Category: Agent Query
-
My journey finding a literary agent.
I did it guys – I got signed by a literary agent!!! When I posted my news on Instagram, I got lots of messages asking how I approached the process of finding an agent, so I thought I would capture some of my learnings in the hopes that they are helpful to others. I started,…
-
LOVE your book but….
I am deep in the querying process for my recently completed memoir. It’s a pretty tough process, one characterised by constant rejection and unfiltered feedback – both good and bad. Last week, I spoke with an agent who I got connected to via a writing group I belong to. It was a remarkably short conversation,…
-
The art of killing one’s darlings.
“In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” William Faulkner famously wrote, suggesting that the process of editing requires a certain stoicism, and the suppression of affection towards superfluous material, no matter how much we love it. In the midst of many outright rejections from agents, I got an email last week from an agent…
-
Querying – a lonely process that wreaks havoc with your self confidence
I started the querying process in earnest in October, after spending the summer researching literary agents in the UK and the US. So far, I have sent out 20 query letters. I’ve received 3 rejections and one request for more details about my book. Nothing yet from the other 16. And this is just the…
-
Do I need a platform?
This is a question every debut author asks themselves largely because we hear it time and time again: “If you want to get published, you need a platform – expert status in something, a significant social media following or celebrity /influencer / notoriety status.” Indeed, my recent literary agent rejection came with the added note:…
-
What my first literary agent rejection has taught me.
Last week I got my first rejection from an agent I queried. I was introduced to this agent by a contact whose book is coming out next year, and I was delighted to have a direct line to an agent who represents some pretty amazing people. Here is what the agent said in his rejection…
Novice Memoirist 