Strategies to Sell a Novel: Getting an Agent

I have found that the best strategy to selling a novel is hard work…aka making the writing so good that an agent and then an editor says…”I love this. I want to work with this writer.” Even at that point, there are ages of edits to go through, but once you have developed your voice and a storyline that the market can support, agents and editors will be willing to look at your work. Not just willing, eager. They need good stories  just as I, as a reader, need a good  book to read every time I walk into Barnes and Noble.

I will break this blog entry into two parts: How to Get an Agent and Tools to Improve Your Writing. Both are essential to selling your novel.

My first bit of advice on getting an agent is: don’t give up. I sent out three or four query letters a week to handpicked agents who represented my genre, historical fiction. And over time, as my writing and query letter improved, I got positive responses back.

I found my first two agents by querying representatives that I found in Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents.

I bought this book twice … one of the best investments I ever made in tools of my craft, second only to my computer. Here’s the link to see more…

http://www.jeffherman.com/guide/

I learned to write a query letter by going to writer’s conferences and by reading books on the subject. I also heard Donald Maas speak at more than one conference, and his presentations helped me immeasurably to write a strong query letter which immediately began garnering responses. Here is an interview with Mr. Maas on Writer Unboxed. I will say more about Mr. Maas and his wife, editor Lisa Maas’ inspiring work in Part II.

http://writerunboxed.com/2007/11/30/interview-donald-maass-part-1/

Also remember that you are not alone. We have all been there. A lot of people still are. And a lot of people are going to get published. It just takes work, and a will like Eleanor of Aquitaine’s, a tenacity that says I Will Never Give Up.

Here is a link to a lovely blog about a writer just like us…a woman who faces the blank page one day at a time, and who faces the challenge of trying to sell what is on that page, just as each of us have. Thank you, Julieanne, for your honesty and your blog, which reminds us that we are not alone in this.

http://julieannemorley.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/speed-dating-and-fate-one-writers-moment/

So my main advice, for what it’s worth, is keep working to get better, both at marketing your work and in writing the work itself, and never give up. On Friday, I will explore the tools I discovered along the way that helped make my writing better, and ready for an editor.