Busting Myths About Literary Agents

Many writers believe agents are impossible, difficult to get in touch with, and terrible people.

I’ve heard all kinds of myths about these agents. Today we’re getting to the bottom of this situation. 

If you’ve ever submitted a manuscript, it might seem like an impersonal and harsh experience. I understand that, because there’s a lot of rejection in the submission process. The reality of the situation is, we don’t always get a “yes” when we send in our first query letter (but do let me know if you have had this experience before–you are definitely an anomaly). 

Let’s think about what it’s really like to be an agent–who are agents? I meet with many of them to get the latest information about the industry, and they are super busy people. Imagine if somebody gave you a library’s worth of books. This is what happens to agents everyday. 

The mistake writers make is they don’t treat agents like the people that they are.

They’re busy people and have lives outside of their work. Writers forget this fact sometimes and don’t realize that agents don’t have a lot of time to read long query letters. 

On the flip side is this: writing and publishing is a business. If you want to publish your novel, you need to accept this fact. You need to know the right things to say, how to address the business, and the person who is going to be your agent. 

Once again, you must address the humanity of the agent and the business side of publishing. 

I help writers get these two things right every single day. I’d love to chat with you about your project, where you are, where you’d like to go, and how you can get there. If you’re a writer who’s serious about publishing and doing it well, I’d love to chat with you about how you can do that.