Agents vs. Direct Submission to Publishers?

[Amanda]

Hello all!

I'm new here - I am finishing up my first novel and am torn between trying to find an agent or just going for it and submitting directly to publishers.

What have your experiences - good and bad - been? I'd love to hear from people who have been in the trenches and survived!

[Evie Alexis]

It's hard. I've heard the pros and cons to both. I have recently been picked up by an agent who will take my novel shopping, so to speak, and my other publication experience is through an ebook publisher, and it's been great. But I hear that dealing with publishing companies can be scary, especially when you venture on your own. However, I type hearsay, and as far as Judge Judy's concerned that type of evidence doesn't count for beans.

I look forward to hearing of people's experiences and opinions as well.

[Theresa Stillwagon]

I've always submitted directly to the publisher. Right now I have a contemporary romance at The Wild Rose Press. For some companies, though, you do need to have an agent.
Theresa

[Hywela Lyn]

I think all the above are good points. As a UK author, I have to say getting an agent is as hard as getting a publisher. I submitted to several agents without any luck. Then I submitted directly to The Wild Rose Press and am so glad I did. It would be great to be published by a mainstream publisher, but the time taken to get an agent could be spent writing the next novel! It really depends, I suppose on how badly you want to be published and what your aspirations are. Not all print publishers require an agent but you need to do a bit of research to find which ones you can reallistically expect to consider an unagented writer.


Good luck and I hope you succeed in getting published whichever route you take.

[Lainey Bancroft]

Wow. Huge question, Amanda. Having debated and researched this a good bit lately, I could...write a book.

For my shorter works, I submitted and sold directly to The Wild Rose and Amira Press. As I plan to do with any other things I target to e-publishing. I submitted two category length mss to Harlequin/Silhouette, one was rejected with plenty of helpful feedback (I revised and fattened it up, its now available at Wild Rose "Settling Back") The other ms was redirected within the company three times and ultimately not accepted.

Although I can think of a few publishers still accepting unsolicited/unagented mss, statistically har/sil is the only one I know of who has actually acquired mss this way, and even those are few and far between. Conventional wisdom (along with author/editor/agent blogs) claims unsolicited/unagented mss will perpetually cling to the bottom of the slush pile--meaning anything an agent submits will be viewed first. I've also heard if you strike out at a publisher, an agent will want the submission history of your ms and will be less eager to take it on if you've already been rejected by dozens of publishers.

In short, if you're targeting e-publishing or category romance, I'd say go for it and skip the agent. If however, you hope to swim with 'bigger fishies' IMHO, you'd benefit from having an agent test the water for you first.

FWIW.

(I really have agonized over this a lot lately having just finished a women's fiction I'd like to have agented, so feel free to ask me follow up questions if you'd like.)

Best of luck!

[Amanda]

Thank you so much for all the valuable insight - this is awesome! I feel so much better knowing that there are published authors out there to ask questions to and bounce things off of.

Furthering the discussion, I'm part of RWA, and I saw that they had a list of agents on their website. There are so many though! How would I have any idea who to solicit? Just start somewhere on the list and work my way down? How many can I solicit at once? Do I have to wait to hear back from one before I apply to another?

[Mary J. Dressel]

Hi, Amanda,

I've been through submitting to agents and publishers. Whatever you do, don't just send in your manuscript to either. Write a query asking if they will have a look. They'll usually say send 10 pages or 3 chapters, or very rarely the whole ms. I've found this to be true with both agents and publishers. But most importantly, make sure your story fits what they are looking for. Otherwise, you'll get a brief note, with the words scribbled across it-- Sorry. Also, make sure you follow their guidelines. Some publishers only want you to send the ms to them alone. I must warn you, this can take up some time. Once, a publisher had my ms for 2 years. I had forgotten all about it until I looked in my submission log, and contacted them. Would you believe they still had it, and sent it back, looking like it had never been read!? If they say simultanous submissions, which means you can send to more than one at a time, let them know if you are sending to other publishers. I've found that getting an agent is as difficult as getting a publisher, but now days, I don't even think a publisher will look without an agent. Just look around, eventually you'll find the right place for your ms. Don't give up, because it can turn into a full time job! Like one of your other comments says, with the small POD's or epubs, you usually don't need an agent. Best of luck.

Mary

[Evie Alexis]

Well, the agent didn't work out as expected, but we'll leave it at that as the individual has been classy and gracious. So I now look to direct submission to publishers. I'll let you know how that works out. :)

[Elaine Cantrell]

Hi, Amanda,

I think it's harder to get an agent than a publisher, but if you want to be published by the big houses you'll need an agent. Smaller publishers and epublishers don't usually ask for an agent.

Elaine Cantrell
www.elainecantrell.com

[Terri Ann Armstrong]

Let's face it, being a writer is one of the most rewarding experiences we'll ever have in our lives. However, there is good and bad on both sides of this much-debated coin.

I have been published three times without an agent. I just recently signed with one and am already experiencing great things. My books, I believe are up for critique by a mainstream publisher in the spring. What makes me think that is my agent is pushing me to finish the third book in my triology. He is constantly in touch and very encouraging. He wants me to succeed, for me, of course, but also because he gets a cut of whatever comes my way.

Now, a really good publisher, Simon & Sheuster, Harlequin or any of the other 'biggies' is where you'll get a fat advance. The low with that is almost all big publishers will tell you, IF you do not sell enough books to cover your advance, you will have to pay it back. However, if they're willing to pay you say $5,000. for an advance on your first book, doesn't it make sense that they believe you will sell that many? It certainly seems logical to me.

The problem with going out on your own is the big publishers don't even want to know you. They want to deal with agents only. You can find other mainstream publishers, but you won't find the big advance and you won't get any extra perks an agent may think of to get in a deal they broker for you. So you take a chance.

It's most important to remember, there are those out there who are, let's say, less than reputable in the agent's arena. The standard cut is 10-15% and most of the reputable one are listed with the AAR. However some of the good ones aren't. Ask questions, ask for references and don't stop until you are comfortable with what they're offering you in the way of a contract. No agent should ever ask for any money to read your work or represent you. The only thing they make is the percentage I just spoke of earlier. Be open to anything, but be careful.

In either case, you have to do what's right for you. There is much more, but that will come from others who have experienced more things in the literary world than I have. I've only been in the published catagory of about three years or so. So I'm a new baby who hasn't even gotten her feet wet compared to others.

Good luck and I hope it helped.

Peace,

Terri Ann Armstrong, Author/Editor