BFLA Open Week: Rejections – An Agent Explains

Written by Sian Ellis-Martin

Rejections are a big part of publishing: authors get rejected by agents, manuscripts get rejected by editors, books get rejected by readers, and often we’re not given a reason why.

At Blake Friedmann, we respond to every submission we receive but we aren’t always able to give individual feedback. We receive hundreds of submissions a week and simply don’t have the capacity to do so. It’s easy to assume that your writing is bad if an agent passes on your manuscript, but it’s often not as black and white as that.

 There are lots of reasons why we might pass on a manuscript. Here are some of the main reasons I’ve passed on manuscripts recently:

 Wrong genre

The quickest passes for me are the ones that are simply not in genres I represent. I’m often sent fantasy and sci-fi novels, or scripts and poetry, and these are areas I don’t work in. Not every agent represents every genre, so if you’re submitting to agents, make sure you check agency websites to find out which genres the agents are looking for. You can see more about the Blake Friedmann team here: www.blakefriedmann.co.uk/team

 Pitch is too vague

The first part of your submission we look at is the cover letter, so you’ve got to make sure that your pitch is super strong to make us want to read your chapters. If your pitch is quite vague (e.g. John meets Sarah and they fall in love and live happily ever after) and doesn’t tell us what’s unique about your work, then we might not feel inclined to read the chapters you’ve submitted.

 The opening takes too long

Sometimes people feel that they need to spend a long time setting the scene and introducing the characters at the start of a book. We definitely want to get a sense of the world you’re building, but pages of long description don’t always make for the most exciting reading. Personally, I like a book to start as late as possible i.e. as close to the main action/storyline/narrative thread as possible so that I can get straight into things. Those details about setting and character can be woven into the story as it unfolds.

 The proposal is not detailed enough

In non-fiction, we ask for a proposal outlining certain things about your book, alongside some opening chapters. Make sure you include that detail – the total word count for a proposal is often around 10,000 words including a synopsis, a chapter plan for the entire work, two sample chapters and some information on where your book might sit in the market (and how it stands out from what’s already out there).

 We don’t connect with the voice

This one’s a tricky one as voice is very subjective. Sometimes a book can be well-written and do everything we say we want it to, but there’s just something that we’re not connecting to. Quite often, that’s the narrative voice. As this is so subjective, there’s a big chance that someone else might connect to the voice better than we do.

 Place in the market/target audience

Offering representation to an author is about more than whether we enjoyed the story or thought it was well-written. We also must have a commercial vision for the novel. Obviously, we don’t want to have an exact copy of another book, but we want to be able to imagine where a book sits in the market i.e. some authors and titles it might sit alongside on the shelf. This is why using comparison titles and mentioning who your story is aimed at in your cover letter is very helpful.

 Lots of people say ‘my book isn’t like anyone else’s!’ or ‘every type of person will enjoy my book!’ but these statements are unrealistic, and don’t help us understand what you’re writing. If we can’t think of a way to pitch or market the book, other people in the chain – editor, marketer, bookseller, etc. – may have the same problem.

 Not following submission guidelines

I would never reject something just because it doesn’t follow our submission guidelines, but if we don’t have all the material we need to consider your submission, it makes it more difficult for us to make a decision or consider your work as fully as we’d like to.

 All this is to say that we understand it can be disheartening to be rejected but there are many reasons – beyond the book simply being bad – why an agent might pass.

BFLA Open Week: Top 10 Tips on Submitting to an Agent

Here are Juliet Pickering’s top 10 tips on submitting to an agent…

  1. Once your (whole) novel, or non-fiction proposal, is finished and polished, you’re ready to go! Consider your genre, e.g. is your story crime, romance, literary, speculative – or memoir, history, business, nature writing etc. – or a crossover of two?!

  2. Do your research! You could start somewhere like  Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook or the Acknowledgements in a book’s endpages to check which agencies represent which genres, or simply search online. Then…

  3. Look at agency websites and individual agent pages. Most agents list what they’re looking for & who they represent, to guide you on their tastes. Many also tell you what they DON’T represent! Check you/your book are a fit.

  4. Follow submission guidelines. Each agency will have submission requirements/a page of info, e.g. www.blakefriedmann.co.uk/submissions. Most will ask for cover letter, first three chapters + 250-word synopsis (fiction), or synopsis + proposal if non-fiction.

  5. A non-fiction proposal would usually include a longer synopsis of 500 words max, two sample chapters including introduction/1st chapter, and a detailed chapter plan.

  6. For fiction, if you have shorter/longer chapters and/or a prologue, take the recommended three chapters to mean up to 10,000 words (i.e. stop at a point that feels natural but don’t send a lot more!).

