Видео

I've seen other agnets say very different things about the blurb. Like they don't want you to summarize everything and spoil the ending. So who knows...?

Forgive me but I only heard four types of rejection. Piers jumps from 3 to 5 missing out 4 completely.

The title holds the elements of a great hook. The ambiguous wording suggests you'll grab an agent's attention in under 5 minutes. Instead, it's his rundown that comes in under seven minutes. Brilliant, because despite the duplicity, the information is worthy of the watch. Well did... & then... :)

Things may have changed in the seven years since this video was made, but it seems that now most agents are saying on their websites that they can't reply to everyone and if you don't hear from them within 8 weeks, 12 weeks, or whatever, it's a no. I've got a spreadsheet set up to track my submissions and a formula to mark it rejected after that date. All the same, I can't help thinking that if they are so busy that they can't spare five minutes to send a standard template email then they probably need to reflect on their work-life balance. I've had several of another kind of rejection. Ones which tell me they like my pitch, or my writing, or that the concept of my book is intriguing, but they're not going to be taking it forward. I even had one agent tell me not to worry, that although it wasn't for her she was sure I'd have success elsewhere. So far I've proved her wrong.

Excellent. Thank you.

i dmd you my pitch

2:09...what writers hate about agents. They still have the ability to be idiots...but seem never to admit it. Also this I.Q. thing you speak of, "a better than you" principle. This is one of the most belittling things people do to each other. Nazi's were great at it. Why do we not test all the children. Like Spartans. And then just put them where they belong. You're dumb-you go there. You're smart-you go there. No choice or personal development. To raise more of a point, Jesus wouldn't get a book deal as per your criteria. He couldn't write. So mechanics are more important than the story you tell. The best story will never be heard. Know why? Because the teller was disabled and just didn't measure up...nobody cared to help less of a fee. Which the disabled do not have. And there are many others you will never hear of. Their stories struck dead by the cut of the highly educated. If you really are that smart you would have figured out how to help the "lesser" ones. There would be even more really good stories for you to read. By the way, what did the good Mr. Clemens say about the highly educated? Have a nice day.

Hello Piers. It is some time since you have posted anything on your channel and things have changed a lot in the meantime. Fort example even more agents leave authors in limbo these days. Do you have anything to say about the industry these days? I am a journalist but also a writer and I would be interested in hearing what you have to say

I'd like to find UNBIASED agents.

There is so much TRASH on the bookshelves that I wonder how in the world these books got published at all.

Hi Piers. I have really enjoyed your honest postings on this channel, even if they were posted years ago. i have a question if you ever read these comments. If a story was created purely for your personal pleasure; without your agency or publishing hats on - what kind of story would that be? I'm curious because you must read so much professionally what do you read purely for pleasure? I have actually just sent a submission to you and even if you reject it, I won't feel as bad about it as I would from some othjer agents. Good on yer mate as they say . . . er. in Oz? Rebecca Wilde

After I finished my rough draft, friends and family read my manuscript and were blown away. They told me I absolutely have to get it published even though I never intended to. I quickly researched agents and wrote a horrendous query letter. I sent out about 15 queries and only got about 7 responses. All of them were rejections of course. I've attended a writers workshop and gone back and completely reworked my query letter. I feel like it is as good as it can be now. Last week I sent out 4 queries to 4 agents that I would absolutely love to work with. Fingers crossed.

A missing first step is how to find agents, which is necessary before you can even begin to research them.

I'm listening. Thanks for being clear!

Thank you for this great video, agree with all of it and happy to know I'm ticking all boxes, however, I personally find it offensive to the writer to have to provide spoilers on synopsis and just ruin the experience. I believe that agents, if you really want to discover the next JK Rowling or so, that agents should actually read the submission chapters, and be grateful that we writers choose that particular agent to work together to publish our very special work that we invested so much of our lives into it. It makes me quite angry actually when I read agent's pages requesting spoilers. I find utterly disrespectful to the writers. Well, for me at least, I'm extremely confident that I wrote a master piece, that will also be turned into Oscar winner movie and Netflix series, so I will not ruin anyone's experience by providing spoilers. I trust that after we invested precious time of our lives writing it, the agents should earn the right to discover the end, by actually enjoying the reading journey and reach the climax of the story like a reader would do.

liked and subbed with thanks.

Ive watched your videos countless times over the years. Great information. I wondered after watching this video what makes a great cover letter. Not necessarily a great story. It would be nice to be shown cover letters and what you liked or didn’t like. For instance, length, order, and how the writer talks to you and how they talk about their work.

I wish there were agents to write the query for me. I've had beta readers tell me my novel is good, but with my memory issues etc, I find creating the query letters to be very difficult.

I got an agent. I am posting this comment for anybody discouraged; no other reason. Nobody wanted my first three books. I self published them anyway. They got nice reviews but did not sell many copies. I got rejected over 120 times on the fourth book, but I have a very enthusiastic, well respected agent. Don’t give up.

"Writers write. Everything else is a distraction." Too right. Thank you. xo

Great tips! You sound like Hugh Grant

To be fair at the end of the day it’s just someone’s opinion that leads to rejections. Just look at J K Rowling getting rejected with Harry Potter.

Excellent information. Even 9 years later.

The way this man talks is a clue to how one should write a cover letter and a submission. Thanks :)

So kind of you.

