When authors approach me with several ideas, I enjoy hearing their thoughts. I appreciate the tremendous creativity that goes into developing many books. I always give authors with tons of ideas the same advice:
Write your passion.
What if the book of your heart has no chance of being sold to a publisher, though?
Write it anyway. Write with abandon, for your eyes only.
Then write the next book, one that you will understand how and where to market.
You may say, “Isn’t it your job as a literary agent to know where to send proposals?”
Yes.
However, authors writing a 250,000-word dystopian novel or a 3,000-word book of poetry won’t find a place for their work, at least not with the publishers I know.
The trick is to find a book you enjoy writing that has a reasonable chance of being marketable. How do you find out?
- Look at all your ideas.
- Decide which one makes you the most excited. What do you want to write first?
- Focus on that book.
- Outline that book and make sure you have a plot thick enough for fiction or facts generous enough for nonfiction to write a book-length manuscript instead of a short story or magazine article.
- Look online to see which houses are publishing your type of book.
- Read books comparable to yours to get a feel for tone, voice, and pacing.
- Engage in social media to connect with potential readers.
- Write your best book.
- When editing your draft, be mindful of publishers’ parameters, such as manuscript length.
- Write your best proposal. Our free guidelines, which you can use to pitch to any editor or agency, are here: Steve Laube Agency Proposal Submission Guidelines
- Be sure the agents and/or editors to whom you submit are actively seeking your type of book.
- Submit!
Even taking these steps doesn’t guarantee a contract, as many a talented and worthy author can attest. However, by following this process, you’ll be as close as possible to presenting us with a proposal we can seriously consider.
Hope to see your work in our inbox when you’re ready!
