The Submissions Process with Literary Agent Simon Trewin

Literary Agent Simon Trewin – Live!

Writing.ie are always dealing, happily, with a flow of inquiries from new writers who have finished their books and want to know what they should do next. While they have masses of content about getting published and self publishing  at Writing.ie, we felt there was a need for a guide that takes the mystery out of starting that process. So, as part of the collaboration between Writing.ie and the Simon Trewin Agency, we have put together a series of articles full of Simon’s excellent advice.

Writing is rewriting
The first thing for every writer to remember is that writing is rewriting. The moment you put the last full stop down at the end of the last sentence of your first draft isn’t the time to start thinking about sending it out –  it’s the time when the work really begins.

No published author submits a first draft and expects success, but rather they draft and redraft, write and rewrite until, as author Mary Malone says, ‘you’re so sick of your book that you never want to see it again!’

As Simon Trewin says, ‘The world doesn’t need another novel – it is the writer’s job to make the agent feel that, in some way, his or her view of the world we all live will be a slightly more textured and rich one if seen through your prose’

So there should be no hurry about this process – take your time and think very carefully about each step of this journey.

How do you know what to change as you redraft? Here are some tips:

Self editing

• Read your work outloud, particularly the dialogue, making sure that nothing jars. If it helps, record yourself reading and play it back, or use the text to speech function on a Kindle to play back passages.
• One of the problems with writing is that our brain thinks it knows the words that should be on the page, and can be blind to the words that are actually there. It is essential to print out your entire book and read it in hard copy as part of the editing process. Choose a different font from the one you normally work in and it will help you spot the problems. We have some great tips on structural and self editing here.
• Ask a writer who works in your genre to read your book and give you their comments. Even an enthusiastic reader will not understand the techniques required to make your story work – a writer will, and if there is too much backstory or not enough description in the right places, they will spot it.
• Join a critique group or writers group to get feedback on your manuscript.
• You can use sites like Scribophile or  YouWriteOn.com  to submit parts of your book (the opening chapter is a good place to start) to get feedback from other writers and to be in with a chance of an editor spotting your book. Take their points on board, but bear in mind they may not have the experience of published authors.

The next step: length & genre

As you are redrafting, it’s time to check that your book is:

• The right length (word count) for the market – we have guidelines here.
• If you are writing for children, your reader – and the age bracket you are writing for – has a direct impact on the age of your protagonist and the length of the book – make sure you have got this right. Children’s Books Ireland have fabulous resources and we’d urge you to join them if this is your field – from workshops to advice, this is the organisation that can help.
• If poetry is your area, check out Poetry Ireland who again have specific resources to help you.
• If your book is fiction, does it fall within a recognised genre (crime, romance, women’s fiction, humour) or subgenre (historical crime or women’s fiction for instance)? Books that cross genre can be hard to place with publishers as it can be tricky to know how to market them/where to put them on the bookshop shelf. Understanding genre will help, read as much as you can in the genre you write in. That said, if your book is brilliantly written genre will not be an issue.
• If your book is non-fiction you need to be aware of what the competition is in the marketplace – what makes your book different from what’s available already, and why are you the best person to write it?

Who to approach?

Matching your manuscript to the right type of publishing house or agent is essential to success – not every publisher publishes every type of book, and if you submit a children’s picture book to an academic publisher you are guaranteeing a rejection.

You can reduce your chances of rejection with a little detective work. We have a complete list of Irish publishers here at writing.ie, plus a list of Irish agents. For information on UK agents and publishers, The Writers and Artist’s Yearbook is an invaluable resource (there is a specific edition for anyone writing for children).

Go to your local bookshop or library and find books that are like yours – read the acknowledgments and find out who the author’s agent and editor are – use this information to start a list of who to approach. Read our section on tips for submission.

Simon Trewin says, ‘Personally I would always advise going to an agent first rather than to a publisher – unless you are doing something very specialist (in the non-fiction market for instance) where an agent can’t bring much added value. As I explained in Episode 1 – agents are there to provide a quality filter and to present work to a publisher in the format they need to evaluate it effectively’.

