to prove I can write. It may be a waste of paper to send chapters unsolicited, but it's even more of a waste to send a whole solicited MS to someone who's going to reject it as soon as they see the first page isn't to their taste.

I'd still put my faith in my writing to get an agent interested, not in my description of What It's About. After all the interviews I've done in the last fortnight, it's still the question I find impossible to answer fluently and enticingly.

Emma