On Research and No Agent Being Better Than the Wrong Agent

I know I have been gone for awhile, but the simple truth is I am still a beginner in the writing world, and my time is most often spent writing or learning from the blogs of others. Finding a topic I feel competent discussing is more challenging than you would assume. However, today, I do feel I have found one.

Everyone knows there is more than one road to publication and all are equally valid, but my preference has been traditional publishing. With that in mind I have finished two complete novels. Terrified, I handed them over to betas for feedback. I polished and revised where necessary. Rinse and repeat. Once I finished this and felt they were in the best possible shape I could get them, I began the query letter.

Oh, the query letter. Superseded in agony only by the dreaded synopsis. Why, oh why, do these things need to be so difficult?

Anyway, once said query and synopsis were completed, the agent search began. So many agents I had followed via twitter or their blogs. Fabulous agents who devoted countless hours to giving advice and critiques to authors on everything from the importance of the hook in their query to the first five pages. Funny, witty agents who were entertaining and personable. Agents with great taste who loved the same books or shows as I do. We had to be a  perfect fit, right? Wrong. This is where the words do your research come into play.

Just because an agent loved Buffy as much I did doesn't mean they will love me. Or my work. Or really, upon closer inspection, even represents the things I write. One must always research agents through their websites and their blogs, yes. But what I came to discuss today is what I've learned only through experience. I did my homework. I researched my agents. I queried based on genre, preference, and I followed all of the posted submission guidelines. And yet, there is one agent who surprised me. One agent that taught me a newer way to research and has lead to my resolve to dig deeper next time.

One agent who requested material seemed to be a great fit.  A newer agent spotlighted by Writer's Digest as looking to build their list (recommended for debut authors as more open), this agent represented my genre enthusiastically as a preference, not just one of a long list of things they'd accept. We did have similar taste and their twitter feed suggested a matching sense of humor. I double checked my manuscript and sent the request. It was received with a good bit of enthusiasm and I was given an expected turn around time for a guaranteed response. It has been proven a common thread that even 'no response means no' agents respond to a request they've made.I commenced the happy dance with Katy Perry as my mental soundtrack.

In the ensuing weeks, I read all I could find about that agent. I had a renewed sense of purpose as I saw their name in my search engine. Weeks passed as I waited out my turn around time, and I found a new fact about the agent. They are also a writer.

But not just any writer. A now hugely successful writer who has multiple releases this year and has been doing blog hops, signing events and a tour both in the US and recently overseas. This agent has been very, very busy being their author self. Doubt surfaced in my mind. This person is so busy with their own stuff, how much time will they have to contribute to an author they sign? It is excellent news for this agent/author. The reviews are great, they are very hot right now. The signing I attended quietly as a fan was packed.

And this person? Fabulous. Every bit as funny and personable as their now silent twitter feed suggested.  I have no doubt, absolutely none, that our personalities would be a fit. Yet, still, the doubt remains. This much success on top of their already signed clients. Their other commitments go beyond even that. So many things demanding their time and attention. And so those horrible words struck. No agent is better than the wrong agent.

I had heard the concept before and dismissed it. Surely I had read and educated myself enough to know not to fall victim to the scammers out there. I didn't offer exclusives, I didn't pay any fees. I didn't query any agent I couldn't research on Writer Beware or Query Tracker. I checked the sales and clients of everyone I queried. Surely the agents I chose would be safe, right? The truth, it seems, is no.

Signing with an agent is a huge thing. So many authors focus on being accepted that they forget they are ALSO accepting. Accepting that this person is the best one for you, the best person to represent you and your work to the publishing world. That takes work and time. Hopefully, the agent/client relationship is a long term one, spanning your career as an author. You need to know the agent who signs you considers you a priority and has time for you. In short?

Do your research!

An Introduction

This is my first post, so I figured it was the appropriate place to introduce myself. I write both young adult and adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I have been a rabid reader for the entirety of my life, and I can remember scribbling vampire stories in copybooks during class as far back as the fourth grade. I was raised by very practical people who believed such daydreams and hobbies were a distraction, not a gift. Writing was a hobby, not a career that could support you or a family. Wanting to be a writer was considered the same pipe dream as wanting to be a ballerina or a rock star--immature, frivolous and something to be forgotten. So I buried it and flailed at the "proper" course my life was supposed to take.

I married a wonderful, sarcastic, and at times infuriating man and we had three gorgeous little girls. I had a job with  health insurance and a pension. I did it, I grew up. Between the moments that were filled with the joy of being a wife and mother, I was bored out of my skull. Then a miracle happened. I read a book, which one is not important, and joined a fandom. In this fandom I found some kindred spirits who were as much in love with sexy bad boys and supernatural creatures as I was. I saw Melissa Marr on a panel at FaerieCon one year call this "finding your tribe". Well, I had found mine.

These wonderful, fabulous and relentless new friends became beta readers when they dared me to go out and chase my dream. I shuddered. Oh dear God, these people expect me to write something and let other people see it! They had lost their ever lovin' minds!

I looked at my (at the time) two amazing daughters and all the incredible potential in them. I looked at the wide world around them filled with wonder and cruelty and hope and despair and I thought, I have to do this. Who better than me to show them to reach for the stars? Who better than me, to tell them anything is possible, everything is within their grasp, and the only way they can truly fail is to not try? This is said much better in the distraction99 blog post "Becoming the Person I Want My Daughters to Be", by Kristin Halbrook, part of author Nova Ren Suma's fabulous Turning Points blog series.
Rachel Vincent wrote a blog post once detailing her journey as a writer for Deadline Dames, and it resonated with me so strongly that I never forgot it. I learned that all writers face self doubt, cynicism and fear. I wasn't a special, fragile little snowflake. But the love of it all, the simple need to write is something we all share on our journey no matter how different the road may be. That need had never really left me, I just needed to reclaim it.

Something I did very slowly. Every day I had a few more words than the day before. I swore, I whined, I wept. I kept going. Eventually, I had a novel. I decided that plotters probably drink less than pansters and I would always have a plan in future. Just like that, I was thinking about the future. My future. As a writer.

I've come a long way since those first days of stark raving terror, and can only thank the betas that refused to let me give up and the wonderful man I married who softens his snark with undying support. I love you all to the appropriate degrees, and I hope I earn the faith you've placed in me.