On Finding a Literary Agent and Getting Published

You have a killer manuscript written. It’s fresh, it’s edgy, and it’s never been done before. And it’s sure to sell well—IF it ever hits the shelves—but finding an agent to represent the work isn’t panning out. In fact, the rejection letters just seem to keep pouring in. You’re so frustrated you’re going bald from pulling out your hair.

So in lies the problem. Agents don’t want to mess with anything so fresh and edgy and original. They want an easy sell. In fact, they might be lazy. Hours of footwork trying convince a publisher to take a chance on such a work just isn’t (or might not be) worth their effort.

They are afraid, too. Afraid of harming their reputation, afraid of wasting time, and afraid of failure. Why take the chance when they have easy, sure-fire sells? After all, making money at what they do (just like every other business) is a big part of why they do it.

Madeleine Le’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was just such a book—rejected twenty-six of times. Finally accepted, it went on to sell millions of copies and garner many awards including a Newberry. 

More recently, Wm. Paul Young couldn’t find a publisher for his debut novel either. It was rejected over and over again—also twenty-six times—and he finally set up his own ‘publishing company’ on the Internet where sales took off. Only then did a publisher take notice and seek distribution rights. The Shack is now an all-time best seller.

You might ask: “What do publishers or agents know?” Well, they know every book is a gamble. Most do not sell past their original printing, but the few that do pay for the flops. It’s all about risk-management. Who can blame them, really? 

Someone took a risk on the shoddy Twilight series and look how they did? That was fresh, and edgy and hadn’t been done before. Why take a risk there? How did it happen? We’re talking “crap shoot” and that’s all there is to it. Someone took a chance.

Okay, so what do you do? You keep trying, that’s what you. As frustrating as that is, you do your own footwork. You keep approaching agents and now publishers (those that take unagented proposals) on your own. (Of course you could give up and self-publish. That is, after all, now a legit option.)

It takes time and footwork, which is hard to deal with when you want to get your book ‘out there.’ But someone has to do it; if not an agent, then you. You aren’t lazy are you? If you don’t believe in yourself who will? Is it worth the effort? 

If it is, just suck it up and do it!