Which agent?

[Dean Baxter]

Hello,
I'm in the process of pitching to agents, and will be grateful if any of you lovely people can point me in the right direction. My book is a crime thriller: darkly comic with a little romance thrown in. It's minimalist, and runs to only around 50,000 words complete. Hopefully it's something like Elmore Leonard... in Huddersfield. I'm looking to seek out agents that might be into that kind of thing. I'll cast my net far and wide, but, realistically, understand that my best shot will be with an up-and-coming agency/ small press publisher/imprint, WHY... I'd be interested in any advice you can give, and any success stories. Don't worry, I won't name drop you or try to use you as an 'in'.
Thanks X

 

[Leonora]

If I was you I'd hold off from submitting and try and get it up to 75,000 words minimum. It's just a reason to say no at 50,000 however good it is. I know it's a drag.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I agree with @Leonora. Aim for 75,000 - 80,000 words. Once you find agents interested in crime novels haunt their social media profiles—this will bore you silly—but, you may well get a better idea of what they're looking for in a submission. Be aware that literary agency websites are rather static with the agents' profiles basic at best and rarely updated. As your story is set in Huddersfield look for regional agencies, which are smaller and friendlier than those in London. In the last six years, I've made 800 queries, receiving 394 form-letter rejections, 400 no-replies and only six personalised responses, which were all from start-up regional agencies.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Of interest: Valley Press – Independent Publishing

 

[Eva Ulian]

I agree, 50,000 words is a novella, and there are very few agents that handle novellas. I personally don't know any.

 

[RK Wallis]

I agree with everyone else. You're querying too soon, as @Leonora said, it's a drag, but it's the publishing business's expectation of us. Read this: Word Count. I'd personally say you're aim is 70,000 to 100,000 words because you're mixing genres.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Have you tried Query tacker? It has a huge database of agents to look up. The other place to look is manuscript wish list or #mswl on Twitter.

 

[RK Wallis]

Oops, pesky typo. Query Tracker.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Oops, pesky typo. Query Tracker.

Haha my bad. Good catch @RK Capps

 

[Katie-Ellen]

It's not arbitrary. the book length issue. There are production cost reasons and marketing reasons for these book length conventions.

 

[Dean Baxter]

Hello,
I'm in the process of pitching to agents, and will be grateful if any of you lovely people can point me in the right direction. My book is a crime thriller: darkly comic with a little romance thrown in. It's minimalist, and runs to only around 50,000 words complete. Hopefully it's something like Elmore Leonard... in Huddersfield. I'm looking to seek out agents that might be into that kind of thing. I'll cast my net far and wide, but, realistically, understand that my best shot will be with an up-and-coming agency/ small press publisher/imprint, WHY... I'd be interested in any advice you can give, and any success stories. Don't worry, I won't name drop you or try to use you as an 'in'.
Thanks X

Thanks to all of you for your kind replies, and for confirming what I already suspected: the word count might be an issue for most agents. Some of my favorite books are short, such as James Sallis's Drive, which is basically a pamphlet. I do understand, however, that shorter novels are now the exception, not the rule, and that I shouldn't be putting hurdles in front of myself by not conforming with the norm. I have written two full-length novels, which I haven't tried to sell as I felt I was honing my skills. I feel my latest work is the most polished and publishable despite it's short comings in the length department. I know there is a market for quick reads, but understand that I'll have a much better chance with a conventional length book. I now have a decision to make: Add more material to this one, rewrite one of the two existing books, or start over with something new. Although I could pad this one out, I kind of like it as it is: It's tight as f***. X

 

[Rich.]

...I could pad this one out...

Don't pad. Never pad. Padding is always bad. Develop, that's what you want to do

 

[Dean Baxter]

Don't pad. Never pad. Padding is always bad. Develop, that's what you want to do

I agree, 100%. I think I used that language because I don't really want to add anything to it. I think stories should be as long as they need to be, and this one is short. That's why I'm struggling so much here. Of course, if I want to be commercially viable, I will be doing myself a huge favour by bringing the word count up, but I don't think it'll do anything for this story.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Have you had beta readers look at it @Dean Baxter? They might be able to offer some insight into what may need developing or identify opportunities where you could develop something further.

If you have already, ignore me!

