As I launch this blog, I figured I'd start with one of the most important challenges a professional writer will ever face: finding and landing an agent. Man, but it's tough! Writers are often introverts with an aversion to drudgery, which makes the hunt seem all the more dreadful.
Still, for those who have a book to publish, most of you will eventually need an agent. The goal of these first posts is to lead you through the process, step by step. I'm going to explain what agents do, where to find them, how to pitch them and evaluate them, and how to sign on that dotted line. To make it a little more fun, the whole series will be framed as a fishing expedition. (I'm not much of an outdoorsman, but I've hauled in my share of perch, sunfish, and crappies.)
Here are the topics we'll cover, week by week:
- Your Fishing Guide: What I Know About These Waters
- The Prey: What Exactly Is An Agent?
- The Why: Who Actually Needs an Agent?
- Dawn or Dusk: When to Start Fishing
- The Fish Finder: Locating Agents
- The Bait: Writing a Pitch
- Casting Your Line: Query Letters
- The Nibble: When an Agent Expresses Interest
- The Bite: Getting an Offer
- The Play: Interviewing Agents
- The Keeper: Final Decisions and Next Steps
Did you count 'em? That's eleven steps in all. Maybe it's too much, but better safe than sorry! I hereby grant you permission to skim anything irrelevant for your needs.
Ready to grab your rod and tackle box? Itching to cast a line and watch your bobber for nibbles? Let me dig out my fishing hat, and we'll get started.
Coming up: Your Fishing Guide: What I Know About These Waters