Back in November, I signed with Sandra Sawicka of Marjacq. Getting an agent is one of those massive milestones any author aiming to get traditionally published dreams about (or has nightmares about), so in this post, I'll give a quick rundown of what happened in the lead up querying, how signing with Sandra came about, and what's happened since. There are a lot of routes to representation, and what worked for me won't necessarily help you, but here's the play-by-play:
Finishing the Book
I've been writing The Dead Cities for quite a while now. Back in November 2016, I felt it was almost ready to query, but there were niggling doubts at the back of my mind that *something* wasn't right, and I was struggling to figure out what.
I enlisted the help of a developmental editor through Jericho Writers (then The Writers' Workshop), and a brilliant author by the name of Haydn Middleton helped me see where I was going wrong. Not enough tension, and too little plot for too many words. So, I put The Dead Cities on hold for a bit, wrote something else, and returned to it in 2019.
I pretty much rewrote it from the ground up, slashing the number of perspectives and knocking about 60k words off the length. Then, just as I was putting the finishing touches on the book - this time feeling *much* better about it - Jericho Writers began their 2020 Festival. I'd already signed up to attend, and decided to pay a little extra to get an agent one-to-one with one of the agents at the top of my list. This is where Sandra came in.
Ahead of the one-to-one, I sent Sandra my draft query letter, synopsis, and first 5k words. We then had a 15-minute call (which felt like it lasted about two minutes). Sandra gave me a few ideas I could implement, we had a chat about worldbuilding, and then she to see the full manuscript!!!
Querying
Despite Sandra's interest, I still wanted to go through the query process properly. I didn't want to end up in a situation where I'd pinned all of my hopes on one agent only to get rejected. So, I finished my query, consulted my list of dream agents (Sandra included) and started sending.
Two days later (!) I got an email from Sandra saying she was half way through, loving it, and would like to set up a meeting to discuss working together. We then had a video chat the next Monday (again, this flew by) and Sandra made an offer of representation at the end of the call.
As it's advised to do, I didn't accept straight away, but took some time to think. I also informed all of the other agents I'd queried that an offer was on the table, and asked if they could get back to me if they too were interested. I got a few rejections, and had a few interesting conversations off the back of those emails, but in the end signed with Sandra a week later. It all happened far quicker than I'd ever dared dream it could.
After Signing
Sandra believed The Dead Cities was almost ready to go on submission as it was, and she'd already begun compiling a list of agents. I went through and made a few tweaks to the manuscript we'd agreed on, then we worked on a pitch. Two days after signing the agency agreement with Marjacq, The Dead Cities went on submission in both the UK and US.
WHAT?! I know. I can't quite believe it either.
Now it's a waiting game. I've got everything crossed, and I'm feverishly refreshing my inbox.
Advice
I won't pretend that there wasn't a lot of luck involved here, or that things for me didn't go unusually quickly. I spoke to the right agent with the right book at the right time, and being able to afford editing advice and online festival tickets is something I know many won't be able to do. But a lot of what led here didn't require me to pay for anything. Here's what I recommend:
- Query smart. Create a shortlist of dream agents and tailor your queries to their likes. Most will tell you the kind of thing they're interested in reading in their agency website biographies. Get a few people to read through your query to ensure it makes sense. There's a lot of good querying advice out there, but the two resources I found most helpful were QueryShark (this advice is US-centric, but still useful) and the Mushens Entertainment blog.
- Use beta readers to make your manuscript as good as it can be. While that initial developmental edit helped me see the big flaws in my writing, my beta readers arguably helped more, because their feedback was more specific and detailed. There are paid beta reading services, but all of my betas read for free in exchange for me beta reading their manuscripts. Try Facebook groups or even Twitter, and look into arranging manuscript swaps with people around the same writing level as you. You help them, they help you. Win win. You get fresh perspectives on your work, and you'll learn things about your own writing by critiquing theirs.
- Get involved in the writing and publishing community. The one-to-one with Jericho Writers was instrumental in making myself known to Sandra, but there are many ways to do the same. I wouldn't recommend bombarding your dream agents with tweets or emails, but by being involved in writing communities you'll begin to spread your name around, and, who knows, it might help you stand out in the slush pile.
Anyway. This was longer than I expected it to be. If you made it this far, go treat yourself to a cookie. And if you have any questions, hit me up on Twitter.
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