| |

What to Do With Literary Agent Feedback

As an author submitting queries, you may end up wondering what to do with literary agent feedback. Do you blindly accept it, completely reject it, or maybe meet somewhere in the middle?

Have You Received Literary Agent Feedback?

A while ago, an author came to me with a conundrum. He’d written a slow-burning psychological thriller and queried it. One agent expressed interest but wanted to see the author revise the ms to have a faster pace. But the author wasn’t sure this would serve the story well. What should he do?

One of the things I always recommend is just trying something new. So I told him, “Why not try a come-out-galloping approach and see what happens? You may surprise yourself.”

This isn’t just about seeing if an agent is maaaaaaybe right. It’s also important because agents and publishers will want to see that you can be flexible if they suggest changes.

foundations of storytelling for writers.

“My art is my art” is fine if you want to continue doing what you’re doing. That may be enough. But if it’s not, consider what you will have to do differently to change your own story.

Agents and bigger publishers are driven by the profit motive. Agents do not represent and publishers do not publish books that have literary merit merely because those books have literary merit. They publish books they think they can sell to bookstores (and to a lesser degree to readers). They’re wrong a great deal of the time, but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to focus on creating the most commercial projects they can.

Agents talk about representing books they love but a book an agent loves is one they think they can sell. When I was an agent, I turned down lovely, lyrical books not because they weren’t beautifully written but because I had no idea what publisher would want them. I took on projects that were objectively worse because I knew I could place them.

wave hitting beach in ocean.
The perfect class for learning query letter must-haves!

So you have to get comfortable with this fact in order to compete successfully in this larger arena. It is very hard for many writers because we have this idea that literary merit ought to matter in the world. And it does! It just isn’t necessarily rewarded with monetary success.

This is not meant to discourage but to be realistic. If there are steps you can take (and there almost always are) to make your work more commercially viable and to make yourself as an author more approachable to readers, you are more likely to be able to land that agent and eventually the book deal.


Other Helpful Content

  • Line Editing for Filter Words

    Line editing for filter words is a skill to master for line editors. Tips on Line Editing for Filter Words Filter words in fiction are words that get in the way of the reader experiencing the moment. These often relate to senses: “I saw John get out of the car” instead of “John got out…

    Read more…

  • The problem with unasked-for editing

    Getting work as a freelance editor is always a challenge, and my colleagues sometimes see an opportunity when a local business or other organization publishes a newsletter or blog post with errors. They ask me, “I’m thinking about pointing out the errors and offering my editorial services for pay. What do you think?” I think…

    Read more…

  • How Do I Get My First Editing Client?

    I’m frequently asked, “How do I get my first client?” This is one of those questions that can take three hundred pages to answer. But I did want to provide an overview answer to this question. First, I want to distinguish between a beginning editor who has no idea what they’re doing and needs to…

    Read more…

Join the Club!

how to become an editor

New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.

Similar Posts