Getting an Agent in Lit. Fiction
- Thread starter FranzineK
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I would post your first few pages and your query letter in SYW. It could be you've broken some rules with your query letter or that, despite what you think, you first few pages are unneeded or aren't grabbing enough.
You can't justify a boring start by saying that it's just what your story is or just what you want it to be. You have to write a beginning that makes people want to read it, no matter what (unless I suppose, you self publish).
In terms of agents that haven't had any literary clients, I would suspect it's not going to be as advantageous as a prominent literary agent, but it's definitely going to be better than nothing.
You can't justify a boring start by saying that it's just what your story is or just what you want it to be. You have to write a beginning that makes people want to read it, no matter what (unless I suppose, you self publish).
In terms of agents that haven't had any literary clients, I would suspect it's not going to be as advantageous as a prominent literary agent, but it's definitely going to be better than nothing.
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FranzineK - I could've written your post. I'm a year and a half into querying my own "quirky female character-driven lit fiction" with no success story to show for it. In fact, with three requests out, I'd say you're ahead of the game. Query Letter Hell has surely tired of my countless attempts and I've posted many versions of my beginning in SYW and elsewhere. I do agree with Chalula88 that, no matter the genre, you still have to grab the reader from the onset. Wish I had some tips for you but, like I said, I've failed miserably. Wishing you better luck.
You say you're feeling too judged by your first few pages, but that's how the industry goes. It could be that there is something with those pages that isn't grabbing the agents who rejected your work. As mentioned upthread, try posting them in SYW and see what everyone thinks. On the other hand, you did get requests for two fulls and a partial, so three agents must have liked your first few pages enough to ask for more.
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Like I said, I didn't want to argue about the first few pages. It's a subjective process, esp for this genre. 10 pages that may seem uninteresting to one person may seem brilliant with a referral, which is how much lit fiction gets through. Also, my first 10 pages are good enough for three agents, one of whom is a superstar. My gripe was more about literary fiction as a genre having a lower request rate.
I'd like to keep this thread on topic to the questions I asked, which is - what agents are good to query for lit fiction and open to submissions? Any suggestions are welcome. Would love to pool research on this topic.
If anyone knows whether it's important to have an agent who has already sold literary fiction specifically, I would also like your opinion. Should I sign with an agent who has mostly sold YA or commercial fiction if that's the offer I get? It was discussed elsewhere on this site that most agents put down literary fiction as a genre they rep but end up repping solely commercial, YA, non-fiction etc. if you consult their client lists. How likely are these agents to have relationships with lit fiction imprints? Perhaps I'll repost this question in the ask the agent section.
Anyone who has written lit fiction and is frustrated with the lower request rate for the genre is also welcome to commiserate. =) I've browsed many boards and blogs and have found virtually no online community of people who write in this genre, so I started this thread to find like-minded folks. Thanks!
I'd like to keep this thread on topic to the questions I asked, which is - what agents are good to query for lit fiction and open to submissions? Any suggestions are welcome. Would love to pool research on this topic.
If anyone knows whether it's important to have an agent who has already sold literary fiction specifically, I would also like your opinion. Should I sign with an agent who has mostly sold YA or commercial fiction if that's the offer I get? It was discussed elsewhere on this site that most agents put down literary fiction as a genre they rep but end up repping solely commercial, YA, non-fiction etc. if you consult their client lists. How likely are these agents to have relationships with lit fiction imprints? Perhaps I'll repost this question in the ask the agent section.
Anyone who has written lit fiction and is frustrated with the lower request rate for the genre is also welcome to commiserate. =) I've browsed many boards and blogs and have found virtually no online community of people who write in this genre, so I started this thread to find like-minded folks. Thanks!
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Try researching authors who write similar to you and find out who represents them. If an agent is enthusiastic about your novel, they will work hard to find a publisher for it.
I've never heard of a discrepancy between request rates for literary and genre fiction. It may have something to do with marketing.
Good luck.
I'm also querying literary fiction with a "quirky" female MC. I'm only on my second batch of queries (third batch will go out in Jan. after the two-month window for the second batch is up), but I haven't had many bites. I'm still waiting on seven agents, but I found that the agents who did request materials did so immediately (within a few days of receiving the query), so I don't have high hopes for the seven unanswered queries.
It is frustrating to target agents who say they want edgy, dark literary fiction -- the best descriptor of my novel, I think -- and then hear nothing back. I guess that's the name of the game with querying, but commiserating with you sounded good after a disappointing couple of months.
