Suggestions for publisher/agent gratefully received

[writerinthenorth]

Having re-emerged from the 2011 Amazon Breakthough process (semi-fnalist) I am just about ready now to submit my revised ms of 'Mr Stephenson's Regret' to a publisher. The publisher of my first novel ('11:59', a thriller) specialises at the darker edge of fiction and does not do historical fiction, nor does the publisher of my earlier short story collection. I would welcome any suggestions/personal contacts members might have of a British publisher or an agent who might be interested in taking a look at a sample. Yes, I do have the latest Writers and Artists Yearbook, but I'm keen to narrow down the possibilities and get into the right niche to avoid the message-in-the-bottle syndrome. Many thanks in anticipation.

[DianeL]

I worked very very long and hard to develop a list of agents to whom I wanted to send my query, and in fact I still am. There's so much more to it than just looking up agencies or agents who handle historical; you have to look personally at their catalogues, compare your work, and decide whether your piece is a fit for their tastes, as indicated by what they have under representation. Most writers I know spend at least a year, some even several, researching and crafting individual queries for each submission; I have yet to meet any who were happy to hand the list of dozens of prospects they worked hard to compile over to somebody so they wouldn't have to do all that same work. Even if authors were that generous, there's no reason to think that one person's list would suit another's product. We include or exclude possibilities so subjectively - and the decision to submit or not to submit to a particular person might be different one day to the next. Moreover, there will always be "tries" one person makes which another person would never dream of. As far as I can tell, the way to avoid the message in a bottle syndrome is to do the research, and to make queries individual to each submission. Demonstrate your novel aligns with what your prospect has demonstrated a desire for.

That said, the more you narrow yourself down, the less of a chance you give yourself to be seen.

I've never heard that submission directly to publishers is a likely bet, but it sounds like you have been published more than once. How did you get that to happen? Take the previously successful approach(es) and apply to this genre, is all I can really think of to say here.

[Margaret]

There's so much more to it than just looking up agencies or agents who handle historical; you have to look personally at their catalogues, compare your work, and decide whether your piece is a fit for their tastes, as indicated by what they have under representation.

Very true. Only you (and your first readers) have a good understanding of the content, style and tone of your novel. Look on the acknowledgments page of novels that are similar to yours and see if the author's agent is acknowledged. Look up the websites of agents who represent historical fiction, find out what authors they represent, and read some of their authors' novels. When I was looking for my agent, I checked websites for a lot of agents whose lists included lots of historical fiction, but who weren't right for me, because the tone of the HF they represented was completely different from mine. An agent who represents lots of historical romance likely would not have taken on a novel like Wolf Hall. A novelist who specializes in sensitive literary novels about the Holocaust likely would not represent a pull-out-the-stops swashbuckling adventure set in 17th century Spain.

[writerinthenorth]

Mmm, some great points here. I suppose I was looking for a short cut, because I have done all the things you suggest with my other publications, and was successful as a result. Guess I'll just have to do the work again for this genre - no quicker route. Oh, well.