Are agents too busy for new clients? What should I do next?

Question

As a first time writer, most publishers insist that you approach via a literary agent. However, all the literary agents I have contacted claim to be too busy to take on new clients, as they receive hundreds or thousands of submissions every year.

I used the Writers & Artists Yearbook to get a list of likely agents, then checked all their websites and eliminated ones that didn't seem suitable. For the rest, I noted their precise submission requirements (lots of variation, but I did exactly what they wanted). I submitted to the agents left on the list, exactly as they specified, and so far of the responses I have (20+) nobody has said they didn't like it, in fact several have said that it sounds fascinating. However, they all claim to be too busy to take on new clients and wish me luck.

The impression I'm getting is that getting an agent is an impossible requirement if agents aren't accepting any new clients due to their existing workload.

If I genuinely believe in my project, and everyone who has heard about it says it'll be great (not just friends and family, but random people too), where can I go from here?

Answer 1

Have you considered self publishing? If you are looking for inspiration, read Joe Konrath's blog, available here. Read through his back posts, and you may find some interesting stuff. One of them talks about his book, the list, that was rejected by all the publishers, and is now a bestseller. One of the comments to that post is worth reading:

My favorite line from all the rejections was this from the "New American Library":

"...as its novelty seems to hamper its commercial potential."

Yes, as a reader, I know the LAST thing I want to see is something that deviates even a LITTLE from everything I've seen before.

David Gaughran has written a book on self publishing, that is free at the moment, available from his website here.

And finally, agents. Dean W smith has written a series of posts called the sacred cows of publishing, and one of the myths he bursts is that you need an agent to sell a book. Scroll down to part three, and read all the articles in that section. It certainly opened my eyes.

Be sure to spend some time reading, and then digesting all the info above. Then take a week or two off, to decide if you still want to continue down the traditional path, or go down the self pub path.

Remember, writers now have a lot of options, and don't have to wait years to see their book in print. As JA Konrath says, that time could be better spent writing more books, and marketing the ones we have.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I've never been published. I've never contacted an agent.

But I'll tell you this: I can't even count on sixteen hands the number of times I've read something JUST like this--

"Twilight was initially rejected by 14 agents, however, eight publishers competed for the rights to publish Twilight in the 2003 auction." [From Wikipedia]

And obviously we all know how that story turned out. Don't ever give up. I understand you're saying they're too busy to even look at your work, but the same principle applies. Just keep going. Sooner or later you'll break through the wall. Guaranteed.