The Steve Laube Agency is committed to providing top quality guidance to authors and speakers. Our years of experience and success brings a unique service to our clients. We focus primarily in the Christian marketplace and have put together an outstanding gallery of authors and speakers whose books continue to make an impact throughout the world.
Our Service Philosophy

Content
To help the author develop and create the best book possible. Material that has both commercial appeal and long-term value.

Career
To help the author determine the next best step in their writing career. Giving counsel regarding the subtleties of the marketplace as well as the realities of the publishing community.

Contract
To help the author secure the best possible contract. One that partners with the best strategic publisher and one that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
Recent Posts
Query, Proposal, or Complete?
When seeking agency representation, how much information should you offer? Should you wade in with one toe, send enough information to tease the agent, or go all in with a proposal accompanied by a complete manuscript?
First, a note: Before deciding on any form of communication, please refer to the agent’s posted guidelines. While my office will respond to a quick question, such as “Do you represent romance novels?” (Yes.), why not make your communications worthy? A quick visit to a website to find the answers to yes/no questions can save many people–including yourself!–needed time during the business day.
Query. A query letter gauges the agent’s interest in reviewing the writer’s work.
- Advantages: Query letters take less time to compose and send than proposals. Because notes are short, you may receive a response sooner than sending a complete package. Also, consider that some agents don’t open unsolicited attachments. So in choosing to query, I recommend presenting the letter in the body of an email.
- Disadvantages: A well-crafted query letter offers loads of detail in few words. The author has less time to convince the agent to review more materials than if the materials are attached. When querying, bring your best qualifications and talents to the forefront. Make the agent keep reading, so they’ll ask for the proposal.
Proposal. While an author can present a proposal at any stage of their career, I don’t recommend that a new author submit a proposal to an agent until the manuscript is complete. Most new authors are unfamiliar with how their personal book writing process works. Good ideas often fail when the author tries to commit them to a book. Plus, few, if any, significant publishers offer contracts to debut authors without seeing a complete manuscript.
- Advantages: A proposal offers enough information about the author and the project for the agent to discern that the project is marketable. The proposal review process provides the experienced author time to gauge interest while continuing to work on the complete manuscript.
- Disadvantages: An agent may need the manuscript more quickly than the author can complete the book. While an agent and author together can address this rare dilemma, creating a sudden need to finish a book swiftly can be stressful.
Proposal and Complete. This is the most extensive package an author should submit to an agent and will contain every possible bit of information, along with the entire manuscript, that the agent will need to decide about offering representation.
- Advantages. Once an agent and author agree to work together, the author is ahead of the curve and can spend time writing subsequent books while the agent works to market the project. When the contract arrives, the author can look forward to the publisher’s editing process instead of needing to write the book. The availability of a complete book at contract time means the publisher can release the first book sooner, rather than later.
- Disadvantages. The author has to spend a tremendous amount of time writing a book, delaying the possibility of receiving an offer of representation. Even worse, because the agent has a great deal of material to review, responses take longer than anyone likes.
As with most decisions in life, the answer here is nuanced. These are simply ideas to help authors who are wondering about their planned approach. If you’ve begun the process of seeking representation and have deviated from the above suggestions, don’t worry. The best agents are skilled at discerning marketable authors and will work with you to formulate the best strategy for your career.
Leave a CommentJelly Beans = One Day
I came across the below video and thought it a good reminder. It is sobering to watch. But it is important to occasionally step into topics of mortality and eternity. To think for a moment about the gift of today. This day, June 27th, 2022, is a gift from God. Contemplate the below sentence with which I ended a speech at the recent Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference. “The world will be different tomorrow because of the words you write today.” (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to …
Fun Fridays – June 24, 2022
This video is a vivid picture of all the roles a writer must fill if or when they self-publish. It can be done and done brilliantly. But it does take a lot of intentionality and expertise to excel in every part. I know many authors who do. Enjoy this 90-second video celebrating the Authorpreneur! (If you cannot see the embedded video in your newsletter email, please click the headline and go directly to our site to view it.) ShareTweet
Newbery @ 100
Some rather significant publishing-related anniversaries are coming in the next week. First, the Harry Potter book series turns 25 years-old on June 26. After a dozen publishers declined the first book, Bloomsbury Publishing saw some potential in it and published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The rest is history. Next time your writing is rejected, just remember: A dozen people can make mistakes regarding the same thing. Then, on June 27, The Newbery Award celebrates its 100th birthday. The award is named after the 18th-century publisher and bookseller John Newbery, of Berkshire, England. It is part of the American …
4 Ways to Lose Me Quickly
As a literary agent, I review a lot of book pitches. A lot. And, not to belabor the point, but a lot. Despite the overwhelming volume of submissions demanding my attention, I try to give each one a fair shake. Sure, if the recipient field of your email has a hundred email addresses in it, it makes it easier for me to say, “No thanks.” But, while that may be the quickest way to disinterest me, it is far from the only way. And I suspect that what is true for me is true also for other agents. So, how …