Kelly, thank you so much for your advice. This was such an informative UA-cam video for me. I really appreciate your integrity and realistic approach on the process. I especially liked your comment on "challenging yourself to send out queries". I believe that will be a small victory for me to get to the point where I can send 25 queries out before the end of summer 2020". I'm very excited that I've accomplished my goal to complete my children's book including illustrations! I'm definitely ready for the next step. Thanks again for your encouragement and enthusiasm. Wish me luck!
Congratulations on accomplishing your goal, that is outstanding! Keep going, and be proud of how far you've come. We are so happy that the video has been helpful. Please let us know how the next phase of your journey goes.
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm writing a novel right now and I have quite a few completed manuscripts sitting in a drawer! Your video is excellent and so informative. I'm excited to get started on the journey!
Great information. I am a Kurdish American and I have been working as a linguist for U.S military in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2005. I almost finished writing my novel based on my experience with U.S military in Iraqi Kurdistan and my life under the tyranny Saddam Hussein.
Landing an agent is extraordinarily difficult. I have been trying for many years and still have not succeeded. I have tried every approach, except going to a literary conference and getting to know an agent. I feel landing an agent may be like so much else is in this world, its who one knows.
Thank you for the very helpful information you gave. I am a trying hard writer. Trying to reweite my mystery novel. It is very hard for me to look for an agent on my first novel. Only a cellphone I can use. I will do what you recommended. Thank you and God bless
Very helpful video. Thank you I am trying to publish my first book. A childen's book. My dilemma: Everyone suggests sending paragraphs in the Query letter. My entire children's book is about 8 paragraphs long. Any suggestions??
Great question! Regardless of the length of the book itself, a query letter for fiction should be 300 words or less. The goal is to introduce the story’s hook and central conflict. If you have any relevant experience (for example you’re a veterinarian and this is a book about animals) you may include that as well. Before querying an agent, check the agency website for guidelines. If an agent wants you to submit a portion of your book, they’ll definitely specify. If they aren’t requesting it, stick to the query itself.
So where are the agents? A great video to the process, but now where to find the agents and who to send queries to? Wish you said that in the beginning of the video.
PublishersMarketplace.com is an excellent resource to discover agents that work on your kind of book. You have to pay a membership fee, but it’s fairly low. You can also look in the acknowledgements section at the back of books in your genre to see if they thank their agent.
All right. So I'm just about done with this young adult fantasy novel with their magic creature friends. I want it traditionally publish it and I'm just starting editing. What's going to be my best bet for finding a literary agent for this, do you think please? One of the big guns or should I try a smaller literary agent and if so where would I find them? I did the Google song and dance and I don't think that was the right way. Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Thanks for your comment! Another way to find agents is finding books that are similar to yours and seeing who the agent was. Then you can research them, maybe follow them on social media, and see what they're looking for. But don't query over social media! Publishers like to publish books that are similar because they know they will sell. Start with similar titles, do the research, and when you're ready, you'll know who/where to query. Hope this helps!
Very helpful video. I've learned a lot of what you said over the years. Any advice on how to build a twitter relationship with an agent without seeming overbearing about your book?
Hi Russell, I'm glad that you enjoyed the video! Here's a link that will help you in the agent process: resources.knliterary.com/how-to-find-an-agent?r_done=1 Also, I would say that it's important to not appear overbearing! Look for common ground, take it slow, and use my above resource as a guide.
@@knliteraryarts Thanks very much! I appreciate your help. I've just finished my novel after 5 years of writing, re-writing, writing and editing query and synopsis. A lot more to it than I expected, but the agent part will surely by the hardest. I'm hoping for the best though! Thanks again!
What kind of agency? If you're asking if you should pay to publish, the answer is no! But paying to have services like editing, ghost writing or coaching can all really help get your manuscript in top form in order to be picked up by an agent or publishing house.
@@user-dx4cc8sn1e You should not pay a literary agency to take you on. Many of them are scams. Make sure to do your research on agencies---there are lots of resources out there online and in libraries to see if agencies are legitimate or not.
