By Anthony S. Policastro
Talk about being specific, I found one agent who is so specific as to the type of manuscript he is looking for, it is as if you were sitting next to him and having a cup of coffee.
Andrew H. Zack, president of The Zack Agency in San Diego, has many detailed posts on his blog, all that's new(s) from A to Z and on his website that clearly spell out the kinds of manuscripts and authors he would consider representing. He is mostly looking for nonfiction because
"…simply put, I want to represent more nonfiction. Nonfiction, generally speaking, is simply easier to sell, especially if the author has the right credentials and/or an existing platform. Why is it easier? Well, there's less good nonfiction out there and thus less competition for editors' reading time. It can be sold on proposal, which means it takes less time to read initially and so decisions come more quickly. If an author has the right credentials and/or platform, it's often a no-brainer. A serious scientist writing about a serious subject, e.g., global warming, and saying something new or controversial, will nearly always sell. At least one agent I know of makes his living just selling these types of books. And I'd like to put a dent in his business."
He plans to post a future blog on his fiction requirements. So, if you meet his requirements, you may have an agent that will sell your work.
It also will be interesting to see if Mr. Zack gets a higher number of good queries that fit his requirements now that he has clearly spelled out his preferences. Perhaps, he’ll mention this in a future blog post.
The amount of information provided by Mr. Zack is quite refreshing in the maze of agents out there. However, agents are very busy people and if you wore their shoes for one day youwould understand why they don’t have reams of information out there. But, some do with the ease and speed of posting on blogs and websites. Take a look at agent Kristin Nelson's blog, Pub Rants. She has a new, relevant post almost every day and one wonders if she ever sleeps.
So why I am I writing about this? Well, the more information from agents the better because it is extremely helpful to both agents and authors. Authors can better zero in on agents who would be interested in their work, and agents will have more queries in line of what they want. After all, most agents reject more than 90 per cent of the queries sent to them and many wished they had more that fit their criteria. Agents need new authors as well as authors need agents.
The final word - do as much research as you can on an agent before you query. You can find several useful sites on The Writer's Edge blog as well as others on the Internet.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 9
But first let me run this by you for comment; I wrote my book because I had inside information I wanted to make available, afterwords I found how hard it is to get published, let alone find an agent.
I then decided that I did not want to take the time required that most in the industry insist upon, such as one submission at a time, waiting for a decision before being able to try the next one, sequentially until interest was shown ...
I also wanted to do everything online, due to my very remote location (deep in the forests of Montana) ... 150mi round-trip to what could (maybe) be called a city.
Consequently I settled upon a POD publisher that had just been acquired by Amazon.com called BookSurge. They did everything over the Internet, which was one of my requirements ... they also had a great sales pitch about all they offered and the great benefits a working relationship with them would reward me with.
I am fairly savvy about the promises vs actualities of so many businesses that are only preying on their customers naivety, but I believed them ... maybe because I wanted to ?
Anyway, I got a fairly decent book out of them, all things considered, but with hardly any of the editing help they promised. Thus my book is very crude in that regard, but my main belief has been that if the message contained is powerful enough and of interest to the targeted audience, that those things could be overlooked by the reader that valued the essence presented. Such people being willing to sort through the chaff for valuable kernels they could get nowhere else ... a case in point, as far as I am concerned, is the book "A Course in Miracles" ...
Long story short, I plan on sending a copy of my hard cover book, along with an explanation of why and what I have in mind, to the Zack Agency ... despite all of their more specific requests that submissions be done to their standards as published on their site.
It seems to me that having that book in hand will give them far more information about it all, as well as the freedom to do what they want with it, as I would not expect to get it back ... it just being a nothing ventured nothing gained submission for me ...
I would mention my thinking in a letter along with it regarding my having all 'rights' to the book and my willingness to be flexible in working with them should they be interested in doing so ...
I would appreciate any thoughts that you might have about these intentions of mine. Thanks, j.
Publishing is a strange bedfellow. One would think that taking the energy and resources to write a book, publish it and then sell it on your own through a POD publisher would be looked upon as admirable, ambitious and absolutely stunning (I see it that way).
You would think agents and publishers couldn't wait to get their hands on your work and really put the marketing and distribution muscle they have behind it. Unfortunately, POD works against you in the formal publishing world. Publishers have been slow to embrace this new technology and POD books have a bad reputation of poor writing, poor editing and poor printing quality.
From what I've read, publishers think that if your POD book does not sell 20,000 copies then it is not worth considering. In addition, if you could sell 20,000 plus copies and make $3 to $4 per copy why do you need one of the big six New York book publishers when they would only pay you on average $1 per book?
So if you could reach that magic number, 20,000 copies sold, a big publisher may consider your book. MJ Rose, author of THE REINCARNATIONIST, published her first book by POD and it was later picked up by a major publisher, but she is the exception rather than the rule.
If your POD book is not selling, then publishers will dismiss it because they believe they too would have a hard time selling it.
Publishers also look at the sales of your last published book to decide if they want to publish your next book. They can instantly see the sales of your last book on BookScan tracked by the ISBN number of your book. If your POD book didn't sell well, they may have second thoughts on your next one.
So, what should you do regarding your POD book?
1. I would follow Mr. Zack's submission requirements to the "t". Agents are extremely busy people and an average agency receives 100 plus queries a day. They wouldn't get past your first paragraph the minute they see you did not follow their guidelines.
2. I would write the best query letter possible pitching your book and mention that you did publish the book by POD and that you own all rights to the work.
3. I would not send a published copy. Your query should be convincing enough that your work is worth publishing.
Now, I would think that if your writing is good and the subject matter is something that will grab a lot of attention or buzz, an agent would represent you.
The bottom line is this: if an agent and later a publisher believe they can sell your work and make a profit, then it will be published.