Agent Susannah Taylor was the first agent ever to request a full from me.  Although ultimately she rejected my work, she and I have stayed in touch over the years and, until I signed with another agency, I always gave her first crack at my stuff.  She's been supportive of my career when she had no real reason to do so, and answered my questions when I asked them, and for that I'm grateful.

The Dos and Don'ts of Querying

THE DO LIST

-Research.  Unless you’ve recently hit the Times list, putting in the time to research potential representatives and the markets they serve is time well spent.  A good portion of any agent’s slush pile will be filled with projects that don’t fit her list and will earn an auto-rejection, which is time wasted for everyone.  

-Be professional.   This is a very personal business in a lot of ways, but it is a business.  Nothing will make an agent run further or faster from a potential client than bitterness, guilt or arrogance.  If I’m questioning whether I want to work with you from the first letter or phone call then you’ve already scotched your chances with me.

-Read.  You’d be shocked by the number of people who have queried me and, under gentle interrogation, have admitted that they don’t read in the genre they’re writing in or don’t read books at all! The best way to understand the market is to read in the market.  It gives you so much information both consciously and subconsciously and it lets you hone your instinct for judging your own work from an industry standard.  A side benefit is that you’ll be supporting the health and well-being of your genre!

-Write.  Write a book.  Write while you’re researching agents who might represent that book.  Write while you’re querying agents about the book.  Write while an agent reads your book.  Write. Write.  Write.  You really are developing a muscle and the more you write the better you will be able to efficiently put thoughts to page.  That efficiency allows you to work on style, voice and all the other fun stuff that will make your book shine.  Write.

-Love what you do.  There are no guarantees in this business, but if you truly love writing (no matter how painful it can be) there is a reward that no one can take away from you and that’s a very precious thing.

THE DON’T LIST

-Jump the gun.  The minute you type ‘The End’ is not the time to start sending out queries.  If you want to give your manuscript the best chance to succeed it will need to be polished.  That means putting it away in a drawer for a month or more to gain some distance.  Those extra weeks can reveal a rogue’s gallery of typos, continuity mistakes and clunky dialogue.

-Ignore what an agent tells you.  There’s a rhyme and a reason for how agents ask to be queried, we’re not making you jump through hoops for the fun of it.  Standard submissions let us concentrate on the important stuff, your writing, and not be distracted by bad formatting, or having to read a partial consisting of chapters 7, 13 and 23.  You also run the risk of coming off as arrogant if you choose to ignore what is so clearly asked of you (and we know that’s bad—see above!)

-Forget to ask questions.  Signing on with an agent is a big step and can have far-reaching repercussions.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions before you commit.  This is also where doing your research can really pay dividends.  You’ll have a better understanding of what the important questions are and be able to interpret how the answers pertain to you. 

-Settle.  It’s easy to get into the mindset that any agent will do—but that’s just not true.  Finding the right agent means forming a partnership with someone who understands you and your writing and can give you an informed objective opinion.  An agent will see pitfalls that you can't and can interpret things that will be incomprehensible to you.  Finding the right agent is having someone you can trust in your corner.  That’s gold and it’s worth the wait and a little extra work.  

-Forget to believe in yourself.  This is undoubtedly a tough business and, if you’re not careful, it can erode your self-esteem.  That’s a real problem if you’re trying to convince others how wonderful your writing is.  Nurture yourself, take your dreams seriously.  You bring something special and unique to the page and it’s worth celebrating that, even if you’re the only one at the party.

Susannah Taylor is an associate agent with the Richard Henshaw Group.