5:05 Here's the problem with that: this approach MAKES SURE that whatever gets accepted, will be very similar to something that was already written before. i.e boring, repetitive, NOT original - which is what people actually want. They want something new. Something they've never seen before. And so basically, when you write something original, you're screwed. Because agents only accept manuscripts that are similar to what's done before -- and by it's very definition, "Original" means something that was never done before.
We don’t believe our recommendations will produce anything that is either boring our repetitive! We do think that books need to be in conversation with other books out there, and with the lived experience of people in the world-but that leaves room for so much creativity-and originality. We see this every day, and it’s why we love the work we do!
Raed Sultan I understand what you mean but you’re not understanding the process. If Agents want something similar to what they’ve done before, or are looking for something specific, that doesn’t mean they’re indirectly asking for something unoriginal. The same agent may want to represent both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson because it is what they’re looking for (MG fantasy) but that doesn’t mean they’re not original from even one another, because they are. Agents want what they ask for for many reasons, and may reject other work despite the being amazing, but if someone wants fantasy MG but you’re giving them adult science fiction, even tho it may be amazing, they won’t represent. That is vastly different than asking for the same thing over and over again
I am a female, but I write mostly about male characters. Now honestly I have nothing against females because I'm a female myself. I'm all woman, but I refuse to have a female literary agent or have female characters as my protagonist here's why. I tell a better story with having a male protagonist than a woman and second female literary agents is not interested in hearing books about a male protagonist or they're not interested in crime fiction, only men are interested in a book with a male protagonist, only men are interested in a story that has little cast of females but most men in the book and I notice in my books it's mostly men and less women in the book, and last but not least women are only interested in nonfiction books, young adult, or historical fiction. So women are the last people I would want as a literary agent. I prefer a men as an agent because they like what I write. They like horror and crime and that's what I write.
I have tried them all none work? Agents are a strange group? Even one of the Big 5 publishers wrote a good review put on the back page and my publisher not one of the Big 5 has given my new fiction book a gold seal!-The Gold Seal of Literary Excellence is a proof of support for your book with superior literary work. Gold Seal of Literary Excellence gives you the chance to have your work stand out from other titles. It acts as an immediate reference for traditional publishers, movie producers, book investors, library directors or readers in choosing their next literary experience. Your book cover will have a Gold Seal stamp, distinguishing it from other published books.
If somebody needs the so-called "developmental editor" to develop their characters and story, that person should not be trying to get published at all. That simply means s/he does not have a talent for writing. Such person can write for her/himself, of course. The "developmental editors" particularly "love" engineers with a lot of money who also crave fame. They are willing to help them write their stories, of course, for a hefty reimbursement and more often than not with no guarantee that their books will ever be published. Pay attention to the fact that most editors have never published anything or anything significant, but they allegedly know how to help others get published. It is all business.
I’ve written 5 self published books that are selling well, but I still refuse to use a literary agent. They are too subjective yet Clem it’s all about money. Readers don’t care about the same issues these arrogant gate keepers do. Look at fifty shades of gray, lack of correct grammar, bad editing, yet look at its success. Literally agents are a dying breed , don’t waste your time. Find a good editor and a outside distributor. You will get to keep all 98% of royalties. Traditional publishing will be gone in about 4-5 years.
Thanks for your comment Ray. Self-publishing is definitely becoming the way of the future and we encourage our writers to go in that direction if it seems like the best fit for them. If someone has a traditionally published dream however, literary agents are a must! There will always be an occasional 50 Shades success, but for getting in the door with traditional publishers, literary agents can be that key for the typical new author.
I'm writing my first fiction book right now. This video was super informative for me. Thanks so much!
Congrats on your project. So exciting! We are glad you found the video helpful. Let us know how it goes for you.
Kelly, thank you so much for your advice. This was such an informative UA-cam video for me. I really appreciate your integrity and realistic approach on the process. I especially liked your comment on "challenging yourself to send out queries". I believe that will be a small victory for me to get to the point where I can send 25 queries out before the end of summer 2020". I'm very excited that I've accomplished my goal to complete my children's book including illustrations! I'm definitely ready for the next step. Thanks again for your encouragement and enthusiasm. Wish me luck!
