Monday, February 28, 2011

Hi everyone! My second book, Skipping a Beat, came out exactly a week ago and I've been busily making the rounds of blogs, writing guest posts and meeting new readers. I was asked to write about how I found my agent and I thought I'd share the story here - hope you enjoy!

When it came time for me to find an agent, I did all the right things.

Except for one very wrong thing.

I figured there had to be a secret way to break into publishing – some special handshake or code word or magic door like the one Harry Potter flung himself through to get to the secret train to Hogwarts – but no one would reveal it to me. So I figured I had just one chance of breaking in: I had to write a really good query letter.

It took a while – as I recall, actually writing my novel was much easier – but finally, I distilled the essence of my book into a paragraph, listed my writing credentials, and spell-checked that sucker to within an inch of its life. Then I blasted e-mails to agents I found in the acknowledgements section of novels I loved. If an author raved about his or her agent, I figured it had to be a good sign.

I got back a few interested responses from agents – along with a note from the assistant to a big-shot agent gushing about my book and how eager they were to read it. This sounds more flattering than it actually felt, because the assistant mistakenly included her email correspondence with the big-shot agent under her note to me. (“Oh, I don’t know,” big-shot agent moaned. “Doesn’t it sound kind of boring?”)

So, I sent out copies of my manuscript by UPS and e-mail, then sat back and patiently waited. A few weeks later, I went to pick up my kids from school and checked my answering machine for messages remotely, which was completely natural since I’d been out of the house for seven minutes.

I’d gotten the call. THE CALL! Victoria Sanders liked The Opposite of Me. She wanted me to come to New York to meet her and her staff. In an effort to sound professional, I spoke in a voice several octaves below normal when I called her back — then became paralyzed with fear I’d have to talk to Victoria this way for the rest of my life.

But before going to New York, I decided to do a little research. After all, I’m a former reporter, I thought to myself smugly as I fired up my computer. I e-mailed one of Sanders’ most well-known clients and explained that she had expressed interest in my book. “Is she still your agent?” I wrote, congratulating myself on my moxie and still-sharp reportorial skills.

Minutes later, a reply dinged into my inbox.

“This is Victoria Sanders,” it said. “I answer [this author’s] e-mail when she is on her European tour. Yes, I’ve happily represented her for seven years… .”

If I’d been a cartoon character, all of my hair would’ve stood straight up on my head. Thank God, thank God, thank God Victoria has a sense of humor. Later, she told me later she’d laughed aloud when she’d read my note.

By the way, a while back I wrote a magazine story about breaking into the publishing world, and I interviewed agents. I asked them what writers shouldn’t do when approaching them – and got an earful. Agents often get letters addressed to rival agents (oops), emails that reek of despair (“I’ve queried 100 agents and been turned down by them all!”) and even abusive, foul-language notes from writers they’ve rejected (shockingly, this doesn’t make agents rush to reconsider).

One of the agents I interviewed was Jeff Kleinman of Folio, the agent for The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein—a Starbucks book pick— and Jeff revealed ways writers have tried to catch his eye. They’ve offered to give him massages, sent him a tiara as a tie-in for a book proposal, offered to hypnotize him, tried to buy him drinks at writers’ conferences and sent him box after box of chocolates. (For the record, he turned down the massage – I think that was a wise call – but took the drinks. Again, a wise call, in my opinion).

So there you have it: Do your research, skip the offers of a massage, and make sure you query an agent with a sense of humor, like I did.

10 comments:

  1. Sending that email sounds like something I'd do! I'm glad you found the right agent!

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  2. Great story Sarah,and I'm so glad Victoria has a sense of humor.
    I'm still talking up your new book, I loved it and just sent off my copy to my bff in NJ, she needs reading for her long flight to Israel next week. Happily three other friends are off to get your book, between my review and the great publishers tease.....it peaks so much interest!!
    The only sad part about new books is then waiting for the next one :(.

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  3. Congratulations on your new release, Sarah! I can't wait to read it:)

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  4. LOL, Sarah! GREAT story ;). And congrats, again, on Skipping a Beat -- I'm really looking forward to reading it!

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  5. Wonderful post.... Please add your name to it so we all know who the mystery writer is.... Congrats on your new book. Hope it opens tons of doors for you.

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  6. Great post! So much easier to write the book than the query letter. That goes for writing a synopsis, too!

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  7. I love this story. I've heard agents tell similar stories - one received a Barbie Doll that had been made to look like her. Creepy.

    I'm glad your agent AND you have kept a sense of humor - I don't think you can get through any part of this biz without it.

    Congrats on your book release, and great post!

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  8. What a story,!! Thank you for sharing!

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  9. Congratulations on the second book, Sarah!

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  10. Whoops - did I forget to add my name? ;) Blame release week madness. It's me, Sarah Pekkanen. Thanks for all these lovely comments!

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