My office recently received a submission for a project that wouldn’t work for us. We were about to send the author a polite rejection when we noticed many other agencies’ addresses in the recipient field.

The list was long.

Dreadfully long.

We counted 135 addresses. We may have missed a few lines because counting from an onscreen listing is difficult. Who knows? Maybe the author tried 140 agents. Some addresses were “slushpile” or “submissions,” so we assume the author made no personal connection with anyone before hitting the SEND button.

Allow me to digress. Every email submission sent to my office is reviewed with the assumption that we will be interested in offering representation. We don’t demand authors have any previous dealings with us in person or on social media. While regrettably, we need to reject most unsolicited offerings, I’ve offered representation to many “slush pile” authors.

Not every author has the time or money to attend writers conferences. Writers hitting the conference circuit will discover that meeting a particular agent is challenging since not every agent is at every conference or event. So what if you, out of necessity, are a “slush pile” author?

The Right Way to Submit:

1. Research agencies online or through professional listings. When you do, please read which agencies employ agents actively seeking your type of project.
2. Based on your careful research, decide on a maximum of five agencies to which you want to submit your work.
3. Keep a “B” list to refer to if no agent from your top five agencies offers representation.
4. After identifying your favorite agencies, research each agent within the agency.
5. Choose one agent, and one agent only per agency, to whom you will submit your work.
6. Each cover letter can be identical, but open with the agent’s name. If nothing else, this will prove that at least you are emailing one agent at a time and not spamming everyone. Note: when more than one of us receives the identical submission simultaneously at our agency, Steve Laube immediately identifies the email as spam.
7. Let each agent know this is a simultaneous submission. Before pressing SEND on any of your submission emails, be sure you have included the materials each agent requires.
8. Wait impatiently for responses, as writers are inclined to do.

While this is slow, at least this way, you will not summon 135 ghosts who won’t respond to your email. Even a horror writer will want to hear at least a BOO!