Congratulations on accomplishing your goal, that is outstanding! Keep going, and be proud of how far you've come. We are so happy that the video has been helpful. Please let us know how the next phase of your journey goes.
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm writing a novel right now and I have quite a few completed manuscripts sitting in a drawer! Your video is excellent and so informative. I'm excited to get started on the journey!
Hi Kim! Thank you so much for watching 😊 Happy writing!
Jesus! You're like a shotgun of knowledge. So much value in this clip. Thanks a lot. Subscribed
LOL, thanks for your kind comment. We are glad that you are finding the videos valuable. Happy to help. Thanks for subscribing!
Great information. I am a Kurdish American and I have been working as a linguist for U.S military in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2005. I almost finished writing my novel based on my experience with U.S military in Iraqi Kurdistan and my life under the tyranny Saddam Hussein.
Thanks for your comment, Karzan! We hope this video helps you find the representation you need for your important book.
Great info for all of us about to query. Thanks. I did miss a mention to query tracker which is helping me a lot.
Landing an agent is extraordinarily difficult. I have been trying for many years and still have not succeeded. I have tried every approach, except going to a literary conference and getting to know an agent. I feel landing an agent may be like so much else is in this world, its who one knows.
Thank you for the very helpful information you gave. I am a trying hard writer. Trying to reweite my mystery novel. It is very hard for me to look for an agent on my first novel. Only a cellphone I can use. I will do what you recommended. Thank you and God bless
Thank you and best of luck to you. You can do it!
Good pointers. Thank you for sharing the information
What a wonderful, generous, and helpful video. Merci!
De rien! I hope I'm saying that correctly :) Thanks for watching. We are so glad that you found the content helpful!
Thank you so much for the encouraging message at the end. I needed that :)
You are so welcome. Always happy to provide some encouragement!
Awesome advice! This is super informational!
You're very welcome!
Thank you!
You're so welcome!
Very helpful video. Thank you I am trying to publish my first book. A childen's book. My dilemma: Everyone suggests sending paragraphs in the Query letter. My entire children's book is about 8 paragraphs long. Any suggestions??
Great question! Regardless of the length of the book itself, a query letter for fiction should be 300 words or less. The goal is to introduce the story’s hook and central conflict. If you have any relevant experience (for example you’re a veterinarian and this is a book about animals) you may include that as well. Before querying an agent, check the agency website for guidelines. If an agent wants you to submit a portion of your book, they’ll definitely specify. If they aren’t requesting it, stick to the query itself.
Ive written over 6 non-fictions now.. I just dont know how to get it noticed.
So where are the agents? A great video to the process, but now where to find the agents and who to send queries to? Wish you said that in the beginning of the video.
PublishersMarketplace.com is an excellent resource to discover agents that work on your kind of book. You have to pay a membership fee, but it’s fairly low. You can also look in the acknowledgements section at the back of books in your genre to see if they thank their agent.
All right. So I'm just about done with this young adult fantasy novel with their magic creature friends. I want it traditionally publish it and I'm just starting editing.
What's going to be my best bet for finding a literary agent for this, do you think please?
One of the big guns or should I try a smaller literary agent and if so where would I find them?
I did the Google song and dance and I don't think that was the right way.
Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Thanks for your comment! Another way to find agents is finding books that are similar to yours and seeing who the agent was. Then you can research them, maybe follow them on social media, and see what they're looking for. But don't query over social media! Publishers like to publish books that are similar because they know they will sell. Start with similar titles, do the research, and when you're ready, you'll know who/where to query. Hope this helps!
Very helpful video. I've learned a lot of what you said over the years. Any advice on how to build a twitter relationship with an agent without seeming overbearing about your book?
Hi Russell, I'm glad that you enjoyed the video! Here's a link that will help you in the agent process:
resources.knliterary.com/how-to-find-an-agent?r_done=1
Also, I would say that it's important to not appear overbearing! Look for common ground, take it slow, and use my above resource as a guide.
@@knliteraryarts Thanks very much! I appreciate your help. I've just finished my novel after 5 years of writing, re-writing, writing and editing query and synopsis. A lot more to it than I expected, but the agent part will surely by the hardest. I'm hoping for the best though! Thanks again!
