Thursday, April 12, 2007

Miss Snark

By Precision Editor

Has anyone read her blog? Several of my author friends have recommended reading her stuff--she's a literary agent who tells it like it is.

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

Today she replied to a question from an author who is querying agents and publishers. She told them to stop querying the publishers and focus on the agents.

I agree to a point. But several authors I know found a publisher first, then an agent. Sometimes it's easier that way. Also an agent is more likely to sign you on if you have a contract pending. Who wouldn't? 10% of something is more than 10% of nothing.

In another blog http://mywriterslair.blogspot.com/ (April 3, 2007), I recapped a presentation given by fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson. He also found a publisher before his agent signed him. Obviously there are some publishers who don't accept unagented submissions, so you can't query them. But be smart. Don't mass query publishers. If an agent does take you on, it wouldn't be good if all the publishers he/she wants to submit to have already rejected your work.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for setting up this blog. I'm looking forward to it! Oh, and YEAH for Annette!

hi, it's me! melissa c said...

I thank you too. I am not ready for a publisher or agent yet, I am at the beginning of my book still but look forward to using your advice.

Heather Moore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather Moore said...

I agree, Janice. Annette is an awesome editor! I feel like I can't submit any of my books until she's done her magic with a red pen. Maybe we should have called this blog The Red Pen or something. LOL. And Melissa, we've all been there before. Writing that first book is like starting a new career or going back to college. But congrats for getting it going.