STEP 6: Finding A Literary Agent

Okay, you've written a treatment, developed your characters, poured your heart into a manuscript, edited your work, dazzled your loved ones, and you had at least one other pair of eyes read your work to give you some feedback. Now you want to make the jump from writing a book to getting it published. You'll need two things:

1. An agent.
2. Thick skin.

Publishers are inundated with manuscripts everyday. In order to get your work looked at, you'll need representation. A literary agent's job is to bring your work to publishers and get it read. But first you have to find an agent.

After I finished the original manuscript for my first novel, MEG (originally titled White Death), I purchased a book entitled "How to Get Published." Like many of you, I had no "ins" or distant relatives in the business, I was starting out from scratch. The book contained a list of literary agents, each firm describing the genres they were most interested in (fiction, non-fiction, romance, etc.) and instructions on how to contact them.

As a first step, almost every agent asks for a 2-page query letter describing your story. They do NOT want the manuscript unless they are interested in your story. Agents also ask you to provide a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). . .to make it easier to reject you.
Ouch.

This is where the tough skin comes in. You are about to enter a field where rejection is the norm. If you can't PERSEVERE through this phase, you won't make it. That's why I talked about setting those goals in STEP 4. Because now more than ever, you need to remind yourself what your goal is and how badly you want to achieve it. Remember: If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it.

Having been in sales, my philosophy was simple: I was going to send a 2-page query letter to every literary agent that handled fiction. First I developed my 2-page query letter. Extremely important: Make sure you compose a letter that SELLS YOUR STORY. Next, I started with the As and went through the Zs. Mailed those puppies out and prayed... ENTER REJECTION. Of the 65 letters I sent, I received 28 responses on a 3 X 5 card with my name scrawled in pencil (usually misspelled) that basically said THANKS BUT WE HAVE ENOUGH CLIENTS. I received 4 letters from agents who asked to see the first 3-5 chapters. The other agents? I never heard back from them. Of the four agents who asked to see chapters, only one was interested in working with me. One out of 65! But I only needed one, right? Ken Atchity in Los Angeles believed WHITE DEATH would make a great book and movie, but first the manuscript needed a ton of editing. Ken describes it like this: Editing is like cutting a fish, first you chop off its head and tail, then you get to the meat. Ken also felt:

A) My manuscript took too long to get to the action.
B) There was no central hero.
C) The book droned on too much about science.

Ken made me an offer. He would assign a member of his editing team to work with me, but I had to pay the editor's fees. The cost: $6,000. Gulp. I was broke, supporting (barely) a family of five. Now a man who I had never met wanted more money than I had earned in the last six months to edit a book that still might never be published. And no, he wasn't about to do the work, then collect later. No other agents were interested. What to do? At some point you too may come to this fork in the road. I can't advise you here. You have to weigh your priorities. Me, I was miserable in my job as a door-to-door salesman. I had to make a change. I had to believe that I was going to make it. I have also always believed that goals cannot be achieved without sacrifice. I preached this to my basketball players when I was coaching. Now it was time to put my money where my mouth was.

Sacrifice #1: I had worked nights and weekends to finish the book.
Sacrifice #2: I owned a ‘71 Malibu convertible my father had bought me when I was seventeen. I realized it was time to sell it. With that money, and money I borrowed from loved ones, I paid for AEI's editing fees.

Ken's editor, David Angsten, taught me a lot about pacing. He'd edit a few chapters, even create new scenes, then I'd go in and edit his work. After a while, I understood where he was going and took over. Six months later, a new story: MEG; A Novel of Deep Terror was created. Ken was happy but not satisfied. He had me hire another editor, Ed Stackler, to do a line edit. Ed did a terrific job with Meg. He really tightened the writing and taught me a lot. Some of you may be wondering if all these editors were necessary. For some of you they might be, for others no. To me, these were my first real teachers. I knew I had a great story to tell, I knew I could write action, but I was inexperienced. A few basics I learned:

1. Format: manuscripts should be double-spaced in a 12-point font. Seems like a little thing, but no one had ever taught me that.
2. Every story needs a central protagonist (hero) and antagonist (villain). I had lumped a team of people to catch the Megalodon.
3. Jump into the action ASAP. My first chapter with the MEG vs. T-Rex helped sell the story, but then I drifted a bit. By cutting out the fat, I streamlined the action.

Finally, the manuscript was finished. It had taken me from August 1st, 1995 to January 15th to write White Death, then February 1st through September 10th to edit it into MEG. Since January, I had been working as a sales manager at a local meat company. The owner had promoted me to General Manager so he could retire and I could referee battles between his son and step-sons. My job was to unite the family to manage the business. Guess I united the family a bit too well.
On Friday, September 13th, 1996, I went to my J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) and learned I had been fired. I thanks the family and went home, convinced it was the best thing that could have happened.

That weekend, Ken sent MEG and a one-page treatment for a second book (eventually the story that would become DOMAIN) to the biggest Publishing Houses in the country. MEG had a decided advantage over other manuscripts. Months earlier, Ken and producer Warren Zide had secured a deal with Hollywood Pictures (Disney) to option Meg as a movie. Although I hadn't been paid yet, things looked promising. A two-day bidding war yielded a huge two-book deal with Bantam-Doubleday. By setting a goal to become a writer, I had changed my life for the better.
Little did I know, the roller-coaster ride and my education were about to begin. . .

Coming Soon Step-7 : Prepare for the "What-If"

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