  7. Synopsis should include entire plot/narrative arc of your book, so tell us what happens at the end, or how you conclude. We need to know: main characters, main events/turning points, main emotional journey (fiction) OR narrative style, argument, research (non-fiction)

  8. Cover letter should be personable & professional, introducing book with comparisons to similar books/TV/film, genre, TITLE & word count. Then one-paragraph blurb – intriguing, setting up hook & main characters! – and a short bio about you/your writing.

  9. Let us know you’ve done your research, and why you’re sending to that agent in particular, e.g. ‘You’re looking for a big love story involving older characters and my novel offers that too’; ‘I see you represent *** and my work has similar themes…’

  10. Submit to several agents at once, check in politely after the period indicated on their website and, when one asks for a full manuscript or first meeting, let all the others know! GOOD LUCK!

BFLA OPEN WEEK: TOP TEN TIPS FOR SUBMITTING FICTION

Written by Kate Burke.

  1. Finish your manuscript before approaching agents. If an agent likes what they have read (the usual submission material is a synopsis and the first three chapters but this can vary from agency to agency so do check each agency’s website), they will usually ask for more before making a decision, so it’s ideal to have the material ready to go!

  2. Do your research online and in the Writers and Artists’ Yearbook before submitting to agents. Curate a list of agents who represent the genre you are writing in and whose list/authors you admire. Also check out their deals in the Bookseller, Bookbrunch, on Publishers MarketPlace, and other press outlets.

  3. Tailor each submission email to that particular agent/agency – it gives it a personal touch which can go a long way.

  4. Keep agents informed if anything happens with your manuscript (full requests, meetings, offers of representation). It’s a nice courtesy that is much appreciated.

  5. Please don’t chase agents (unless it’s been a significantly long time). We know the waiting period can be difficult but we will get back to you!

  6. It can help to read broadly and to know the market you’re writing for so it’s worth keeping an eye on weekly bestseller charts, reading the book review sections in the media, following what your friends or local book group are reading. Market knowledge is such a useful asset and can help you pitch your work in your covering email/letter.

  7. If you’re comfortable doing so (no obligation), build up a network on social media, connect with writing communities using relevant hashtags on Twitter (amwriting, amquerying, askagent) as there’s a lot of help, support and information out there. Follow other writers as lots of them post valuable tips, threads and videos on writing and submitting, and on the publishing process in general.

  8. Listen to feedback – even if an agent passes on your work, they might give you some constructive feedback that could prove useful when revising your manuscript.

  9. No agency should ask you for money or charge you for editing your work. We – agents – work for writers and only take commission on payments that come in as a result of deals we secured for you.

  10. If you are offered representation, read the agency’s client agreement carefully, ask any questions you may have before you sign with them. There is no rush and no agent should make you feel pressured or give you a deadline for your decision.

29 Ways NOT To Submit To An Agent by Carole Blake

This post originally appeared on Lucy Hay's Bang2Write blog and continues to be once of her most visited pages! Here's what Lucy says: 

Many thanks to Carole Blake from the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency for providing a VERY comprehensive list on how NOT to submit to an agent. This is a fab list and  I have actually had a number 27 myself!! Maybe it was the same lady? 

1. No gimmicks. Don’t send food, flowers – or anything else. Food goes straight into the bin … just in case. I’ve read lots of crime fiction.

I once received a large parcel that weighed almost nothing. Inside was a rubbish bin and a letter saying the writer assumed the submission would end up there so was sending me one to speed up the process. The partial for a crime novel that was attached looked rather good. I left the bin, letter & ms on my desk. Next morning our office cleaner had removed the contents and put the rubbish bin neatly next to my desk. There was no way to contact the author despite a story on our website and some tweets … That was the end of that.

2. Your own cover design. They almost always look very amateur. A publisher will produce a professional design that takes account of the current market. Even thinking that they might take your design marks you out as amateur.

3. Any kind of jokey letter making fun of the publishing business – I bet this won’t get read etc. In the cold morning light of a busy office – not funny. See no 1.

4. Don’t trash other authors – they might be my clients

5. Don’t send a first draft. Let it sit for some weeks after finishing. Then read & revise. Better to do that before you get a rejection.

6. Don’t keep sending further corrected versions. Revise first & let it sit before submitting.

7. Don’t send again once rejected, unless I’ve invited you to.

8. Don’t send in overly elaborate packaging. I am thinking of a full manuscript, in a lever arch file (duh!) wrapped first in plastic film, then in 2 layers of corrugated cardboard, then brown paper sellotaped around the ENTIRE package. Then in more brown paper. By the time my office had fought our way in to it I hated it already. See no 24.

