Hi all , My name is Mina , i recently have finished working on a fantasy novel and been trying to publish it for a while now , however, three publishers have rejected me so far , so I started looking for agents but also was rejected from some. I am not sure what is wrong, I wrote a really good query letter and synopsis. Any tips on finding an agent?
Like publishers, agents can take a while to find. Make sure you know exactly what genre each agent accepts. The biggest thing here is patience. It could be a while before you are accepted. I've seen some people put their query letters on here for review, so if you wish, you can post it. There are quite a few people on here who would be willing to give you a hand. If the query is already as good as you say it is, then all that is left to do is send it to some more agents. It might be a while before you get an answer, but I'm sure you spent a lot of time on your manuscript, so don't lose hope quite yet.
Several authors have advised that the agent you can get while still unpublished is not the agent you want for a career. It might be better to wait until you have an offer from a publisher in hand. That said, your novel may very well be good, but it's also true that first drafts can be somewhat rough around the edges. Have you had friends, relatives, or other people who read a lot and whose opinions you respect take a look? If they can spot grammar or spelling errors, that's an error the editor won't see, and if they think that, say, the transition in Chapter 2 is too jarring, then you could revise that area of the manuscript and tidy it up before sending it out to the next place. My other advice, while you're placing your first book, is to keep writing. A fair number of authors sell their first books -- around a third -- but others find that the first book gives them valuable experience and insight, so that their second and third books are even better and easier to sell.
A lot of agents are often busy. You are phoning these agents before you submit right? (Hmm, over here in Australia, its proper to make a phone call, though reading others, overseas, it says not too. Now even i'm cnfused) Do make sure your query letter is good the absolute best it can be. Your book might be brilliant, but its only as good as the query letter you send off. Crap query letter, crap book, period. I find this page very helpful. http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx If there really isn't anything wrong with the QL as you mentioned, and publishers/agents are rejecting it, maybe you need to look at your story more and find reason why that is the case.
i mentor many new writers [often helping them with their queries] and would be glad to look over your ms and your query, to see if they're really ready to be submitted... it might be that either/both are substandard, or just that you haven't hit the right agent yet... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Evelyanin: I did lots of search, there always a section for the agents interests so it’s not hard to pick the one right for you novel genre. But i got few rejections so far and i start doubting my writing though I have edited my manuscript three or four times already. Its 129,000 words and I read here on this forum that the 1st time novel should be like 100,000 words so it would be easier to get published. I am not sure, but I guess that I have to slash some parts of my story. Posting my query here is good idea, Thanks! . We’ll see , the problem is that most respect publishers do not accept unsocialized manuscripts , means you have to have an agent. i edited my novel myself , but I don’t have many friends that could be a test readers. It’s hard to work or to think about new idea while the novel you already wrote is still in your mind, worrying if it ever going to see the light In all the agents submission guidelines i have read, they prefer e-mail queries or regular mail.. i never looked for their phones , some not even listed. My query letter is pretty good, i worked on it for many hours, and swept Google for tips about it. thanks for the pages , it’s were i go and look for agents : D Thanks you! , should i mail my query to you ?
yup! preferably as an ms word doc attachment... if you don't have ms word, convert to rtf first, to retain formatting...
