Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 80

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish each of you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

Truly, we have a lot to be thankful for. If you are reading this e-mail, that means you are alive. Stop and thank God for this amazing gift of another day!

And if you are finding it hard to feel thankful about anything, I want to let you know something. God loves you very, very much. He created you one of a kind and very unique! He loves the unique person that you are. In fact, He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for you so that you could come to know Him and spend forever with Him!

If you already know Jesus as your Savior and Lord but just don’t have a thankful heart because of all of life’s “stuff,” I invite you to dump all that stuff in His lap and let Him take care of it. His arms are big enough to hold it all, so your heart can be free to laugh and love again!

And if you’ve never taken that step to ask Jesus to be the Lord of everything in your life, and you want to know what it’s like to experience the most wonderful life you’ll ever know, just let me know and I’ll be happy to introduce you to Jesus! Why let another holiday go by without Him? Post a comment here or e-mail me at jeffandnancys@gmail.com. Your life will never be the same. You can have the happiest Thanksgiving you’ve ever known when you know Jesus as the Lord of your life!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow scribes and writers.

With hugs from Nancy

Steps to Find an Agent: Parts 7 and 8

Step 7

7. I selected what I felt was my best picture book of all and sent it out on its first round of simultaneous submissions to the big agencies that were pretty famous in the industry. I never heard back from most of them, but some of them responded personally. I just submitted it to every agent I wrote down on my first chart.

Step 8

8. Now, here’s where I really started pumping out the writing. Remember how I said how some agents and publishers need new material fast? Once I started hearing personally from agents, I really dug in and studied these particular agents. Meaning I went to their websites. I looked at their list of clients they represent. I looked at their list of titles they were currently landing contracts for. And then I tried to write brand new manuscripts that would fit into this.

Soon I was narrowed down to one big agency who was seriously looking at my stuff. The main response from this agency was that they liked my writing but that they hadn’t fallen in love with one of my manuscripts yet.

The bottom line of every agent I contacted was that they needed a manuscript they loved. No matter how many books I’d already written or how many awards my books have won. They each wanted a manuscript they loved. And this was a very personal thing for each of them. What one agent loved another one didn’t and what one agent didn’t care for another agent loved.

So for about 4 months, I studied this one agent’s list of clients and list of books she repped and I really worked to write new picture book manuscripts for her. She would ask me for revisions and I revised per her suggestions and resubmitted.

But finally, she said she just didn’t think we were a match.

So, that was my last agent on my first list. I had submitted to all the really big agencies or agencies that had a lot of agents working for them, and had gotten rejections all around. Now I was ready to work with my second list.

Steps to Find an Agent: Part 6

At this point in my search for an agent, I made a 3-stage submission plan:

Stage 1: Make a simultaneous submission to every HUGE, MEGA agency on my list that I liked.

Stage 2: If all those got rejections, then start submitting simultaneous submissions to the Big NY agencies owned by one or two agents

Stage 3: If all those got rejections, then start submitting simultaneous submissions to the smaller agencies.

During this time, I did not submit my picture books to any publishers at all. I was focused strictly on submitting to agents. I wanted to give agents material that had never been seen by publishers.

I also belonged to a picture book critique group at this time where ever 4-6 weeks it was my turn to submit a manuscript so I focused on writing a brand new picture book every single month or so. This really helped me strengthen my writing muscles as well.

Steps to Find an Agent: Part 5

I created a pocket folder to hold all my agent research.

I made a file folder for each agent I was looking up that I was collecting information about.

I organized a submission chart to track which agents I was submitting to and put this in its own file folder in my pocket folder. I made 3 charts: one for the HUGE Mega agencies, one for the Big New York Agencies run by one or 2 agents, and one for the smaller agencies.

If you want to use this chart to collect notes, too, you can download it here:

Agents at a Glance Chart

If you have any questions about how to use this chart, just let me know!

Steps to Find an Agent: Part 4

I took several months to create my list of potential agents and then I divided them into 3 categories:

Huge mega agencies that were either really really famous or that had a lot of agents working for a really big agency

Big New York agencies that were owned by one agent with maybe one or two agents working together but that weren’t necessarily as HUGE and FAMOUS as the first group.

Smaller agencies that were new or weren’t in New York or that represented lesser-known authors.

Lists of Potential Agents

Places to look for names of potential agents include:

Writer’s Digest Guide to Literary Agents, put out each year and last year’s edition usually available at your library

On brochures for writer’s conferences where agents will be speaking. These are a great listing as well. Check out SCBWI’s website where they have the national and New York conference brochures available for download and see which agents are appearing and what their bios say which usually includes their preferences. www.scbwi.org

Get on the mailing list for the big SCBWI conference mailings. You’ll get brochures for their conference in LA and NYC. Read through these brochures they send you and study the names of the agents who will be speaking. These agents are looking for new clients, otherwise they wouldn’t be attending these conferences.