9. Don’t mark it “private & confidential”. It’s not: it’s a business transaction. I don’t want to come back from a trip abroad to find an unopened unsolicited manuscript on my desk.

10. Don’t make spelling mistakes in the covering email or letter. Or the ms. And don’t rely on spellchecker: read it all the way through several times. See 5 and 6 above.

11. Don’t write the covering letter or email in the voice of one of your characters. I recently received a letter written in the voice of a gorilla. It’s annoying.

12.Don’t send 3 mss with one submission, all in different genres – it shows you’re not thinking about the market and how it works.

13. Don’t have a silly email address. I recently had a submission from someone whose email address was ‘blahblah’. And don’t share an email address with your spouse. This is business correspondence: you need to look professional. Your own email address costs nothing.

14. Don’t say you’re sending your ‘fiction novel’. If you don’t know how to use language, you shouldn’t be writing a book.

15. Don’t write to me abusively after I’ve rejected your ms. Publishing is a small world. And bad manners won’t make me want to work with you. See attached, from an author complaining that we won’t take his work which is in a genre our website makes it clear we don’t work with.

16. Don’t say you’ve read my book from cover to cover and then proceed to offer me a manuscript in a genre I’ve clearly stated I don’t work with.

17. Don’t send your ms in a fancy font, difficult to read. Keep it simple.

18. Don’t email with a peculiar colour background. Keep it simple.

19. Don’t openly email 50 agents at once (I’ve had them!), with all the email addresses shown. At least try to pretend you’ve selected me because you think we would make a perfect team.

20. Don’t tell me you’ve been recommended by a friend of mine and then mention someone I’ve never heard of.

21. Don’t compare your own writing to literary greats: it will only provoke me to disagree. Modesty is more attractive, and allows me to form my own opinion.

22. Don’t plead for individual feedback once I’ve rejected your ms. I received 1000s of submissions a year: there just isn’t time. And I do have to spend some time working for the authors I do actually represent.

23. Don’t tell me your family and friends love your ms. They love you: they are biased.

24. Don’t send me a paper ms. Not any more. See no 25.

25. This perhaps ought to be No 1: do NOT submit to me until you have checked out our agency website and read the submission guidelines. Do NOT. Just do NOT. It’s in your own interest.

26. Do NOT pitch your novel to me at breakfast during a writers festival. If I have to explain why, you may not have read the previous 25 points properly

27. Do NOT slip your synopsis under the door of the ladies loo I am occupying. It happened. Once. I suspect that woman will never do it again.

28. If we are chatting at a cocktail party and you have pitched me your novel, and I say, ‘I can’t take in verbal pitches, I need to read storylines, but please do send it to me.’ do not – under any circumstances – tell me the story all over again. And then do the same thing at the next 3 parties we both attend. This happened to me. I will never knowingly occupy the same room as that novelist ever again.

29. Do NOT submit to me on Facebook or Twitter. Chat, yes. Become friends perhaps: but social media is social. It’s not for stalking or submitting. I block people for doing that.

Why 29? Because if I don’t stop there I might go on forever, instancing all the time-wasting submissions I’ve seen over the years. But – you know what? I still get a tingle when I open new submissions … there is sometimes gold in those emailed submissions mountains!

Agents Don't...

Partly inspired by a twist on Richard Charkin's recent talk and his 'Don'ts for Publishers', we've turned this on its head and instead put together a list of Agents Don't…’, intended to debunk some common myths about agents, or help explain how and why we agent!

 Agents Don't…

1. Publish your books. We seek a publisher for your book, and ensure your work is in the hands of a great editor and their team of marketers, publicists, digital experts and sales people.

2. Earn anything until you do. We work on a commission basis, so we only get paid when our authors do! This ensures that it's in everyone's best interests to take a book that's in the most appealing shape possible, to publishers, and why we might spend a lot of time honing your manuscripts and proposals before they go out on submission to editors.

3. Know the tastes of other agents. Strange to admit, but other agents are either our friends, our competition or both! We might know them socially, and know a little of their list of authors, but when it comes down to it representing a book is a personal business and we don't always know what floats another agent's boat. So that’s why we are very rarely able to recommend other agents if we turn your book down. Agency websites are most helpful; go and look at an agent's list and their bio, for the best information on what they're looking for.

4. Have any time to read during office hours. It's a common fallacy that we're to be found at our desks, feet propped on stacks of manuscripts, thumbing through our authors' newest deliveries and reading at our leisure. I WISH. Sadly there is no time to read during the day; we're busy negotiating deals and the resulting contracts, chasing payments and checking royalty statements, forwarding requests for our authors' appearances at festivals and events, meeting editors and listening to what they're looking for, liaising with publicity and marketing teams, catching up with colleagues on sending out our books for translation and media sales, and pursuing potential new authors. Very occasionally we might be able to squeeze some editing in on a Friday afternoon, but usually all reading (and editing) is done outside work hours.

