I have a little news: an agent has asked to read my full manuscript.
This is a tiny step that has never occurred before. It’s
still very early days because the agent may read the entire novel and decide it
would be too hard to sell. I’ve accepted that. However, she has promised to
give feedback, so even in that scenario, hopefully her advice will make it more
attractive to other agents. She’s already given me some excellent feedback on the
opening chapters that I’m working to implement before I send it back to her.
Getting a full manuscript request has always been the
stumbling point, the point at which I put my novels on hold and write something
new. In some ways, the last ten months have been harder than when I was submitting
to agents in my teens. Back then, I received a nice piece of paper with a generic
rejection after a long wait. These days, the best I have received is an email,
and in most cases, nothing at all.
It turns out that submitting work to the slushpile (the inbox
of an agent) isn’t the best way to approach an agent. The route into communication
with this agent came from a very different avenue: my attendance at Bradford
Literary Festival.
I don’t know how typical this is of literary festivals, but
I should note here that Bradford Literary Festival 2023 was an amazing event
for emerging writers. They had many sessions which were pitched to unpublished
writers, and as well as offering encouragement, real stories and practical advice,
they also had a 1:1 event to meet an agent.
I booked onto this event through luck. I had no idea it was
happening until a writing buddy on Critique Circle told me that she was doing
it, and then I was lucky enough that I was in the country to attend, because
the day before we arrived home from a holiday in Europe. Anyway, after
wrestling with my own insecurities briefly (the terrifying prospect of receiving
verbal feedback), I decided to go for it, because that must be the attitude to
make something happen.
I had no expectations for the event. The website description
simply said it was a chance to receive feedback from an agent. I thought it
would be helpful to know which elements of my pitch were off-putting, and more
specifically if the novel concept itself just wasn’t saleable and I should work
on something else. So, it was an amazing experience to be told by someone in
the industry that my writing style is good. It’s a huge validation of all
the efforts I’ve put in over the years.
A third piece of luck I should mention is the agent I originally
booked to meet was unable to attend, and the agent I met replaced him. From
researching her, I was already happy, because her bio expressed her interest in
Young Adult, while the original agent (from a pick of three not yet booked up) seemed
only partially suitable due to his interest in Adult Fantasy.
The lesson I have taken from the festival generally is that this
is a much better way to get in touch with agents. Meeting them in person begins
a dialogue, allows them to see your passion and understand your aims much
better than a sentence or two bio in a query letter ever can. Another statistic
I learned from another session at the festival is that a big agent receives 700
to 1000 submissions every week to their inbox, of which they might accept just
two new clients a year. I always knew the chances were slim, but statistics
like that really hammer home just how infinitesimally slim the odds are. A
really good question was asked in the general agent meet, when they referred to
how most of their clients are not unsolicited. Someone asked how they
find new writers, then, if they don’t find them in the slushpile, and the
answer was: events like this one.
If nothing else, I know to look out for future events which
involve agents. And that my writing is good.
