Selling Your Novel Without an Agent

Selling Your Novel Without an Agent Many authors mistakenly believe you must have a literary agent to sell your novel to a publisher – especially one of the big New York publishers. While it’s true that the right agent can help you find a publisher and negotiate a contract, it’s also possible to have a flourishing career without an agent. If you’re interested in selling your novel without an agent, here are some tips and guidelines to help you: 1.  Ã‚     Research Your Market – While many people rely on their agent to match them up with the right publisher, my experience has been that I knew as much about my chosen market as most of the agents I talked to. You, too, can become an expert in your genre. Read editor and agent blogs. Visit publisher websites. Follow publishers and agents on Twitter. Read publications devoted to your genre. Read the dedications and acknowledgments in your favorite books in your genre and note the names of editors – these are the pros you want to work with. 2.  Ã‚     Perfect Your Pitch – Your manuscript or proposal is a product you’re trying to sell to a publisher, so polish your one-to-two sentence pitch. You’ll use this pitch in query letters and as an â€Å"elevator pitch† when you meet editors at conferences. Your pitch should tell what your book is about, but it should also â€Å"sell† the project, making it sound intriguing and marketable. For instance, my pitch for my November release, The View From Here, was â€Å"Northern Exposure in the Rocky Mountains.† This immediately conjured up the idea of a small, rugged town filled with quirky characters. 3.  Ã‚     Know Publisher Policies – Though some publishers say they’ll take only agented manuscripts, plenty of publishers are still open to unagented submissions. Smaller presses such as Bell Bridge Books are open to unagented authors, as are most digital publishers and many larger publishers, including Kensington Books,   St. Martin’s Press, Berkley Books, Harlequin Books and many others. Read the publisher’s guidelines on their web sites and in market guides, but go a step further. Make a phone call and ask if they’ll accept a query from an unagented author. The worst that can happen is they’ll say no. And many will say yes. 4.  Ã‚     Attend Conferences – Even publishers with policies against unagented material will   send editors to conferences to take pitches. If you’re targeting a particular publisher and an editor you’d like to work with is attending, the price of the conference fee could be a good investment in your career. Pitch your project to the editor and they may request you send them the manuscript. I sold The View From Here to Kensington 5.  Ã‚     Enter Contests – Contests are another way to get your work in front of editors even if you don’t have an agent. Most contests will list the names of final judges. Select contests with judges who are editors you want to work with. (You’ll know this because you’ve been doing   your research – see #1). 6.  Ã‚     Find a Literary Attorney – Once you’ve successfully sold your novel, you’ll need to hire a literary attorney to review the contract for you. Be sure you get a literary attorney, and not just any lawyer. You want someone familiar with the contract terms used in publishing. You can find a literary attorney through a Google search or from referrals from writer’s organizations. Expect to pay several hundred dollars for the contract review, but it’s a one-time fee and well worth the money.