No, we’re not engaged in anticipation of a wedding. We’re engaged in your work as literary agents. When we respond to you with suggestions, we’ve read enough of your work to discern that we like your writing style and story and may eventually pursue representation.
If we offer recommendations, please consider them. As a writer, you have a right not to take any of our suggestions. Let’s say you’ve sent a proposal for a nonfiction book on grief, and we suggest you write a novel about happiness. You can say, “No, I’m not going to write about happiness.” When you and an agent don’t agree on where your career should go, that’s part of the learning process for you both. We all want you to be represented by the right agent for you.
If you like our ideas and want to learn more, you can either ask us questions or implement some of our suggestions and try us again. When you write back, remind us we’ve been in touch.
Even when a writer incorporates our suggestions, we can’t guarantee we’ll offer representation. However, if we still don’t connect, you have started to form a good business relationship with an agent. You have shown us you’ll listen. We’ll remember your cooperative attitude should you approach us again in the future.
Only some authors receive feedback. Many find this frustrating. We get it. We know you work hard on your proposals and consider feedback helpful. Let me emphasize that my office declines outstanding submissions by talented authors every day.
Here are some reasons why we don’t always offer feedback:
- We have too many submissions to take an hour or so to write each author an essay.
- The book is not, and never will be, in a category we represent.
- We do not have a suitable set of contacts for you.
- We do not feel the book will make an impact in an oversaturated market.
- The book is too similar to what one of our current authors is writing.
Most literary agents can only offer feedback to authors they are actively working with. Authors searching for comments can join any number of professional organizations for writers who offer contests, critique groups, and other ways to gain feedback.
Everyone at our agency wants you to be a successful author. We appreciate you for being part of our blog community. Keep writing, and keep submitting!
I think you should break out in dance
knowing you don’t represent
me, for if you took that chance
you’d find you could not make a dent
in my obduracity,
my ox-like stubborn mien
which shows up as capacity
as the chasing of a dream
for which my modest talents
are not remotely a good fit,
but I can never balance
the maturity of accepting it
with my place in this my world,
and therefore I…oh, look, SQUIRREL!
Thank you, Tamara. It’s always helpful to know more about the process that agents use in determining who and what they will represent. That openness to change, rewrite, and receive the input from an agent is critical. We authors know what’s on our hearts. You know what the market will receive. I appreciate your insights.
It is a true blessing and honor to work with you, Tamela. I am grateful for your keen insight, guidance, and encouraging words.
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled to have you with me, too!!!!
Great post, and very wise! A gentle reminder that feedback is good, even when it stings. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Talela.
It’s all about communication and relationships within our journeys. That was very well said. Thanks for being a blessing.
Tamela
We do not feel the book will make an impact in an oversaturated market.
THAT reason is golden. Most of us, even though we do our market research, don’t really know what’s out there.
Thanks for this post, Tamela!
This is excellent advice, Tamela. Thank you.
It grieves me when writers get upset at agent or editor feedback. Why would an agent or an editor offer feedback except to help a writer? While one party may not agree with the other, we should trust each other’s good will and good intentions.
I think both sides of the aisle, so to speak :), need to see the other side as a friend not an enemy. We are in this thing together, not only as writers but especially as Christ-Followers.
Tammy, what are we to do when we do not find any other books that come close to what we are writing. I have walked aisles at Christian and “secular” bookstores and can’t find anything that I can use to compare or even contrast my series to! Is having a short list of similar books/authors as necessary as it seems? That’s one of a few things holding me back from submitting my book proposal.
I recommend that you find comparables, even if they don’t seem to be too close. Then accentuate why your book is new and different and is filling a hole on publishers’ lists.