How to get your foot in the literary agent’s door

August 19, 2009 by Writers, Artists and Insiders
Filed under: Getting Published, Literary Agents 

A guest post from literary agent Judy Chilcote:

Hello Everyone … Thanks for asking me in for a chat. I hope I can help guide you to a better understanding of the publishing process from an agent’s point of view. There is a great myth that agents and editors spend our days sitting quietly in our rooms, reading the voluminous numbers of query letters, proposals and manuscripts we receive daily. In this fairy tale, the phone never rings, bills never need paying and authors never need hand-holding. Nothing to do but read wonderful writing all day. Lovely.

In fact, we almost never read submissions during office hours. We read at home in the evenings, on the train or on weekends. Our time is limited and time is money so we can’t afford to read every word of every submission. We read in snatched moments so can be easily lost in long and rambling dissertations.

So the would-be author must make an impression or catch my attention with his or her initial letter. Some basic rules:

  1. Type everything and use a high-quality printer.
  2. Always use A4 paper. Number every page and don’t bind it, or print on both sides of the paper. Always double space manuscript copy.
  3. Carefully proofread your submission material. An occasional typo is overlooked but too many misspellings or wrong grammar can make you look unprofessional.
  4. Always include an SAE if you need the material back. No agent can afford to pay for return postage of their submissions. Don’t send cheques or postal vouchers.
  5. Neatness counts… greatly! Don’t give me a quick reason to reject it because it’s too difficult to read.

Look at your query letter as a piece of advertising for you and your material. It needs to say concisely what your book is about, your credentials for writing the book, who the market is, and any USP (unique selling point) you have. If it’s non-fiction, how is yours different from others on the market?

Don’t tell me it ‘will appeal to everyone’ or that it is ‘a guaranteed bestseller’. Or that all your friends/family have read it and think it should be published. That screams novice to me.

Be brief, be succinct, be enthusiastic and be tantalising. Make me want to read and know more.

Best wishes,

Judy

About Judy: Judy Chilcote opened her literary agency in 1990 after five years working in London with a large US marketing firm. Her focus is very commercial, so what she takes on ebbs and flows with the market. She is currently interested in popular psychology, nostalgic memoirs, historical fiction, women’s fiction (no chick lit) and crime fiction.

Unfortunately Judy cannot answer questions about individual submissions, but you’ll find details of her literary agency – the Judith Chilcote Agency – in our Listings section.

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Comments

10 Comments on How to get your foot in the literary agent’s door

  1. lawrenceEz on Aug 20, 2009 at 12:31pm

    2. Very informative. Thanks for the information.

  2. chiefo ejiofobiri on Aug 23, 2009 at 23:49pm

    3. Thanks very much for the enlightening information. I have a published book i will like to send to you FOR review and assement. I need a reprint and advice on marketing. Can you give me an address to send it to ?

  3. Claire Fogg (Publisher, Yearbooks) on Aug 24, 2009 at 08:03am

    4. Sorry, as mentioned above, Judy cannot respond to individual queries about manuscripts. She spared her time to do the guest post and offer everyone using this site some helpful guidance. I hope you found it useful. Don’t forget to look at some of the Related Posts for further tips.

  4. Fishbulb on Aug 28, 2009 at 23:11pm

    5. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, what do you mean by ‘credentials’? Would that refer to how qualified one is to write a book (in terms of Academic achievement), or how one’s life has fed into the theme of the book? If the latter, would anyone really care if personal experience helped inform the writing of a novel?

    Thanks for your time …

  5. Brenda Shackleton on Aug 29, 2009 at 16:59pm

    6. Yes, I’m quite puzzled about the ‘Credentials’ as well. Does it mean a brief C.V.?

  6. Cressida Downing (editorial consultant) on Sep 1, 2009 at 14:18pm

    7. When Judy talks about ‘credentials’, she is primarily referring to non-fiction proposals. If you are – for example – writing a book on particle physics, the agent needs to know you are qualified to write such a book.

    These can be covered in the covering letter, or by addition of a CV that outlines your relevant experience.

  7. Judy Chilcote on Sep 2, 2009 at 11:19am

    8. To chiefo ejiofobiri, I don’t do what you are looking for. Sorry.

  8. nduka ndefo on Sep 20, 2009 at 19:41pm

    9. I’ve always believed that you don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got something to say (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

  9. chynnagirl on Oct 12, 2009 at 18:32pm

    10. what if your CV doesn’t have any relevent experience? I’m a bit confused as to why an agent would want to know where I’ve worked for the past 5 years (or not in my case, being a full time mother for past 5!). I’m more than happy to send one in (as requested by my 1st chosen Agent to approach), but would love to know what’s being looked for within it?

  10. Los on Nov 13, 2009 at 08:17am

    11. As I understand it the aim of the cv is to give the agent/publisher an idea of how marketable you are as a person. If you are fortunate enough to get your book published then the people publishing it will expect you to do your bit to help it to sell. That can include things like appearing at book signings, press and media interviews. If you have something to talk about you will appear a more marketable commodity.

    You are asking people to take a financial risk with you, when you ask them to invest in your work and publish your book. They would like to know you will also do your bit to help them get a return. Its not just a case of writing the story and then sitting back and waiting for the sales to happen and the money to roll in.

    Your cv helps to give agents and publishers some pointers about how much value you will be able to add at a personal level, how much of the promotional work you will be able to do.

    That’s my take on this for what its worth.

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