Well, I see it’s time for my yearly blog update. Summer is a quiet time in traditional publishing. For the most part, editors and publishers go on vacation like other business people do, and proposals and manuscripts sit quietly waiting to be read and discovered. So for the month of July I usually work on proposals, sourcing new clients and I take a few days off to enjoy the sunny weather at the beach in Vancouver. If you have a manuscript or proposal that you want to send out to an agent for representation, July is the month to do it. That’s when we have the most time to review work and when we are looking for the next big deal.
On that note I would like to reiterate my submission requirements because for some reason I keep getting people submitting to me in the comments section of this blog. If you do that it’s a big fat NO. It’s really clear on my page who you need to send your work to, and HOW you need to send it. If I can’t trust you to read that small part on this website, then what makes you think I could sell your book? And if I get one more submission with my name misspelled I am going to have to shut this sucker down. My name is BRIAN- B-R-I-A-N not BRAIN- B-R-A-I-N. Do everyone a favour- throw out spellcheck and read your work manually for mistakes. If you have an error in the first line of your manuscript – I toss it!
Yes, that sounds cruel, but remember. Agents don’t get paid until they sell a book. And then it’s only 15% . We do a lot more behind the scenes than most people think. It’s not just pitching, selling and doing contract negotiations. We act as a mediator when problems come up, distributors when you need help getting your book in the stores or online, and yes, in some cases a therapist when you need some support.
So this summer polish up your manuscripts and proposals (make sure they are typo free) and then follow my submission guidelines. And who knows maybe we might work together in the future.
Brian J Wood- Literary Agent 