Do agents help me in marketing a book?
Yes, they can!
Do you have to pay for a agency?
What kind of agency? If you're asking if you should pay to publish, the answer is no! But paying to have services like editing, ghost writing or coaching can all really help get your manuscript in top form in order to be picked up by an agent or publishing house.
@@knliteraryarts literacy agency
@@user-dx4cc8sn1e You should not pay a literary agency to take you on. Many of them are scams. Make sure to do your research on agencies---there are lots of resources out there online and in libraries to see if agencies are legitimate or not.
@@knliteraryarts thank you
5:05 Here's the problem with that: this approach MAKES SURE that whatever gets accepted, will be very similar to something that was already written before. i.e boring, repetitive, NOT original - which is what people actually want. They want something new. Something they've never seen before.
And so basically, when you write something original, you're screwed. Because agents only accept manuscripts that are similar to what's done before -- and by it's very definition, "Original" means something that was never done before.
We don’t believe our recommendations will produce anything that is either boring our repetitive! We do think that books need to be in conversation with other books out there, and with the lived experience of people in the world-but that leaves room for so much creativity-and originality. We see this every day, and it’s why we love the work we do!
Raed Sultan I understand what you mean but you’re not understanding the process. If Agents want something similar to what they’ve done before, or are looking for something specific, that doesn’t mean they’re indirectly asking for something unoriginal. The same agent may want to represent both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson because it is what they’re looking for (MG fantasy) but that doesn’t mean they’re not original from even one another, because they are. Agents want what they ask for for many reasons, and may reject other work despite the being amazing, but if someone wants fantasy MG but you’re giving them adult science fiction, even tho it may be amazing, they won’t represent. That is vastly different than asking for the same thing over and over again
I am a female, but I write mostly about male characters. Now honestly I have nothing against females because I'm a female myself. I'm all woman, but I refuse to have a female literary agent or have female characters as my protagonist here's why. I tell a better story with having a male protagonist than a woman and second female literary agents is not interested in hearing books about a male protagonist or they're not interested in crime fiction, only men are interested in a book with a male protagonist, only men are interested in a story that has little cast of females but most men in the book and I notice in my books it's mostly men and less women in the book, and last but not least women are only interested in nonfiction books, young adult, or historical fiction. So women are the last people I would want as a literary agent. I prefer a men as an agent because they like what I write. They like horror and crime and that's what I write.
That's for watching and leaving a comment!
I have tried them all none work? Agents are a strange group? Even one of the Big 5 publishers wrote a good review put on the back page and my publisher not one of the Big 5 has given my new fiction book a gold seal!-The Gold Seal of Literary Excellence is a proof of support for your book with superior literary work. Gold Seal of Literary Excellence gives you the chance to have your work stand out from other titles. It acts as an immediate reference for traditional publishers, movie producers, book investors, library directors or readers in choosing their next literary experience. Your book cover will have a Gold Seal stamp, distinguishing it from other published books.
If somebody needs the so-called "developmental editor" to develop their characters and story, that person should not be trying to get published at all. That simply means s/he does not have a talent for writing. Such person can write for her/himself, of course. The "developmental editors" particularly "love" engineers with a lot of money who also crave fame. They are willing to help them write their stories, of course, for a hefty reimbursement and more often than not with no guarantee that their books will ever be published. Pay attention to the fact that most editors have never published anything or anything significant, but they allegedly know how to help others get published. It is all business.
I’ve written 5 self published books that are selling well, but I still refuse to use a literary agent. They are too subjective yet Clem it’s all about money. Readers don’t care about the same issues these arrogant gate keepers do. Look at fifty shades of gray, lack of correct grammar, bad editing, yet look at its success. Literally agents are a dying breed , don’t waste your time. Find a good editor and a outside distributor. You will get to keep all 98% of royalties. Traditional publishing will be gone in about 4-5 years.
Thanks for your comment Ray. Self-publishing is definitely becoming the way of the future and we encourage our writers to go in that direction if it seems like the best fit for them. If someone has a traditionally published dream however, literary agents are a must! There will always be an occasional 50 Shades success, but for getting in the door with traditional publishers, literary agents can be that key for the typical new author.