{"id":1962,"date":"2019-03-07T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2019-11-29T23:54:40","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T04:54:40","slug":"5-reasons-why-you-probably-shouldnt-query-literary-agents-and-what-you-should-do-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/5-reasons-why-you-probably-shouldnt-query-literary-agents-and-what-you-should-do-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why You (Probably) Shouldn\u2019t Query Literary Agents \u2026And What You Should Do Instead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
It’s the Wheel of Query Responses Lady again! I remember you. I hate you.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A few posts back, I answered the question of \u201cShould I hire a professional editor before I self-publish my novel?<\/a>\u201d (TL;DR answer: probably not). In that post, I mentioned I was on the cusp of recommending writers not bother querying literary agents at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of personal experience in the self-publishing\nand traditional publishing worlds, and after hearing about other authors\u2019\nexperiences, I\u2019ve now officially reached that conclusion\u2014don\u2019t query literary\nagents. It\u2019ll almost certainly be a negative return on your investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Let me first provide a point of clarity\u2014this is NOT a rant\nagainst literary agents themselves. I have no doubt the vast majority are great\npeople who want to represent great books and truly wish the best for all\naspiring authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the system they work within that\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, here is why querying agents is not worth your\ntime:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Most agents won\u2019t respond. <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Maybe ten years ago, it used to be that agents responded to all queries, even if it was a form rejection letter. Nowadays, with e-mail turning agents\u2019 slush piles into mountains, the new standard is silence. Often agents will have a note on their submission instructions telling querying authors they\u2019ll respond in 6-12 weeks, but as I said in my previous post, if it takes that long then the answer is no, so they might as well have a \u201cno response means no\u201d policy. The simple truth is agents just don\u2019t have time for all these queries, so authors shouldn\u2019t waste their own time polishing up a query letter, a synopsis, and the first fifty pages or whatever (outside of normal editing) just to throw it into a black hole of silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. The agents who do respond will give you a useless form rejection.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s not an agent\u2019s job to give you personal feedback, and to our credit most authors don\u2019t expect it\u2026or even particularly want it\u2014we don\u2019t need a detailed account of all the ways our story sucks, thanks. But these robo-rejections emphasize what a waste of time the whole querying process is\u2013expect no feedback besides the word \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. More querying won\u2019t increase your odds of getting a positive response.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Many robo-rejections include verbiage that says\nsomething like, \u201cThis isn\u2019t for me, but agents are very subjective so don\u2019t\ngive up hope!\u201d This isn\u2019t true on a few levels. Yes, whether or not an agent\nwants to represent your work is based on that person\u2019s individual tastes, that\nis true. HOWEVER, the industry as a whole clearly has a preference, and that\npreference is for whatever makes money\u2014and whatever makes money is fairly\nhomogenized and dependent on the demographics of the people who make up the\nbook acquisition industry\u2026which is also fairly homogenized. It\u2019s no coincidence\nthat despite the recent call for diversity and #ownvoices, the vast majority of\nbooks published today still predominately feature cis white protagonists\u2026while\nthe vast majority of the publishing world is cis white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This means what an agent is looking for at any particular moment is extremely limited and based on whatever\u2019s hot at the moment. For instance, an agent might say in her bio that she\u2019s looking for \u201cdiverse young adult\u201d stories, but what she\u2019s actually looking for is the next The Hate U Give<\/em>, maybe with an Asian protagonist this time for a veneer of freshness. If that\u2019s not you, then \u201cthanks but no thanks\u201d even if your young adult story features a minority protagonist. New trends branch off old trends, and a literary agent\u2019s priority is to make money, cuz they\u2019ve got bills to pay just like you. The easiest way for them to do that is to acquire the next hot thing that\u2019s just like the last hot thing. Therefore, one querying wave of no\u2019s probably means the entire industry is a no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. The slow and steady onslaught of rejection will maul your self-esteem to shreds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finally, and most importantly, no matter how strong\nyou are the constant barrage of rejection hurts, whether it\u2019s in the form of\nsilence or something else. It\u2019s not like you have nothing to lose; you do, in\nfact, pay a psychic price that wears down your self-esteem. And what do you\nactually get in return? Almost certainly nothing, that\u2019s what, which is why\nit\u2019s an overall negative investment of your time, energy, and soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But if you think your extremely slim chances of getting that \u201cyes\u201d from an agent will make it all worth it, think again\u2014which brings me to my last point\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Even if you land an agent and get a book deal, it\u2019ll probably be a crappy deal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The cold hard truth is very few traditionally published\nauthors make significant money off their work\u2014or any money at all, really. I\ndon\u2019t know if this has always been the case or is a recent phenomenon with\ne-books, but publishers now do this thing where they acquire books with little\nto no advance