Help Please! Query

[Steve C]

I am about to start sending out some queries. My novel is based in England and Morocco and I live in Thailand. My initial inclination is to confine myself to UK agents but an American agent once advised there is absolutely no reason not to query US based agents at the same time. Do you agree ie should I ignore where an agent is based before deciding to query them? Thanks for any help guys

 

[RK Wallis]

I'd read this and go from there (it's somewhere else on this forum) 25 Steps to Being a Traditionally Published Author: Lazy Bastard Edition (Guest Post By Delilah S. Dawson)

 

[Deleted member 604]

@Steve C,
Interesting and a good point. I think you should research Agents and make a short-list. If you do succeed in getting an Agent. Would you need to meet up on numerous occasions face to face, that is the question.

 

[RK Wallis]

With Google Hangs Outs and Skype these days, I think pick everyone!

 

[Nikky Lee]

I would query agents who are the best fit for your work over where they physically are. In New Zealand, there are very few agents, and even less that deal in SFF so I have no choice but to look overseas or query directly to a publisher.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks everyone. I think I will do a mix.Other than a bitof time there is nothing to lose really.
@Nmlee I think you could go to foreign agents not necessarily direct to publishers.
I agree about skype, almost as good as face to face.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Yep, the aim is to try for an agent first as I'm not particularly comfortable trying to navigate publishing contracts, especially if its in a foreign country.

 

[E G Logan]

But remember the content of a US 'query' letter is significantly different from what goes in a UK 'submission' letter.

Check the individual agent/agency website: what they want in a first letter is not standard, even within US or UK.

 

[Nikky Lee]

But remember the content of a US 'query' letter is significantly different from what goes in a UK 'submission' letter.

Check the individual agent/agency website: what they want in a first letter is not standard, even within US or UK.

I second this, it is so subjective, always check the guidelines.

 

[DRFerron]

To take this one more tiny step, if you do get an agent in one country, but also want to try publishing in a different country, do you tell the first agent that you're looking for an agent in a different country in order to widen your audience? Or, is it better from the beginning to find one agent who is global? If such a person exists.

Or, once the book has landed at a publisher, does the publisher release it in different countries?

Now that I've typed this, I suspect the answer may be "It depends."

I read somewhere that U.S. (where I live) audiences prefer unambiguous endings and don't go for books on the darker side. Bows must be tied, bad guys must be caught, justice must be handed down, etc. I know that was just one set of market research and a generalization but I don't fit into that category as a reader and not all the sub-plots in my book will be neatly wrapped up at the end (as I'm planning a series). Because of that I have in my mind that my U.S. audience will be limited (that is, of course, if anyone even wants to read something I write).