Your submission package

Every publishing house has slightly different requirements for authors submitting to them. It is essential that you read the guidelines and follow them to the letter. There is nothing more annoying for editors than maverick authors who have a better idea of how to submit. Make the editor’s job easier by following the guidelines.

Essentially you will be required to submit a covering letter, a synopsis of your book and the three opening chapters (info on format here) – some publishers want the first fifty pages, some want a query letter outlining your book before you even get to this stage (this is the norm in the US). Their guidelines will be on their website – check them to see what they want.

We have tips here on writing your covering letter, and tips here for writing your synopsis.

Simon Trewin : ‘This is an area we will be going into in great depth during this series and I look forward to sharing my Do’s and Dont’s with you then’.

Essentially your book needs to be in tip top condition before you send it anywhere – editors today just don’t have time to detect a glimmer of genius in a unpolished draft. At the risk of driving editors and agents to distraction, you really only have on chance to submit your book, so don’t send it anywhere until you are absolutely sure that you cannot do any more to it. You can get professional help on your manuscript before you send it from a range of services – Ireland’s leading publishing consultancy, The Inkwell Group has a team of published authors and industry professionals who can read your book and give you report on it, give you a line by line critique of the opening chapters, or edit all or part of your book. You can get information on their full range of services and read their success stories at their website.

Understanding the business

If you are serious about becoming an author it is vital that you get to understand the business side of writing and how it works. You can do this by reading author’s publication stories and tips (we have masses of information on writing.ie), attending workshops, book launches and festivals or joining a writing course that includes a publishing element.

Simon Trewin adds, ‘I would recommend you subscribe to the free update from the industry magazine The Bookseller for an overview of the UK market and to a daily email alert called Publishers’ Lunch in the US. Reading these on a regular basis will give you so much more texture to your understanding of what we all do on the business side and how you can all best interact with it’.

When you understand the options available to you, you can consider whether traditional publishing (with a publishing house) or self publishing is the best route to get your book to readers.

What not to do

If you Google publishers, often the first few results you get are actually ads. As a general rule, bone fide commercial publishers really don’t need to advertise for books, they have more than they need sent by agents or directly by authors every day. Please, please, check anyone you submit to carefully before you commit to a contract of any sort – we would urge you to get professional advice from a publishing professional – the Society of Authors offer free contract advice to members (based in London but with member all over the world), they have a dedicated and experienced team – their membership could be the best money you spend!  It’s essential that you know exactly what you are committing too – sometimes a shiny publisher or agent may not actually be offering what you think they are, and once you get locked into a dodgy (and what can be very expensive) contract, it’s very hard to get out of it.

Simon Trewin’s Top Tip – ‘In a traditional publishing deal the money should be flowing in the direction of YOU the author. If it isn’t then you are subsidising the publisher and need to ask yourself whether this is a wise thing to be doing’. 

Think about your author profile and how you will sell your book

Publishers are naturally inclined to be interested in authors who understand a little bit about marketing, who have a blog or website established and who have a social media presence. Having lots of connections with people who will buy your book has to be a good thing. Think about starting a blog and getting onto Twitter – we have lots of tips if you click the links.

If an editor likes your chapters there is a good chance that they will Google you to find out more about you. Google yourself and see what they will see! Now might be the time to take down those stag night pictures…your own blog or website allows you to be in full control of the images and information that is available about you, and gives an editor a good idea of your personality.

If you hate social media and don’t want to blog, think about other ways of connecting with potential readers. Can you give library or schools talks? Not a public speaker? Now is the time to think about ways around that, as marketing is a vital part of every author’s life.

Publishers need writers

The most important thing to remember as you look for a publisher, is that the industry cannot operate without writers. Writers are the fuel that keeps the machine going. There is no question that there is a high level of rejection in this business (this article might help), and that is something that writers must prepare themselves for early on, and often. But at the same time, there are more opportunities open to you with the growth of digital and print-on-demand/self publishing, than ever before. It’s a great time to be a writer!

Watch the video below of the conversation between Vanessa and Simon, or listen to it on your commute!

This article is the first of a comprehensive series of video conversations with Simon Trewin, originally published on Writing.ie here.