 

[Rich.]

I think stories should be as long as they need to be...

I agree with you, but I also think that novel-length ideas tend to explode, and go on exploding until there's nothing to do but cut.

Perhaps your novella is one to put in the drawer for a rainy day. But only you can decide that, of course.

 

[Dean Baxter]

Perhaps Fitzgerald should have thrown his 47,000 word 'novella' The Great Gatsby in the bin. Perhaps Fight Club, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Slaughterhouse five, and Fahrenheit 451, should go in a draw for a rainy day. Yes, that's right, I've been researching books that have a word count of less than 50,000 words! What's that? Things have changed? Oh nuts.

 

[Eva Ulian]

Perhaps Fitzgerald should have thrown his 47,000 word 'novella' The Great Gatsby in the bin. Perhaps Fight Club, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Slaughterhouse five, and Fahrenheit 451, should go in a draw for a rainy day. Yes, that's right, I've been researching books that have a word count of less than 50,000 words! What's that? Things have changed? Oh nuts.

Ah those were the days. I remember about 40 years ago walking into Little Brown's publishers and talking to a chubby little man among a stack of bookshelves- and we talked about my WIP... He must have been an editor or something, and I was a blushing rose- things like that don't happen anymore now, do they? Oh yes, things have changed in the publishing world.

 

[Dean Baxter]

Ah those were the days. I remember about 40 years ago walking into Little Brown's publishers and talking to a chubby little man among a stack of bookshelves- and we talked about my WIP... He must have been an editor or something, and I was a blushing rose- things like that don't happen anymore now, do they? Oh yes, things have changed in the publishing world.

Eva, you paint quite a picture! X

 

[Eva Ulian]

Eva, you paint quite a picture! X

Such a sweet compliment, thank you Dean.

 

[Rich.]

33 Publishers and Journals Seeking Novellas - Bookfox

It can seem like there is no place to publish your novella, but actually the opposite is true: the form is experiencing a revival. From Melville House’s “The Art of the Novella” series of classic novellas, to Big Fiction Magazine and Nouvella, there are more places than ever to publish your...

thejohnfox.com

 

[Dan Payne]

I don't know if this is worth looking at, but Hard Case Crime publishes work in your wheelhouse and seem to be into slim volumes. Seeing as they count Stephen King and Michael Crichton amongst their stable of authors it might be a long shot, but have a look at Hard Case Crime.

 

[Dean Baxter]

I don't know if this is worth looking at, but Hard Case Crime publishes work in your wheelhouse and seem to be into slim volumes. Seeing as they count Stephen King and Michael Crichton amongst their stable of authors it might be a long shot, but have a look at Hard Case Crime.

Thanks, Dan. Yeah, definitely a long shot, but always worth a shot. I'll have a look into it now.

 

[Dean Baxter]

Thanks, Dan. Yeah, definitely a long shot, but always worth a shot. I'll have a look into it now.

Just checked them out. Definitely the sort of thing I'm into. Worth a punt.

 

[Dean Baxter]

Hello,
I'm in the process of pitching to agents, and will be grateful if any of you lovely people can point me in the right direction. My book is a crime thriller: darkly comic with a little romance thrown in. It's minimalist, and runs to only around 50,000 words complete. Hopefully it's something like Elmore Leonard... in Huddersfield. I'm looking to seek out agents that might be into that kind of thing. I'll cast my net far and wide, but, realistically, understand that my best shot will be with an up-and-coming agency/ small press publisher/imprint, WHY... I'd be interested in any advice you can give, and any success stories. Don't worry, I won't name drop you or try to use you as an 'in'.
Thanks X

Update- Life's too short. On reflection, I've decided to develop the book further and get the word count up. Thanks again to everyone for making me see sense. There's no point in belligerently trucking on with something that has little commercial appeal. I am going to carry on with the book, though, as I feel it has potential; It's been well received by the people who've read it, and I was delighted with the response from the chatroom and guests on Pop Up Submissions. There's always a temptation to start over with something new, which isn't a bad thing, but can lead to a whole bunch of unfinished projects with nothing seen through to completion.

 

[Leonora]

And it'll be a good learning curve to develop ideas further and add layers without padding. I am terrible at writing at length. When I first write a scene it's usually about 1 page long.