subject: How To Get Your Book Published [print this page] The vast majority of the income that a literary agents will make comes from the 10 to 20 percent that they get from the manuscripts they sell to publishers or the proposals that they sell to producers or directors.
That is the reason that if you have written a small piece like a poem, a short story, or even an article, you will most likely have trouble in finding yourself an agent to represent you. The payouts for these kind of properties are typically very small. Too small for agents to spend their time trying to get it published. So, if your writing piece falls in one of these categories, you are pretty much on your own.
Sometimes you get lucky, however, If, by happenstance, you manage to make a connection with a literary agency who has a proven track record of taking in unknown and unpublished writers and grooming them, you have truly lucked out. Such agencies, while few and far between, do exist. They will work with you through all the various stages of getting your book published.
But it gets even better. These types of agents make a habit of looking for long term relationships with authors whom they can work with over a number of years. You see this phenomenon with a lot of famous authors. Once they find an agency that they like, they tend to stick with that agency.
Most query letters that are sent to publishers are rejected. If you are a writer, this is a simple fact of life that writers, particularly new ones, will have to get used to if they plan on making a career of writing. The fact that your letter was rejected may indicate that your work is no good, but it does not necessarily mean that. Letters are rejected for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is just not the right kind of property for the agent to handle. Other times the topic that you are writing about is already overexposed in the marketplace.
The most important thing is to keep trying - keep pushing forward. After all, the bookstores are full of books that were rejected by the first agency or publishing house that they were sent to.
Eventually you will get to the point where you are sending your manuscript out. When this time comes, restrict yourself to sending out only one manuscript at a time. If you don't, you will find yourself spending all of your money on printing fees. Send it to one agent, with a return envelope and wait for his response.
If your manuscript does not appeal to that agent and he returns it, then simply check your list and send it out to the next agent on it. It's best if you have a system. Try to put together a system so that you can keep track of where it is and how long it has been there. The key is to keep working at it and to not get discouraged.
