One of the questions I hear frequently at events is a complicated one: “Do you need multiple literary agents if you write in different genres or categories?” This is a tricky subject, but one that I want to address, since I myself have multiple agents.

Some writers get into writing with a clear focus in mind, such as penning young adult fantasy novels. Other writers want to compose books in different areas. Sometimes it’s not a far stretch to jump,  from young adult to middle grade, say. Other times it’s a whole new world, like making a jump from paranormal romance novels to nonfiction books about gardening.

THE 3 PROBABLE OPTIONS:

Here are the three likely ways this will happen if you have a literary agent and want to branch out into new genres or types of books.

Publishing is a wonderful business, but also a challenging one. Not only do you have to have a polished manuscript and an awesome query letter, but to be traditionally published, you need to get your work in front of an agent. Unfortunately, most authors make the mistake of approaching an agent too soon. 
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While you need excitement and confidence in this business, you can’t neglect research and skill. But with these six points, you’ll be well on your way to standing out from the crowd. 

Writing an 85,000-word novel is easy. Writing 250 words to describe those 85,000 words in a way that will make an agent want to read your book is hard. Your novel has (probably) a main character, secondary characters, a primary plot, maybe a B plot, maybe some complex relationships, tough decisions... there's a lot going on. If you write science fiction or fantasy, there are new worlds and rules to explain. And all of it is important to the story, or you wouldn't have put it on the page. 

With all these moving parts in your book, how do you know where your pitch should begin? Use these five magic words:

When I’m instructing at a writers’ conference, occasionally someone will raise their hand and try to point out flaws in my instruction. Here are some common examples regarding fiction:

• “Wait a minute, Chuck—what do you mean a novel can’t take time to warm up and get going? Did you ever read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? It started slow, and it only sold, oh, 10 million copies! Last I checked, 10 million was quite a lot…”
• “Wait a minute, Chuck—what do you mean my book can’t be 230,000 words? Have you ever heard of this book—it’s called, oh yeah--Gone With the Wind?!”
• “Wait a minute, Chuck—what do you mean it’s a bad tactic to start your story with a dream? I know this small-time writer guy—Dan Brown. Perhaps the name rings a bell. He wrote The Da Vinci Code—pssh, whatever. Anyway, well, he starts The Lost Symbol with a dream, and I think I read somewhere his advance was more than $10 million. So, uh... in your face.”

Sometimes, agents will ask for both a query letter and a plot summary as part of your submission package. The two serve different purposes and yes, an agent who asks for both really wants to see both. 

A query letter is more like the jacket copy you see on books in bookstores and libraries. They're meant to entice someone, in this case the agent, into opening the book and reading more. A summary is basically a list of events that happen during the book. 

The biggest difference between a summary and a query letter is:

Comp (comparative) titles are books you can point to as an example of what an agent or editor can expect when reading your manuscript. Listing two or three comp titles in your query letter or during your pitch gives an agent a quick idea of where your book fits in the marketplace.

When you want to convince an agent to take a chance on your novel, the immediate temptation is to compare your book to whatever's at the top of the bestseller list, but this could hurt your chance with an agent more than helping it. You should use...
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​The Three R's of Picking a Comp Title:

At writers conferences, I frequently get the question “Is it OK to sign with a new agent?” This is an interesting question, so let me try to delve into it here.

First of all, let’s look at the CONS:

• They are likely less experienced in contract and money negotiations.
• They likely know fewer editors at this point than an agent who’s been in business a while, meaning there is a smaller chance they can help you get published.
• They are likely in a weaker position to demand a high advance.
• New literary agents come and go. This means if your agent is in business for a year or two and doesn’t find the success for which they hoped, they could bail on the biz altogether. That leaves you without a home. If you sign with an agent who’s been in business for 14 years, however, chances are they won’t quit tomorrow.

One of the most common questions I get at writers conferences is this: Can I query multiple literary agents at once? My answer is that not only yes you can, but you’re encouraged to. After all, though an agent will usually reply quickly (bless you, e-mail), they may take three months or more to get back to you, only to send you a form rejection. You can’t wait around for agents one by one like that.

So if you’re doing simultaneous submissions, that is, contacting various agents at the same time, how many agents should you query? Would it be wise to just mail out your query to all 80 agents who rep science fiction, trying to personalize your letter wherever possible? I wouldn’t, if I were you. I would submit to 25% of your total agent list, to begin, including those you’ve met at a writers conference or retreat.

But why 25%? Isn’t that a strange, arbitrary number?

A good query letter is broken down into three parts: the quick intro, the pitch, and the bio.  Strangely enough, the third section (the bio) often generates the most questions and uncertainty with writers. In fact, when I speak at writers’ conferences on the topic of how write a query letter, there are typically a ton of questions about this small paragraph. With that in mind, I have cobbled together some notes on what to include and what not to include in a query letter at the end when you’re talking about yourself and your writing.

FICTION VS. NONFICTION

The bio section of a query letter is a completely different beast for fiction vs. nonfiction. If you’re writing nonfiction, the bio section is typically long and of the utmost importance. This is where you list all your credentials as well as the greatest hits of your writer platform. The importance of a nonfiction bio cannot be overstated. It has to be fat and awesome. Fiction bios, however, can be big or small or even not there at all. Most of the questions and notes I address below are discussing the murky waters of fiction query bios.

YES: INCLUDE THESE ELEMENTS IN YOUR BIO

• Traditionally published books. This is the top bio credit you could have — past traditionally published books. Always mention the title, year and publisher (and hyperlink to more info about the book). Beyond that, you could quickly mention an award your previous book won, or some praise it received.
• Any published short stories. If you got paid for them or they ended up in a respected journal, that is always a great thing to mention. It immediately proves you’ve got fiction writing cred.