How To Get An Agent For My Book – Part One: The Submission Letter

Thousands of writers submit their books to literary agents every year, but only very few are chosen. Why is this, and how can you give yourself the best chance?

Part One: The Submission Letter

Literary Agents are jumpy as all hell. Slip up on one aspect of your submission and you’re written off forever. Sounds dramatic, but it’s true. Agents are like this because they get literally hundreds of crappy submissions every week. They can only sign one or two people a year. That is why you must follow their submission guidelines to the letter because they will probably only read your email before moving on if it doesn’t grab them. First Impressions are EVERYTHING!

How do I write a submission letter to an agent?

The submission letter should be SUCCINCT – COMPLETE – PROFESSIONAL
You should title your email with BOOK TITLE – YOUR NAME – FAO: AGENT NAME ( ZOMVEE – JOE BLOGGS – FAO: HARRY SMITH)
The letter should be exactly as they (not you) expect. Sometimes, agents ask you to write the letter to their template in their submission guidelines, which you should follow without deviation.

What should an agent submission letter contain?

Get their name right for Pete’s sake (not sir/madam). Start with “Dear Harry,”
Give them one line on why you are choosing them. “I saw that you have an interest in zombie fiction set in small-town USA, so you might like to consider my novel for representation.”
Then a line about your book with the final word count (rounded up to the nearest thousand words – use a k to denote “thousand” if you like), capitalizing your book name, and suggesting the genre and subgenre. “ZOMVEE is a dark YA zombie adventure of 82k words set in Tennessee with a female protagonist.”
Give them a pitch in three lines about your story (not a synopsis). “Vee is fourteen years old and looking after her disabled mom when The Illness comes down. Now she must learn to survive and protect her mom as a nasty band of bikers descends on her small town. But what they don’t know is she is a zombie hunter born and bred, and soon they will need her to survive the hordes from the north.”
Then compare your book to others that you would sit on the shelf with in a bookstore, “My book is similar to Survivor Song or The Girl With All The Gifts.”
Finally, tell the agent about you. Where you are from, where you live, and what you do for a living (you don’t need to declare that you are a mommy or proud dad. Nearly everyone is and it has no bearing on your writing). “About me – I was born in Newport in the seventies to a working-class family. I now live in Illinois and work as an artisanal baker.”
Mention any previous jobs or courses pertaining to writing, if any. “I have had several pieces published in the local newspaper, and have a certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Chicago.”
If anyone worth noting (NOT Amazon reviewers! Your book MUST NOT BE PUBLISHED!) has read your book draft (published authors for example), quote them here. “Stephen King says, “ZOMVEE is a thrilling urban ride.””
Thank the agent for their consideration.
Use 12pt font (Something normal like Times, Courier, Arial, or Garamond is best) and use at least 1.5 spacing.

So your letter will look like this:

Dear Harry,

I saw that you have an interest in zombie fiction set in small-town USA, so you might like to consider my novel for representation.

ZOMVEE is a dark YA zombie adventure of 82k words set in Tennessee with a female protagonist.

Vee is fourteen years old and looking after her disabled mom when The Illness comes down. Now she must learn to survive and protect her mom as a nasty band of bikers descends on her small town. But what they don’t know is she is a zombie hunter born and bred, and soon they will need her to survive the hordes from the north.

My book is similar to Survivor Song or The Girl With All The Gifts.

Stephen King says, “ZOMVEE is a thrilling urban ride.”

About me — I was born in Newport in the seventies to a working-class family. I now live in Illinois and work as an artisanal baker. I have had several pieces published in the local newspaper, and have a certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Chicago.

Thanks for your consideration,

Joe

Part Two: What should my synopsis look like?