Tantalizing Literary Agents

It has been slow-going with my campaign to tantalize book agents into taking on my new book, Eternal Moments. I have sent queries to only thirteen of them over the past couple of weeks, but in my defense, each one does need to be individualized. You can't just send the same query to their general submission inbox and hope for the best. Most literary agents are part of an agency with different agents for different types of books.

To reach the right eyes, so to speak, the submitter needs to identify the right agent in the agency. Then we need to customize the submission according to the requested format. For instance, almost no one wants a Word file these days. If they want a writing sample, it needs to be integrated into the email, along with the rest of the material they require. They usually want a cover letter, your writing history, etc., and why you chose their agency. Some want to know how many social media followers you have. I don't see much hope in my interesting this group.

With respect to the category of book, I usually choose "literary fiction". Not because my books are "literary" in any real sense, but because they are more like a good old-fashioned read than an action-oriented page-turner. At least, I hope they are. In my pitch to agents, I emphasize that Eternal Moments is more like a Somerset Maugham or Peter Matthiessen tale than most current best-sellers. It has plenty of action mixed in with the emotional turmoil and challenges of life, but it's meant to reflective as well as entertaining. Anyway, that's how I write, I think, and I've learned over the past 25 years or so, as I've been producing this kind of book, that it's not sexy enough to interest agents or traditional publishers.

But I still have hope!