Timothy's Thoughts

This is the last post about searching for an agent (I think) and then I’ll get back to more interesting stuff. Originally, I planned to post something about how much I hate searching for an agent. I was going to talk about all of the rules we are supposed to follow to keep from offending an agent. I was going to say something about how some agents treat their potential clients in an unprofessional manner, even calling them kids . I’ve decided instead to talk about metrics. It sounds boring, doesn’t it? But authors seem to like metrics as much as engineers do. The difference is that engineers keep meaningful metrics. Authors track Amazon Sales Rank (a completely useless metric) and the number of rejection letters they receive (which is almost as useless). At what point are we supposed to count a rejection? If I send out a query and a literary agent writes back, “I don’t represent fiction,” is that a rejection? I would say not, unless you sent him a memoir. In that case, it isn’t only a ...

As I talked about yesterday, I’ve been sending out query letters. Some literary agents want a synopsis sent with the query letter, while other do not, but it’s a safe bet that an author is going to need one eventually. The nice thing is that writing the synopsis is one of the few fun things we get to do while we’re searching for an agent. The synopsis is like the soul of the story with all of the external packaging torn away. However long a novel might be, whether it is 80,000 words, 120,000 words or just over 50,000 words, we reach the end and we have all these little details running through our heads. Did I change her eyes from green to blue everywhere? Would he be watching a football game on television at that time of year? Is there enough time to have the whole story take place during summer vacation or do I have to send the kid back to school before it’s over? We lose track of the story and we ask ourselves, if it is any good or if we just wasted twenty dollars by printing off all...

Once more, I’m looking at Mike Hyatt’s list of literary agents . I’m asking myself what criteria I would use to decide whether I want one of these to represent my work. There is one criterion that is etched in stone and it is related to something Mike says, “While all of them represent Christian authors, they themselves may not necessarily be Christians.” Is that acceptable? No. See II Corinthians 6:14. Thought that was only talking about Christians not marrying unbelievers? Afraid not. If an agent can’t tell about when he accepted Christ, then a Christian is better off without him. Agents receive about 15% of the contract amount. If the agent is asking for more, the agent had better be able to show why she’s worth it. If an agent is asking for less, it might be good to ask what’s wrong with him. If the agent wants money before the publisher pays, I will very nicely tell the agent that she is out of her mind. I’m not sure how many clients an agent should have, but it should be more tha...

And now we leave our regularly scheduled program… As I write this, I’m looking at Mike Hyatt’s list of literary agents . I got here via literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s Blog . If you reference the image above, which is a simplified representation of the publishing process, you will see where I am in the overall process. I chose a different route this time. It ought to be the easier route. It isn’t. What it comes down to is that when you take this route you are asking a publisher to take a $40,000 or more risk. Unless you happen to be a personal friend of a publisher, it isn’t easy to convince a publisher to take that kind of risk. So what we do is hire someone to promote our work. I enter this side of the process with a story I love, but also with some apprehension. The story, which I’ve been calling Cowtown Homecoming , is about a snobbish rich man. Fort Worth businessman Fox Jacobs is king of the world around him, but as the book opens he is mourning the death of his four grandchild...