You can search the Internet for agents. Google the word “agent” as well as the market you’re looking for such as “Picture books.”

Find books like what you want to write, then google that author’s agent and see if you can find who landed the contract for that author’s book.

I also attended various conferences and sat in on all the classes every single agent taught and also attended the sessions where they had groups of agents talking. Agents, not publishers, were my focus at these conferences.

By giving yourself time to search for agents, it helps take the frenzy and the pressure off so you can enjoy this season in your life. Try to look at this like an adventure rather as a chore and you’ll enjoy the journey so much more!

Steps to Find an Agent, Part 3 continued

Here are more steps I took in my search to find an agent for today’s market:

Step 3

3. I searched for names of agents who were the kind I wanted to look for. In other words, I looked for agents who represent picture books. Now, I knew what I was up against. The picture book is the hardest book to get published in the writing industry. This is because it is the most expensive book to produce, the most expensive to sell, and the hardest to sell in this economy. Plus there are already plenty of hugely famous picture book authors out there. I knew it would be a very tough journey but I was willing to stick it out over the next 2 years.

While I was looking for picture book agents and making this list, I put it up on my blog to help others looking for a picture book agent, too, so you can access that list there today, even tho some of the info might be outdated or there might be new picture book agents today.

http://nancyisanders.wordpress.com/ag...

So go ahead and make a list of agents who fit the category you are looking for. Give yourself time to build this list. I worked on it in my spare time such as in the evenings when I was relaxing on the couch and wanted to search around on the Internet or read through various guides.

TIP: Here’s a tip. If you want to have people visit your blog, create a page listing all the agents you’re looking for, with links to their websites. You can go ahead and include my link for picture book agents on your site. And send me your link to your site and I’ll put it here on my site, too, for the kind of agents you’re looking at. I get a number of hits on my blog from people who are looking for agents. People love to visit blogs who have helpful and handy lists of stuff like this! So if you can add a helpful list to your blog, it will draw visitors all on its own.

Steps to Find an Agent, Part 3

Here are the basic steps I followed to look for my current agent:

Step One:

1. I made a realistic long-term goal. I gave myself 2 years to look for an agent. This allowed me to take the time I needed to really do a thorough job without getting too stressed about it.

Step 2

2. I determined which kind of agent I wanted. I wanted a picture book agent. In other words, I wanted an agent who would represent my picture books and send them to the big New York publishers who publish picture books.

So, decide which kind of agent you want…one to represent your entire career, one to represent all your children’s books but not books for adults, one to represent just a certain kind of book like picture books, or one to represent just one title at a time.

Submitting to an Agent

If you are an established author but don’t currently have an agent, be careful how you make your next move to advance your career. If you have completed a top-quality manuscript that you think could be published by the big houses that require agented submissions, you will have to have an agent to get it where it belongs. Go ahead and submit your manuscript to potential agents at this time, but resist the urge to also submit it to various publishers.

An agent might not want to represent a manuscript that has already been seen by too many editors’ eyes. If an agent believes in your manuscript enough to represent you, she will want to take your manuscript straight to the top as a fresh, new voice in the children’s market. She’ll want to give the top editors she works with the first chance at seeing your work and not have to tell them that numerous editors at smaller houses have already seen it (or perhaps even rejected it).

Children’s Book Agents

Most children’s book agents represent young adult and middle grade novels today. A few will also represent picture books, beginning readers, and chapter books. Because of the competitive market these days, most are fine with simultaneous submissions as long as you let them know.

Some children’s book agencies may have several agents who represent the genre you’re interested in. The proper etiquette is to submit to only one agent at the agency you’re targeting. Many agencies hold team meetings regularly and if an agent reads a manuscript that she feels would be a better fit for her colleague, she will share it with him. However, if the initial agent rejects your manuscript, it is perfectly permissible to wait several months and then resubmit it to another agent at the same agency. Or, if a new agent joins the agency, you may resubmit your manuscript to him.

Networking is key. Some top agents want referrals. Get plugged into your local Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI at www.scbwi.org). SCBWI is the most prestigious and recognized organization for children’s writers in the world. All the top authors and illustrators are members. Join their ranks. Attend writers’ conferences both at the local and national levels and make friends with successful working authors. Dialogue with your writer friends and let them know you’re looking for an agent. Agents are people and if one of their clients refers you to them, they will take a longer look at your package because of the personal investment they’ll naturally feel.