5. Have the time to reply to submissions with detailed feedback. Unfortunately we simply don't have enough hours in the day to feedback our thoughts on your three chapters or proposal. And, if we want to be businesslike about it, it’s not in our interests to spend time editing a book we’re not going to work with! However, if we think a book is good enough to consider despite its flaws, or that it could be very interesting to us after a good edit, we will always say so. Equally, if the writer has talent but this book is not for us, we’ll say so.  And no book comes to us in perfect shape!

6. Appreciate rude or persistent writers, whether that's someone calling up the agency reception at regular and increasingly agitated intervals, or barging in on a conversation at a Fair or Festival. We know you're anxious to hear from us and, trust us, if you've a great book or idea then we will definitely be in touch. However, if you've a great book but have been rude to our receptionist or in chasing emails, we won't want to work with you. Polite and professional is the best way for us both to be!

7. Choose brand over book. It has to begin with a great novel or book idea, not just with one hundred million followers on Twitter (however helpful that might be further down the line!). Writers seem to worry a lot these days about their ‘profile’, and it can’t be denied that this is a concern to publishers sometimes too. However, we all need to be convinced that there’s a good, publishable book in whoever we represent (we would always hope that there are many good, publishable books ahead for an author), so the best introduction to us and to a publisher is with a winning idea and strong writing. Not every single author we work with is social-media savvy. I’d personally recommend using Twitter as it’s a LOT of fun and a brilliant place for talking to other writers and sharing writing experiences, as well as a valuable peek into the publishing industry via agents and editors, but it’s not essential.

8. Give up on an author after just one book. As mentioned above, we usually take on an author with a view to them having a long and fruitful career. This is why good writing is important; you could have one great idea, but then… nothing. But if you’re a good writer then we’ll keep chatting with you about potential new book ideas. And if your first book doesn’t sell, we’ll talk to you about pursuing something else. We’re in it for the long term!

9. Chase trends. Because a) we couldn’t possibly predict them (who saw FIFTY SHADES coming? Pardon the unintentional filthy pun) and b) we couldn’t keep up – most books benefit hugely from several months of editing, marketing and publicity, by which time the reading public is going crazy for the next trend: whatever happened to vampires?

 10. Go to lunches and parties just for the free booze. Yes, we know there is the popular belief that we are carousing every night, quaffing cheap party wine and canapes, but actually we go to these kind of social events (much less so now than a decade ago, too) to fit in catching up with editors and their colleagues, hearing about what they’re publishing and using these friendly occasions as an opportunity to pitch our books. And if we can munch a tiny quiche whilst we talk about our fantastic authors, so much the better.

11. Have to read just their own authors’ manuscripts and the submissions pile, but also a wide variety of newly-published books to keep up with competitors and publishing tastes. I try to cram in one non-‘work’ book per weekend, so I’m up-to-date with the books that are appealing to editors and readers alike. Why did everyone rave about The Fault in Our Stars? Best way to find out is to read it…

12. Only make deals.  It’s all about career planning and thinking strategically, looking ahead to try and shape an author’s career in the long term. We’re also sounding boards for our writers, who might come to us with new ideas and their plans for their futures; we maintain a continuous conversation about how we’re going to develop an author and their books, and how best to get them to where they want to be. This is becoming especially important in an ever-evolving publishing landscape, with new platforms, formats and models to explore with our authors.

13. Like telling their clients about rejections.  It hurts the agent too: they’ve taken the client on because they admire and love their work, and have a genuine and unswerving belief that a book should be published. Rejections are rubbish for everyone, and don’t get any easier!

 14. Exist in a vacuum.  We’re all actually human (strange as it might seem) and while reading and editing seeps into every moment of our supposedly spare time, we do occasionally have to have time off, do something else, to maintain perspective. (I don’t think we ever REALLY switch off, but a bit of fresh air can do wonders for new inspiration…) Just as writers are advised to put a book to one side for a little while once they’ve finished the first draft, in order to edit with a bit of new perspective, we all benefit from a break.

15. Sit behind our desks ignoring submissions, feeling superior or polishing our keys to the gates of publishing. (In short: take everything you read about publishing in the newspapers or similar, with a LARGE pinch of salt.) We're desperate to find good books and great authors; we comb our submissions pile as frequently and as thoroughly as we can, and are always happy to meet new writers, whether on Twitter or IRL. It's important for us to be accessible and excitable! And we never get bored of finding that next incredible book. 

By Juliet Pickering