Submission advice

[Kai1977]

I'm about to start sending my first novel out to agents. I was lucky enough to win a couple of competitions with my early chapters and synopsis last year and the judges (agents) asked to see the rest of the novel when ready.

Whilst they are good agents, I have some other agents who I feel are probably higher up my list.

Would it be wrong to submit to these agents first and also say in my letter that I have already had requests for the full?

I am under no illusions, I know they may all still reject me!

The agents who have asked to see it, did they asked you to send full manuscripts straightaway or just the first three and synopsis when you've given it a final polish and then they might ask for the full?

It's a tricky one. I would be tempted to send it to the ones who've asked to see it plus the ones you'd like to consider it. Then, it gives you an opportunity to go back to those latter ones in a week or two and say that you've been asked for the full and it might prompt them to move it up their reading piles and get back to you.

It's a little bit of game-playing but this is business not being nice.

If it's any help, I won a competition and the agent that gave me some input and who I thought would take me on ultimately passed as my work overlapped too much with another of her clients. I'd been chatting to another agent on Twitter and via DM and he asked to see the first three, then the full, loved it but thought it needed a final gussie up. So I took another pass, based on the notes he'd given me, and sent it back to him. After two weeks I spent an afternoon working out who else I was now going to submit to and the next day he came back to me and offered representation. I accepted, tore up that list of other agents and it's going well. I think showing a little loyalty possibly helped although he assures me that he doesn't waste time being nice so who knows?

But there's a lot of luck involved - D's agency gets 400-500 submissions per month and he took two writers on last year. They're a small agency but I wouldn't rule out anyone with a good reputation.

All the best.

Sorry, that was a wall of text. Can you tell I'm supposed to be editing and am easily distracted?

Thank you! To be honest, the words they all pretty much used were, 'I'd love to see more when ready'.

Most saw my first chapter or 4000 words or so so I have assumed they meant send me the whole thing but maybe that's wrong too??

In that case, I'd be tempted to send them the first three chapters and synopsis as standard but make sure your covering email is great and reminds them straight off that they asked to see more following that competition win. That reminds them exactly who you are and means that they'll settle down to read with possibly greater interest and maybe even prioritise it.

Good luck

Thank you. This submission stuff can be a bit of a minefield!

YY - don’t send the whole thing. You risk looking presumptuous. If they wanted the whole thing then they can just email back and ask, and you remain in an even keel with them.

Submit to 6-8 in the first instance. If no joy, submit to half a dozen more. Keep a spreadsheet with columns for name, agency, date submitted, date responded, result etc.

Good luck!

On an even keel!*

Thank you, oh yes I have an epic spreadsheet on the go already. Fingers crossed!