This is the math writers don’t want to know. These are the facts.
The largest “target” publishing genre, the one with the most voracious audience of readers, is Young Adult. If you are a writer, your very best odds of publishing are tied to the YA market.
Step One to publishing your YA masterpiece is to secure representation from an agent who reps YA.
How many literary agents are there in the US?
Approximately 800.
How many US literary agents rep YA?
429.
Seems like a lot, doesn’t it? 429 chances to find an agent who connects with your YA novel.
Subtract those agents who are closed to queries.
356.
Okay, that’s still a lot of chances to find an agent. But wait. Rule of thumb is that an author can only query one agent in an agency. If I go through the list and pick one agent from an agency of multiple agents…
142. Sobering. There are 142 “no”s between finding representation and wasting four months of my life.
“But it only takes one yes!” Oh, shut up. If I drill down into those 142 agents, a ridiculous percentage of them have not asked for a single full in the past year. A ridiculous percentage of them don’t even allow writers to include five sample pages with their email query. If you’re an agent who doesn’t allow a single sample page with the query, then you’re an agent who isn’t really interested in new clients.
My humanity is eroding by the day. My little thing with feathers flops on the ground, leaking air as fast as I can piston the handle on the bike pump attached to its butt. I’m brutally honest with myself about my writing. I think I finally have a novel that is good enough.
142 – 7 rejections = 135. I’m going to march my good enough novel to the last mile. The last no. It’s going to be a long march. I think I need better shoes.
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