Good luck with your future queries and with the requested materials you have out!
Literary fiction as a genre has a lower request rate, as you put it, because literary fiction as a genre has a lower sales rate.
If it's hard for you to pitch it like a movie trailer, it's going to be hard for your agent to turn around and pitch it that way too.
Representing literary fiction is harder -- and less frequently rewarding. That's just reality.
If it's hard for you to pitch it like a movie trailer, it's going to be hard for your agent to turn around and pitch it that way too.
Representing literary fiction is harder -- and less frequently rewarding. That's just reality.
Literary fiction as a genre has a lower request rate, as you put it, because literary fiction as a genre has a lower sales rate.
If it's hard for you to pitch it like a movie trailer, it's going to be hard for your agent to turn around and pitch it that way too.
Representing literary fiction is harder -- and less frequently rewarding. That's just reality.
Yes, this is true. And I'm glad that you recognize that this is the basis of my complaint in the query process. I might delete my post as I'm tired of hearing from people who don't understand literary fiction is a genre and not a self-important descriptor, and that it is a genre that inherently is difficult to query unless the novel is also, say, a thriller.
There are agents who pick up literary fiction, knowing it has a low chance of selling for very much money, but they do it for the love of the form. The problem is that most agents put "literary fiction" down as a category, so it can be difficult to use Agent Query to sift through agents, as most of these people are not actually requesting much, if any, literary fiction for the reasons you stated.
There's another thread in this section in which someone posts that a lit fic author mainly has to be in NYC networking in the right crowds to get in with those agents who do actually seek out these kinds of books, and there's definitely truth to that.
Oh, thanks for clearing that up. It's going to be disappointing for any non-US writers out there - but hey! better to know the rules early...
ETA: (Just for us hapless non-US writers - it's not true. Cheer up. There are entire Other Countries out there, and they have writers who write lit fic. And even get published. Your country might just be one of them.)
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And your country may have publishers more likely to take a chance with fellow countrymen. The market may be tiny (or rather, even tinier) in comparison to the US market but that's where I look, if I had the choice.
Well many say literary fiction because it depends more on style, psychological depth, and characters than it does on plot and narrative. (Wikipedia) It doesn't necessarily mean that they are saying it is inherently superior or anything like that.
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Literary fiction as a genre has a lower request rate, as you put it, because literary fiction as a genre has a lower sales rate.
If it's hard for you to pitch it like a movie trailer, it's going to be hard for your agent to turn around and pitch it that way too.
Representing literary fiction is harder -- and less frequently rewarding. That's just reality.
When literary fiction sells, though, it really sells, and it can sometimes do so for a very long time. Think Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, Orange Prize, etc. All of those novels are considered literary fiction, and that puts them on the road to greater sales over the long haul.
Books in this category are usually the genre chosen for high school and college reading, and the most successful get referred to over and over again as benchmarks for various things in their genre, which keeps those authors' names and works circulating in people's awareness.
Tons of literary fiction has done well in film. Off the top of my head, I can think of A River Runs Through It, Brokeback Mountain, The Shipping News, The Color Purple, Beloved, The House of Sand and Fog... Literary doesn't equal boring and plotless. It's just its own category.
I haven't seen any real distinction in response rates between literary queries and other queries. My current query-go-round has roughly 10% request rate for a "literary" book, which is actually slightly higher than the request rate I had for the urban fantasy book that got me an agent.
As for your second question, yes, an agent who has never sold a literary book before will be at a disadvantage compared to one who has. He/she may have fewer contacts with editors who would be interested.
As for your second question, yes, an agent who has never sold a literary book before will be at a disadvantage compared to one who has. He/she may have fewer contacts with editors who would be interested.
A great place to start is Publishers Marketplace. If you sign up for a membership, you can see who is selling what to whom and get invaluable information on which agents are selling books similar to your own (most listings include a blurb about the book). Worth every penny to a querying literary fiction writer like yourself, IMHO.
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
There is nothing wrong with just querying it as a "novel," without describing it by genre. Hopefully it will be clear from your query body that it leans toward the literary (for Graz's benefit, that means it's focused more on character development/internal character conflict than on fast plot/external conflict.) But it is a fallacy that you MUST identify your book by genre in a query letter. All you MUST do in a query is make the agent desire to read your book.
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