The Agent-Search Roller Coaster

I parted ways with an agent almost two years ago and have been assiduously searching for a new one ever since with two new novels. I don’t have one yet, but the ride keeps swerving, rising and diving.

Maybe you know the feeling. First there’s the long, slow, laborious grind of cranking up that first big slope. The queries go out. The grind keeps grinding.

Then an agent requests a full! Wheeeee! Down I go, what a thrill…

She loves the writing but, well, just doesn’t connect well enough to represent.

I bottom out and trudge up another hill…I submit to a fellow litblogger who’s now an agent…he asks for a full. Wheeeeee!

Oops, it’s not just right for him, either. But wait, he’s passing it on to another agent in his highly prestigious agency. Not exactly a wheeeee moment this time, more waiting. So I’m sort of cruising, meanwhile sending out more queries.

Another agent asks for a full! No thrill this time because the previous dives have led to disappointment, so the roller coaster coasts. And coasts.

And coasts.

She loves it! Whe—but she doesn’t know what to do with it. Do I have other material she can see? Three novel proposals are on her desk almost instantaneously. But no wheeee any more. Just the steady trudge of the foot soldier, slowly taking a hill.

Email arrives. She likes all of the work! Whe—but she just doesn’t connect well enough to represent. This time is different, though. She really likes the writing (actually says “great writer,” mini-wheee) and she goes above and beyond the call of duty to recommend me to two agent friends at equally bigtime agencies.

With that endorsement, the agents are delighted to look at my work. (Turns out that one of them declined the opportunity to look at my stuff about a year ago. It would be delicious irony if he signs me.) One of the agents has asked for a full, snail mail hasn’t yet reached the other. It’s wheeeeeee! time again.

So I’m plunging down that slope, racing for another hoped-for thrill. Surely I’ll connect with one of these fine folks. After all, they’ll be looking at the work in a different way than with a cold call.

It sure would be nice for this ride to end, to have the train stop and let me step off into an new ride, but this time with a marketing partner to share the thrills and spills.

Even if that doesn’t happen this time, at least I know a pro appreciates the things I do, and that adds new momentum.

I’m zooming down, hope inside bubbling with excitement again, but there’s another big hill ahead, says a reality check. What’s it going to be this time…

Best,
Ray

Ray Rhamey

Ray Rhamey is the author of five novels and one writing craft book, Mastering the Craft of Compelling Storytelling. He’s also an editor of book-length fiction and designs book covers and interiors for Indie authors and small presses. His website, crrreative.com, offers an a la carte menu of creative services for writers and publishers. Learn more about Ray’s books at rayrhamey.com.

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