payments (promising royalties instead), then toss the book into\nthe market with minimal publicity to see what sticks. If a book makes a profit,\ngreat. If not, they\u2019ve minimized their losses and can move on to the next\npotentially hot thing. These are called \u201cboilerplate contracts,\u201d they\u2019re\neverywhere and they suck for authors AND literary agents, because agents are\nthen forced to take on dozens of clients in the hopes that one of them will\nturn a profit so they can earn their commission. And when it turns out you\u2019re\nnot that special book that somehow makes money despite no support from the\npublisher, expect your agent to dump you like a box of rocks\u2014and then you\u2019ll\nhave to start this whole goddamn process over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So. Now that I\u2019ve crushed your hopes and dreams of a\nlucrative traditional publishing deal made possible by cold-querying literary\nagents, I\u2019m happy to tell you there are alternative options with much higher\nchances of success that ALSO won\u2019t make you cry yourself to sleep!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s what you should do instead of querying agents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Self-publish a LOT of books; wait for an\nagent to approach you.<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Your best chance for success in the literary world, hands-down, is to publish a lot of books in any format. Eventually you\u2019ll find an audience if you publish consistently. If you start making real money, an agent might approach you. It\u2019s unlikely they\u2019ll represent anything you\u2019ve already published, but they may want to represent your future works, international or film rights, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      2. Make connections and network within the publishing industry; get a deal by knowing someone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The publishing industry wants you to believe they\nonly publish the best books, as if literary agents only represent stories that\nare so good they shriek in ecstasy while reading them and then smoke a\ncigarette afterwards cuz it was THAT GOOD. However, this supposed high standard\nof quality is demonstrably not true. A casual stroll through your local book\nstore will reveal a plethora of mediocre to terrible books that somehow made it\nonto the shelves. One common thread you\u2019ll find is that most traditionally\npublished authors have degrees in English or literature in general, and\/or have\nworked in the publishing industry. Does this make them better writers than\nother self-taught authors? I would say no, given the amount of shit on the\nshelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What they have are CONNECTIONS\u2014friends,\nacquaintances, and coworkers who can do them favors and cut them breaks people\noutside the industry don\u2019t get. But this is how a lot of industries work, so no\nsurprise there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What you need to do is get your foot in this door. If you don\u2019t work in the industry already (which I assume is true, otherwise you probably wouldn\u2019t be reading this article), hit the convention circuit and schmooze up to industry pros. Pitch directly to agents so they have to look you in the eyes and connect a story to a person, imagine what it might be like to work with you, and hopefully feel something positive stir inside their soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      3. MAYBE query for hot genres, ex. romance, mysteries, or the \u201cflavor of the month,\u201d currently (as of early 2019) domestic and crime thrillers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If you just can\u2019t let go of that dream of a (shitty)\ntraditional publishing deal, aim for the low-hanging fruit of whatever\u2019s hot at\nthe moment or the stuff that never gets old, like sexy vampires or cozy seaside\nmysteries. General wisdom says not to chase the trends, but trends are what\nsells; the key is to jump on that bandwagon before things start to cool. You\ncan tell when a trend is on the downturn when the TV\/movie adaptions start to\nbomb; see the rise and fall of YA sci-fi\/fantasy as exhibit A (the cool\nreception to the second and third Divergent<\/em>\nmovies was the notice to shelve your YA dystopian work-in-progress). I suspect\nthe recent hot trend of domestic psychological thrillers are headed in the same\ndirection\u2026seriously, how many times is the most seemingly innocent character\nrevealed as a psycho killer going to be the big twist before readers get tired\nof it? I\u2019m guessing that day is coming soon (and not soon enough\u2026for real, try\nharder, writers of domestic thrillers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If you\u2019re gonna query because you just can\u2019t stop yourself,\nI suggest throttling your efforts way back and giving yourself some boundaries;\nfor instance, query only once a month, to no more than five agents at a time.\nMaybe set aside one book you\u2019ve got your heart on trad-publishing, and\nself-publish the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Whether it\u2019s fair or not, the traditional process for\nacquiring and publishing books is not set up to work in your favor. The only\nway to ensure success is to take control of the process yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A few posts back, I answered the question of \u201cShould I hire a professional editor before I self-publish my novel?\u201d (TL;DR answer: probably not). In that post, I mentioned I was on the cusp of recommending writers not bother querying literary agents at all. After years of personal experience in the self-publishing and traditional publishing … <\/p>\n

      Continue reading “5 Reasons Why You (Probably) Shouldn\u2019t Query Literary Agents \u2026And What You Should Do Instead”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[496,528],"tags":[448,72,447,12,445,446],"class_list":["post-1962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-traditional-publishing","tag-bad-publishing-deals","tag-literary-agents","tag-publishing-industry","tag-query-letter","tag-querying","tag-synopsis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Vyi8-vE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1964,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/1964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}