(This question is part of a larger subseries called Perpetual WIPs: Mid-Career Authors. For the remaining questions, see here.)
Did you query traditionally for a new agent, and if so, how did you find the process differed? If not, how did you find a new agent?
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I suppose I did? I found it equally stressful, but less anxiety producing. There were only so many agents who did what I wanted to do with my career, which limited the pool. And I know a lot more about agents so I knew who I wanted to work with, which limited the pool further. I queried 18 agents in one go. I figured if one of them didn’t work out, then I would just write a new book. (I was nervous about not getting a new agent, but not that nervous. I didn’t start plotting the backup book, for instance.)
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I was really lucky in that I received a referral from my retiring agent to an agent she thought I’d work well with. I also asked my editor for a referral. Both were agents who represented friends of mine, and I’d heard good things. If those two conversations didn’t work out, I was planning to cast a wider net, but luckily one did.
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I’ve had three agents and I queried traditionally for each one, although pitch contests were involved a couple of the times. I still queried with a full query letter and new manuscript in those scenarios, though, so not much difference except I was definitely prioritized in terms of having my materials read more than I would’ve been if I were brand new.
I did the first time.
I did not the second.
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This sounds unprofessional, but since I work in publishing, and was querying agents I was well acquainted with (and had a lot of respect for their lists and styles) I reached out personally to a small group before querying them formally to make sure they were actively reading/that they would be open to representing a good acquaintance or friend.
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Yes, I did! The process felt much the same, actually, but this time around I was much more selective; I only queried thirteen agents instead of the thirty-two I had queried the previous time around. I also felt much more confident. Having worked with agents and publishers before, I felt able to approach new agents without that sense of terror and desperation to please that I remember feeling when I first queried.
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For my new agent, I did not query traditionally. Ultimately, a friend of mine reached out to their agent and referred me. After the agent read a couple of my published books, they asked to set up a phone call to talk about what I wanted for the future. The agent wanted me to take risks and would not agree to take me on unless I was willing to push harder and think more expansively, as my career had sort of plateaued. I immediately agreed, because pushing myself to write bigger, better books is what I was after in the first place. I was grateful my new agent was willing to take me on mid-contract, because it would likely be a few years before I was ready to sell a new project. My new agent stuck by me until that happened.
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This time around, I asked writer friends about their agents, then made a short list, and send “feeler” emails out to those agents based on my friends recommendations.
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I queried semi-traditionally. It was different because I’d been in the industry long enough that I could ask colleagues for recommendations and they could let their agents know I would be querying them. Still, in a few cases, it was a cold contact, exactly as it had been the first time around, only this time I wasn’t sending a full manuscript. My query itself was wildly different from the first time. Instead of focusing on the proposed manuscript, I explained my situation, gave a brief account of my publishing history as well as all available rights to my existing projects, and generally talked about what I was looking for in my career. I was selling me more than a single project and I took that approach because I wanted to hire an agent who was interested in everything I had to offer.
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I queried traditionally! Back into the slushpile.
It was definitely a different experience this time. I only queried a small amount of agents that I heavily researched. I talked to their clients beforehand, looked at their past sales, and dug into their tastes. When I did send out my queries, I did so with a pitch that I’d been working on for months and a manuscript that I really believed in. When the inevitable rejections came in, I knew they weren’t personal.
The one thing that surprised me was how fast things moved. I was expecting weeks, if not months, of waiting. But this time around, everything happened much more quickly.
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The Daily Dahlia 