Literary Agents and Book Editors

Two different articles without any real connection other than the general subject of writing and their coming to me  at the same time.

I lack funds for an editor other than myself, but I will keep in mind Writer Digest's How To Find the Right Professional Editor for Your Writing. I make no excerpts because it is too full of useful advice. It should be read in full.

WildMind Creative interviewed Saba Sulaiman, Literary Agent. Just a few points I found interesting:

Let’s begin with the question all writers want to know, what makes a manuscript/author stand out? 

A confident, immersive voice that commands attention and reflects the author’s mastery over their craft will almost always make a manuscript stand out, but beyond that, I’d say any kind of innovation or risk-taking that’s palpable on the page (via characterization and/or plotting) will also help tremendously. For authors, when someone reads a fair amount of recently released books in their genre (as well as outside of it, preferably) it always indicates that they’re passionate and serious about publishing in a way that goes beyond just wanting to place their own book. This is ideal because as agents, we’re looking to build careers and not just sell one book.

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 When should authors start querying agents? 

When they’ve finished writing and revising a manuscript to the point where they aren’t able to make any more changes to it that haven’t already been made via personal reflection and external critiques from writing peers; and after they’ve spent some time thinking about whether they can feasibly establish a career in publishing – have they talked to other authors about the process? Asked for informational interviews with anyone who’s had any exposure to the publishing industry to get a sense of whether it’s a field they can thrive in? Of course, if they have limited access to these resources, then they should absolutely go ahead and take a leap of faith and start querying (your agent can guide you through it all) but not before your manuscript is ready – that is paramount. But I mentioned reaching out to people familiar with publishing because I think many authors spend a lot of time querying before truly understanding how to manage their expectations through the process. And anyway, seeking advice and weighing one’s options is always the best way for anyone to go about embarking on any major undertaking, especially if they don’t personally know anyone who’s done it before.

Many authors are now turning to self-publishing. Why should an author still hire an agent?

First of all, these are not necessarily mutually exclusive choices! I know plenty of agented authors who maintain what we call a hybrid publishing career – they self-publish some of their books and are also traditionally published via their agent. It depends entirely on what you’re writing, what the market for that kind of book is, and whether or not you need an agent to gain access to the gatekeepers of that market. Now I personally (and, of course, I am totally biased) think that every author should have an agent because it’s like having a dedicated manager who is qualified to find you opportunities to publish your work and monetize your writing talent, vet your contracts, and advise you through all the tumultuous vagaries of this industry. All of this can be fairly hard to navigate without an agent because every author has different experiences and different circumstances and it can be difficult to extrapolate meaning from them as it applies to you, but your agent will make it their entire job to know you, your books, and your circumstances, and will be able to advise you accordingly. It’s the safest option, and very few very successful authors don’t have agents, which speaks volumes for how indispensable I think they are for if you want a long-term career in publishing.

Good luck.

sch

12/6/21