Agents' grapevine (or blacklist)?

I'm trying to remember, but recently on PW I saw notice of a publisher who was focusing on memoirs. Maybe someone else remembers this more clearly?

Honestly, they're a tough sell. Walk-on cameos of Somebodies are not really enough, if the writer isn't also Somebody. If your heart is set on selling your first book, you might have better luck slanting it as fiction and changing the real events just enough to be safe.

You might also consider breaking the story up into smaller, self-contained parts, and submitting it to lifestyle and literary magazines.

Katrina S. Forest said:

Also, a lot more agents are simply not answering if they're not interested nowadays. It's no different than a form rejection, though it certainly feels worse.

If you think you've got another book in you (and I'm assuming if you're looking for agent, you do), write that book and use the in you got from previous agents who almost said yes to your advantage. They know you can write. Now they just want a book they can sell.

Best of luck!

Click to expand...

Yeah, this is my experience as well. I've basically shortened my query bursts to 2 weeks apart. No response = Rejection. Though I have been surprised. Some agents respond in 30 minutes. Some respond in 6 months.

I agree, it feels worse... but then again, "feeling" when it comes to the query process has just about been bled dry. Once I have a query I feel is good, it just becomes a process. Pitch 6-20 (depending on ambition levels/confidence with the query), analyze results. Nothing good? Rewrite, do a round of revisions on QLH... Pitch 6-20 more.

I've never run out of agents to query before I ran out of patience with my novel... and by the time I've hit around 100 agents queried, my next novel is usually ready to be pitched and is always better than the last one I wrote, so I just start over with the new novel and retire the one I was pitching to the Bottom Drawer.

Once I get a book deal, I'll have my agent raid my bottom drawer, see if there's any manuscripts she feels could be marketable.

I like your approach, Mharvey. And I do think a lot of authors end up having a few MSses in the bottom drawer which end up being published at a later date. I kinda wish I had a few rough first drafts at least in my bottom drawer.