How To Write A Pitch To A Literary Agent That Will Get Your Manuscript Read

If you’re thinking of going down the traditional publishing route with your book, rather than self publishing, and you want to go with a big publisher, the first thing you will need is a literary agent.

I often get asked how you actually go about getting a literary agent.

The first things to do (such as researching the right agent etc.) are in this post, How To Get A Traditional Book Deal. I won’t be rehashing all of these points here, so if you’re at stage one, have a read of the post before you even think about writing your pitch.

Once you know who you’re pitching to, and you’ve checked that they are the right agent for your book, you will need a stand out pitch if you want an agent to even read your first three chapters.

This industry is hugely competitive and agents get hundreds of queries a week – they aren’t going to waste their time reading manuscripts that have no appeal to them.

Make sure you read the submissions guidelines for your chosen agent before you write your pitch and follow it.

Here are the things that a pitch should include to grab the agent’s attention and make them see you’re serious about your career as a writer:

A Bit About You

A brief introductory paragraph that tells the agent a little bit about you. Include your name and location.

This is also your chance to show an agent why they should take a chance on you.

Tell them about your writing experience – Have you self-published before? Have you won any awards for your writing? Had an Amazon best seller?

Tell them about your social media following and website. This might not seem important, but even with a traditional publishing deal, authors are expected to do the thick of the marketing for their book. If you have 50,000 Twitter followers, or an email list with 10,000 plus people signed up, they are more likely to take a chance on you as an unknown author.

A Bit About Your Book

This is your chance to sell your book to a potential agent. Don’t be shy and don’t be vague.

Mention the genre and word count of your book. Explain who the ideal reader of your book is.

Include your book’s elevator pitch (look here for how to nail this). This should be a concise sentence or two that sums up the plot of your book.

Add at least three comparable titles that have been published in the last three years. Comparable titles are books in the same genre as yours that explore similar themes and are aimed at the same audience.

Including these not only shows agents that you know your stuff, it instantly gives them an idea of which editor and cover designer would work well with your book, and which publisher they think would be interested.

Contact Details

This should go without saying, but people seem to forget it according to interviews I’ve read with agents.

Include your email address (even though you’re sending the email from it, it’s best to include it; maybe the document will be saved and the email lost). It’s also worth including a telephone number, although not essential unless it’s in the guidelines.

General Tips

• Put a bit of personality into your pitch – it should be professional, but it doesn’t have to be bland
• Address the agent by their name and mention a favourite author of yours that they represent – this shows you’ve done your homework and not just sent out a blanket pitch to any agent you find

Getting an agent is about so much more than a good pitch. Your book has to be good (obviously) and live up to the excitement you’ve built in your pitch for agents to want to take it further. A good pitch only means your book stands a better chance of being looked at by the agent.

The book has to grab the agent, which is often a very personal thing, so don’t think a rejection automatically means your book isn’t very good.

And remember, a rejection is only that one person’s opinion.

Are you thinking of getting a literary agent? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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