I love seeing work from talented authors. Reading a marketable proposal from a hardworking author interested in a long-term career makes me take notice.
Are you this author?
If so, what I’d like to help you do today is to keep you from being rejected because of a misstep that’s easy to avoid.
- The manuscript is too short. Gift books can be brief, but fiction is different. I often receive novella submissions. Some Christian publishers sell novella collections. However, I don’t have a place to pitch a lone novella, hoping it will find a home in a collection. Writers already working with a publisher are most likely to find these opportunities. Novellas can be great giveaways to attract readers, so if you have one or more novellas written, hold onto them until further notice.
- The manuscript is too long. As a reader, I enjoy long books. However, the demand for lengthy books isn’t strong now. I’m not actively seeking long books and would need several compelling reasons to pitch a novel running over 100,000 words.
- The manuscript is both too short and too long. In fiction, we’ll ask you to revise a book that’s too long to be considered a mass-market category and too short to be a trade book. A category romance novel is about 55,000 words long; and a trade book is from 85,000 to 95,000 words long, although that number is more flexible than for category. A couple of markets will accept books of 70,000 words. When authors let us know what market they’re targeting, this shows they’ve researched and are aware of salability. You may say, “It’s the agent’s job to know where to send a book.” That’s correct. However, when you research how many words to write for your target market, you’re helping yourself by writing to a word count that makes sense and, hence, being prepared when you talk to us.
- The project is a collection of short stories or poetry. As a reader, I enjoy short stories and poetry. However, as an agent, I am not in the market for any short story collections or poetry because none of the editors I work with are currently acquiring either.
- The manuscript is not in the space I represent. I don’t represent horror or erotica, for example. No matter how wonderful an author’s book is, I’m not the right agent to market it if it’s not written in a space I represent.
What do all five points have in common?
Missteps can be avoided easily with a quick Internet search. For example, most publishers have guidelines posted on their sites. Of course, once you secure an agent, that person will be your source of information. As for us, you can find out what books we all want to see here: Steve Laube Agency Proposal Submission Guidelines.
Thank you for thinking of us with your work. We appreciate you and look forward to reviewing your proposal!
Story Structure Part #10
I’ve got a new genre, I do!,
guaranteed to lift your heart
and point you unto what is true
for you if you’ll but play your part,
for the story’s interactive,
written with latest AI.
Story lines become diffractive
(am I not a clever guy!),
for as you read your eyes will linger
on a word, or turn of phrase,
which to eye-tracking points a finger
towards latest plot-twist to raise,
making readings quite unique
that readers may find what they seek.
Hope everyone reading this blog has a great day!
Yes, I’m having a great day,
and laughing through the pain,
all because, I’ve got to say,
we got a new Great Dane!
His name is Beau, and he is large,
with drooly massive head,
and he’s shown that he is in charge
by sleeping on Barb’s bed,
and my oh my, the springs did groan
‘neath Beau’s colossal weight,
and my oh my, poor Barb did moan
in seeing that her fate
would be to sleep upon the rug
with her cheerful gassy Pug.
Andrew, your poetry has contributed to me having a great day!
Aw, golly, Tamela… thank you so much!
Andrew, I love your sense of humor as well as your poetry. You are often on my mind and in my prayers.
Judith, I’m honoured.
Tamela, thank you for your common sense post. My sainted grandmother used to say the rarest commodity in the world is common sense. And I do believe that she was right.
Thank you for such an inspiring comment!
Tamela, I have read so many statements about manuscript length here and there by those within your agency and others. Yes, a significant portion of readers today want things shorter. Is “long” a thing of the past? What if there’s a structure to a longer book that allows readers to take a break, much like the Narnia series or the Lord of the rings? It may allow for Resolution of some Tension but a continue other story plots. We see that all the time. What is it in James Michener’s LONG novels that kept readers attention? Does everything depend on the audience??? Some say No, and you say it’s not your niche. Do you know any agents who might want to see a “longer” manuscript?
Good questions!
Book publications and popularity always depend on the audience.
I don’t have a list of agents looking for long books. I doubt any such list exists, since most agents wouldn’t specifically say, “I’m looking for books of over 800 pages in length.” Agents and readers are looking for stories.
Writers who need over 800 pages must be even more vigilant than most to be sure each word is golden. I have thick novels on my shelf, but many other readers won’t even consider buying a thick book because they simply don’t want to invest that much time in a story.
As for deciding what agent to pitch, this will take some time, but a good way to determine possibilities may be to delve into long books that are similar to yours. Say, for example, you are writing a book similar to THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS. Visit the author’s website to see if she lists her agent (I wasn’t able to find the information on Honoree Fanonne Jeffers’s site). Some authors do mention their agents on their sites. However, be warned that sometimes authors change agents so today’s agent may not be the agent who sold the long book.
Another option would be to purchase subscriptions industry publications that include agent listings as to which agent sold which book. Once you determine which books are like yours, which you will need to do for your proposal anyway, then you can use that data to try to discern which agents are selling books like yours and go from there.
Probably a better option is to pitch agents you like and write a letter convincing them why your long book needs to be published. The agent who’s enraptured by your story can then pitch it to editors in hopes that they will fall in love with your work.
I love that you broke down the novel/novella categories with their word counts. I hit 109,000 words one time and knocked it back to 86,000 after editing multiple times. I wouldn’t want to read one that long unless, as you said, there had to be a viable reason for me to put that much time into reading.
Your willingness to edit is part of your success!!
Thank you for sharing this, Tamela! I would’ve never thought about including whether it was meant to be a mass market or trade book in my conversations with an agent—do agents typically prefer this to be in the query letter, or in a book proposal, or both?