5 Easy Steps to Get a Literary Agent and Publish Your Book.

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

Your manuscript is polished. Your query is snappy. Are you ready to query?

Nope. Let’s just SLOW YOUR ROLL lest you hear “writer, writer pants on fire!”

You may be writing from the heart but your book is not your baby.

The book proposal is the marketing plan and the sales forecast. It positions your book and compares you to all other writers. It must glitter.

You can do this. IF you put on your agent hat.

Picture our friendly literary agent.

She’s paid only on sales. She spends her days on her current clients’ work. She’s pitching those writers to publishers. And she still hasn’t been paid for that work. She’s living off the books she sold two years ago.

Now it’s the weekend. She’s reviewing your query at night when she should be binge-watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

She’s assessing the sales opportunities for your book. She’s comparing to recent deals on Publishers Marketplace. She’s assessing your viability as an engaging spokesperson for your brand. She’s considering the individual readers who will flock to your story and eventually pay real dollars for your book.