Thank you, PIers.

Have you changed your overall opinion as of late?

A lot of literary agents say they want the letter to include a 'blurb' of around 3 paragraphs but it sounds as if that would put you off.

You know Pierce my editor practically drive me to drink but it was worth the effort as I've had good responses from people who read them Gerry Browne when God calls and sulking with God

Grand video but I need an agent for two books that I've self published when God calls and sulking with God they are on kindle and Amazon my editor tried submissions to some agents but it seems a long drawn out process so I need help I'm working on about 10 different manuscripts which is lunacy but hope it gives you the sort of laugh it gave me help!!!!!!! One lunatic writer who isn't one

Your videos are helpful, thank you. (Also, very funny!)

I've just finished writing a book about Time Travel. It's 75,000 words and is "the next amazing thing". Would you like to read it?

While I agree with the sentiment that writers should focus on writing - I think self-publishing lends itself to new stories and ideas that traditional publishers don't want to risk promoting. As some below have commented, the industry seems set on very formulaic narratives and while those narratives may sell well when they are written well, the truth is every author has a unique voice the world stands to improve from hearing. Will a self-published novel sell as well as traditionally published novel? Probably not. But for most authors the goal isn't to make wads of cash, it's to gain a readership, to build a platform where their work can be seen. As it stands now most publishers will not even accept submissions from un-agented authors, and most agents won't take on new authors unless they've been published. It's a catch-22.

Thank you!

Great! Can you do. the same for non-fiction? Many thanks!

This is an all-time classic contribution to the genre of: Reasons to give up and abandon all hope of ever getting anything published. With arrogant tossers like this in charge of the trade, you haven't a chance.

The only problem I have with these things is the suggestion that an agent should expect to alter a novel with impunity. Do you know how many great novels would have been worse off had they allowed an agent to "spruce" it up for commercial purposes? Imagine A Farewell to Arms with a happy ending. Imagine The Catcher in the Rye with a murder mystery subplot tacked on. Imagine Harry Potter being a woman, simply because JK's agent thought it would sell better. It's madness. I can understand trying to tighten up certain elements of a story, but whole-sale changes? If you're that unhappy with the novel, don't take the project on. It's really that simple.

Making the claim that an author isn't in control of their own story because they can't condense it down into three or four sentences is really absurd. Can you do that with King's IT? No, of course not. Not properly enough to get a grasp of the story's arch. It's too long. So if that turns you off, you're going to be missing out on a lot of potentially great novels and equally great writers. All an agent should care about is whether the writer will be professional enough to work with, and whether or not he/she has the goods. Everything else is irrelevant.

After. Checking all videos on you tube, I think I'm going to get my mystery novel printed . I love my mystery novel and can t wUt to see it in print

The stupidest thing ever is asking writers to select the genre. Agents and publishers will know this MUCH better. If an agent can’t read it and figure out the genre, they’re a pretty shitty agent. There are dozens of genres and stories cross over a lot. Agents should know the market and where the book should fit. Passing this responsibility onto writers is the stupidest thing.

I am not sure how to pitch this in a short form. It is a monumental story changing history. On July 17, 1996 at 11:15 p.m., I was working in overnight security dozing when my wife telephoned and asked if I had heard about the plane crash over Long Island. Immediately, I envisioned an enormous fiery explosion and told her all the people are dead. What happened can only be described as a psychic phenomena that was channeled to me that lasted on and off for three weeks. My book proves that a bomb blew the plane up. The government did not want an international conflict. Khobar Towers had just occurred and turmoil raged in the Middle East so no way the government wanted to report that a bomb blew up the plane. Clinton was far ahead in the polling for the Presidential Election only months away and wanted no Mid-Eastern confrontation to affect his popularity. The CIA made a documentary supporting the government's findings that a spark in the Center Wing Tank caused the plane to blow up which was totally fallacious which is disproved in my book. I hope that a movie can be made from my book. Randall Brooke is my pseudonym. Kindly advise me your thoughts about my movie proposal. TWA Flight 800 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED July 17, 1996 Randall Brooke

Very funny... love it! Thanks.

Whoah, whoah--whoah! (Reaches for the cotton buds….) You say that given a (non-fiction) book or proposal is a real doozy it’s writer, “… do[es]n’t have to be this amazing media personality”? Are you saying you will look at an NF proposal even if the writer’s “Platform” section is … non-existent? (Some of us NF writers spend our time concentrating on top quality content at the expense of notoriety.) Gotta say, you’re the only litag I’ve ever heard say that. The *only* one. Quite the opposite, I’ve had litags say to me that the “Platform” section of a book proposal is the very first thing they look at-and if it’s not there or if its seriously wanting then the proposal goes straight into the bin.

Hi Piers, what happens if your synopsis ends with a cliff hanger for a sequel? Should you provide three synopsis for each book of a trilogy even if you’ve only written the first?

"Never try and get feedback from someone you're prepared to lend money to." Is fantastic advice! I'm throwing that in my reminder notes.

So helpful!

There's no harm in putting the finished product out there. Well, maybe you ought to use a pen name because if the commercial success is way below market average, agents and publishers might frown on the author with the next (and a much better) book.

Thank you for the valuable advice.

So many people ask for a comparison, it's this meets this, and say it's absolutely necessary?

Wow. Just found this channel. Nice.