How To Get An Agent

Well, they say the best thing to do when you're waiting to hear from an agent is to write Book #2. All of the agent blogs remind us that "writing is a muscle." I remember for years I thought maybe I'd only have one book in me, or at least one book per decade.

Anyway... committing to my debut novel for all of eternity was a foolish thought. I am proud to report that I have at least two books in me.

I got the idea for Book 2 a few months ago but it recently morphed into the thing I think it's going to end up being. It took a year for my first book to do that, so I'm quite pleased with this result. I'm super intrigued by all of my four characters and can't wait to see what happens to them when I finish it.

Having gone through this entire querying and submission process, I am no longer a virgin to the field and can now write with the market in mind. Part of me feels like this is selling out in a sense. Though I've read plenty of books, my first book was written very purely. I didn't write a big hook on page one or start with a sexy concept upfront. I had this idea that an agent or editor would like me purely for who I was if they got to know me... I wouldn't put out on a first date just so they'd love me.

But publishing is increasingly becoming more like the movies, and in this tough economy it's almost more important to have a great pitch than a great book, and putting out as quickly as possible is almost mandatory.

I recently read a blog post in which a publisher described a meeting in which people requested "great" titles (like "Sh*t My Dad Says"). Didn't matter if the books were written. Just titles would do. It used to be that you got 5 pages to sell your whole book to someone. Now you get five words. This is one of the downsides of the Internet making everything so darn accessible to everyone. Lots of competition.

It's also exactly the kind of thing that's not doing literary fiction any favors, but now that I know that, now that I know the right first five pages can get you through everyone's doors, and even though that seems a little bit skanky to me, I will be showing off my assets pronto.