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spatelwrites · 7 years ago

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Getting an agent...

Getting an agent is easy for some and difficult for others. Here’s my quick tale for any of you out there needing some support and encouragement during the hard times known as the “query trenches”.

I had an agent before. Things were great at first, even though we didn’t sell the ms that she signed me on. Then, everything went sour. I tried to give her the benefit of a doubt, but friends kept telling me this wasn’t how things should be. So, eventually we parted ways, which felt like the hardest thing I had to do at the time. I was afraid that I couldn’t get another agent, but the truth is, no agent is better than a bad one. This is a partnership based on trust and support.

I went into depression for ten months. An author friend wanted to collaborate with me, and I was stoked, for the first time in a long time. But then she said someone else wanted to collaborate with her and she felt that author had more to offer. So there went that, but I kept my idea as an ember in the back of my thoughts. During this time, I couldn’t write a single sentence. This coming from someone who can knock out an 80k word draft in a month. My lack of creativity left a dark void in me, and I honestly didn’t think that I would get it back. I took time off, traveled the world, visited family, and focused on more important, HAPPY things in life.

My depression eventually went away; my creativity came whirling back to me. I had accepted my downfalls as a writer and contacted some editors to pitch ideas. They loved one in particular: the one I offered to collaborate on with author friend. So I tweaked it, took out any of her influence to make it wholly my own, and wrote it in a month. Before I sat down, I had some serious things to consider. My work in the past that hadn’t sold, that hadn’t earned an agent? What was the main downfall? Turned out, it was my voice. So I had to really focus on this. I’d always received compliments about world-building, characterization, authenticity, pacing, plot, etc. But agents and editors weren’t connecting to the voice as much as they’d like. That was a hard thing to accept, but once I did, I was ready to change that. And it is, by far, the most difficult thing to change. Your voice is usually natural. Mine had to be created. But now I had it.

I took some time off at the end of the year to let the ms simmer and revised. Beginning of the new year, I went out into the query trenches, my game strong. I had the mindset that rejections would not hurt. Not getting requests or an offer would not be a setback because the main thing was that I had my writing joy back. I was happy.

I queried only my top agents. I wasn’t messing around this time. I queried those who had good sales, repped authors whom I knew, and those who had outstanding reputations as both agents and advocates for their clients. In three weeks, I’d gotten an offer. In four weeks, I’d gotten 33 requests and 3 fantastic offers from amazing agents. It was a tough call because I loved them all. This was both a business decision and one of the heart. So, I signed with Katelyn Detweiler of the Jill Grinberg Agency. I’ve known of her for years, mainly because of the agency repping one of my dearest friends, Marissa Meyer, and mainly because of her other clients and sales. I already felt at home with her. She’d been on my radar for years. Note, that all of the offering agents had at some point rejected earlier manuscripts.

In all of the heartache and chaos of this business, the one thing I can say is never give up. Take some time off. Find your joy. Sculpt your craft. And write on.

#writing literary agents

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