DEBUT AUTHOR JOURNAL: How I got a Literary Agent!

Poppy Nwosu, Debut Author Journal: Finding an agentAs we launch this new blog series in 2020, Poppy Nwosu is the published author of two young adult contemporary novels, Making Friends with Alice Dyson and Taking Down Evelyn Tait. Yet back in 2018, she had just signed her first publication contract for her debut book, and she really had no idea what the future might bring.
This collection of blog posts (originally written by Poppy between March 2018 and March 2019) chronicles her experience during that strange year of limbo between signing a contract and seeing her first book released into the world by Wakefield Press.
For today's post, Poppy speaks about how she found a literary agent.

Post written by Poppy Nwosu

Journal of a Debut Author: Finding an agent

April 2018: How I got a literary agent!

I am lucky enough to not only have a YA debut novel coming out with Wakefield Press, but to have also secured a lovely literary agent, who is representing my other work.
This is a dream come true for me and it has been a long loooooong time coming.
In this post, I talk a bit about how I started working with an agent.

Firstly, do you even want an agent?

Choosing to have an agent is such a personal decision for all writers and I think it depends on so many diverse factors. For instance, what kind of writer you are, your approach to novels as well as your genres and your aims. Everyone is different and there are some writers out there who do not seek representation, and I can completely understand why.
However, having an agent is something I did want.
This was because of a few different reasons, one being that I prefer to have someone who can help me with contracts, and the other (even more important in my opinion) is that I write in a range of genres within YA. This makes things a little more complicated for me.
But of course, deciding you want a literary agent and actually getting one are two completely different things.

So How Do You Get an Agent?

I kind of touched on this with my previous post in this series but I wanted to go into a bit more depth.
So, to take it backwards: quite a while ago I went to Salisbury Writer’s Festival, where I was lucky enough to meet the incredible YA author Vikki Wakefield for the second time (the first was at a book signing of hers). I was nervous but I went up to ask her a question, and she was super lovely and gave up a lot of her time to help me.
My question was this:
After sitting through a panel where a Literary Agent had adamantly told us that we needed a Literary Agent, and a publisher had (just as adamantly) assured us that we didn’t, what is the actual real benefit of an agent?

Vikki explained that you can be an author without one, but the best thing an agent can do for you is to be a sort of manager.
A literary agent can help guide your career, they can help you with industry advice and idea feedback, and if you prefer to have someone onboard to help with these things, then an agent is probably a good idea.

I really liked this explanation, and decided that it was definitely the kind of working relationship I really hoped to find.
So to cut a long story short: Here’s how I got my agent.

NETWORKING!


Yup. I met someone (a lovely local YA author at an event!) and they were kind enough to call their agent on my behalf.
And that is seriously it. Luck. And lots of it.
Haha. Well I can go into a bit more detail I guess!
But yeah, for me, networking is the crux of it.
And it seems to me this is the same for everyone across the board. I’d cold queried agents in the past, had polite no’s or never heard back, had two requests for a full manuscript, one that came back and said the novel wasn’t for her and the other who didn’t come back in six months, and in the end I emailed to politely take the novel back (so as not to waste any of her time) as I had already made the decision to work with my now agent.
But cold queries rarely seem to work (I mean, obviously they do work but it does seem pretty hard to get your foot in the door that way). It seems to me that nowadays agents prefer that you have connected with them (appropriately) via social media, or met them face to face at an event, or seen them speak at a conference. It is my impression that these things really matter.

Networking matters

I heard all this and thought it was impossible (and you know what, for those people living in regional areas it really does make it super difficult, but networking via social media is absolutely still networking) but somehow I guess I managed it.
Here’s how that happened:

  • I joined a book club.
  • Met some local YA authors for book signings
  • Attended a publishing house event and saw another local YA author speaking there
  • Attended a writing festival and introduced myself to authors
  • Got shortlisted for a literary award, saw those same YA authors there I'd already met
  • Went to another book launch and saw both of them again. Mentioned I had a meeting with Wakefield Press about my book the next day and an author was lovely enough to call her agent on my behalf and see if she’d be interested in tentatively reading some of my work.

How nice is that?
The authors I’ve met have been amazing in the time and advice they’ve offered me. One even read some of my work after only meeting me one time and gave me great feedback that really helped in the edit I was doing. And another actually introduced me to her agent.
It is one thing that I really love about the #LoveOzYA community, it is all about being a true community, and helping those around you. No competition, only help and guidance and time for newbies like myself.
It is a lovely lovely thing.

And a good thing to remember if you are trying to break in. People within this community are nice to each other, so you should remember to be nice too. Always.


So back to the agent thing … choosing whether or not to work with an agent is such a personal decision and almost a whole other discussion.
For me there were a few different reasons that made me feel really happy to work with my agent.
Small things like she was really nice on the phone, she always came back with answers in her emails quickly (or if she was busy, an estimated amount of time I could expect to receive an answer). These were things that were important to me.
Other even bigger pulls were the way she spoke about the kind of working relationship she wanted (emphasis on mutual trust and long term) and the fact that I already knew someone she represented who was extremely happy with her work.

And that folks, is how I got my agent.

It is still early days, but so far, my experience as an agented writer has been really wonderful.
Especially when I got the chance to meet my agent in person for a chat, which absolutely cemented my excitement at getting this chance to work with her. I am very excited to see where it all leads, and fingers crossed!
Obviously having an agent is absolutely wonderful, but it is only the first step to selling your book to a publisher. But getting through that first gateway is an amazing thing!
And that is it from me today. Thanks so much for reading!
 
Poppy Nwosu is an Australian YA author. Her debut novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, was shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award, and for the 2019 Readings Young Adult Book Prize. It will be published by Walker US in 2020. Her second novel Taking Down Evelyn Tait was published in April 2020.
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