Agent Tina Wexler on 6 1/2 Ways to Impress a Literary Agent

1. Write a really amazing query. Which is to say: take your time, try describing your work multiple ways until you find the best approach, read successful queries online and have as many people as possible read yours so that you’re certain it makes sense and is a shiny apple.

Tina Wexler, an agent at ICM, is predominately
interested in middle grade/YA fiction and adult
nonfiction. Tina currently serves on the board of
the Rutgers University Council on Children's
Literature and is an active member of SCBWI.

2. Demonstrate knowledge of an agent's list. This doesn’t mean you have to read every book they’ve ever sold—I leave that job to my mom—but by showing them you know a bit about who they represent, you’re telling agents you’ve done your research on who to query.

3. Do your research on who to query. Period.

4. Write a really amazing manuscript. Which is to say: take your time, put your work through multiple revisions, read published works in your genre, and consider joining a critique group or finding a writing partner whom you trust who can help make your manuscript a shiny apple.

5. Be nice. Agents, like most everyone, want to work with people who are personable. This does not, however, mean “Fawn over the agent” or “Send a bushel of apples to the agent.”

6. Don’t ask me, “Why all the talk about apples?” because if you’ve read my client Donna Gephart's How to Survive Middle School, you already know it’s because I'm constantly daydreaming about Bubbe’s Jewish Apple Cake. But do ask other questions you may have. Be a part of the conversation. Agents want critical thinkers who take this getting-published thing seriously.

6 ½. Take this getting-published thing seriously. There’s plenty of fun to be had, but remember, this is a business, not a hobby or a get-rich-quick scheme. Agents want hard workers, writers dedicated to their craft who view getting published as the first step of a long journey, writers whom they will want to be with on that journey.

The biggest database of agents anywhere is
the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents.
Buy it here online at a discount.

What Writers REALLY Want for Christmas

I’ve had several requests to revive a little Muse You Can Use ditty that I wrote circa the winter solstice in 2003. So here it is, my gift to all of you fabulous writers out there:

12 Days of Writers’ Wishes

In honor of the season (and because “public domain” copyright law permits derivative works, ha, ha), I’m revising the lyrics from “The 12 Days of Christmas” to offer inspiration to those of you who’ve been working with the word this year.

I’ve omitted the “my true love gave to me” portion because we writers know that no one – not even our truest loves – can give us what it takes to inventively emote on the page. That gift comes from within and above.

I’ve also deleted the “days” idea (wow, this looks nothing like the original work!) and replaced each verse with things that writers REALLY want—none of that piping and drumming nonsense. Of what use are milking maids or geese-a-laying anyway, unless you own a cow or have a fetish for large waterfowl?

What remains after all this editing are 12 gifts that I hope you will receive in the coming year, if you so desire!

12 Drummers Drumming = 12 percent (or more) royalties

11 Pipers Piping = 11 hours of heavenly solitude to write, write, write

10 Lords a Leaping = 10 larger-than-life fiction characters leaping off the page, including one bad-ass antagonist and a main character who makes your heart melt

9 Ladies Dancing = 9 muses dancing in your head, rousing your imagination all year long

8 Maids a Milking = milking each of your first-rights-only articles 8 times through serial rights

7 Swans a Swimming = 7 article acceptance notices swimming in your e-box

6 Geese a Laying = 6^th sense about when your project is rightfully “done,” and the patience to keep incubating until it is

5 Golden Rings = 5 testimonials from readers saying how much they enjoyed reading you

4 Calling Birds = 4 call-in talk show offers, at least one in syndication

3 French Hens = 3 AAR literary agents offering representation (I don’t mean to infer that agents are hens)

2 Turtle Doves = 2 editors-in-charge of imprints, cooing for your manuscript (auction!)

A Partridge in a Pear Tree = a screen adaptation and a call from Oprah’s executive producer

HAPPY, HAPPY BLESSED HOLIDAY EVERYONE!

Gina

INVISIBLE WRITING

I am intrigued by the theme of this year's FundsforWriters.com annual essay contest: Invisible Writing.

Submit 750 words or less on this theme, which you can interpret any way you'd like. Enter the $5 entry fee category and vie for $200 or the NO entry fee category and compete for $50. Deadline is October 31 (just in time to polish off those final words and head to a costumed Halloween party!).

Winners are announced December 1. Whether seen or unseen, get writing!

Gina