Marti wrote with the following question:
I am an aspiring author and I wanted to know how you found your publisher for your first book. Did you use an agent or did you just send out cold queries?

I’ve never been agented, and I’m going to talk a little more about that in my response to the question in the next paragraph. I found the publisher for my first book through a direct contact at a writers conference. I used to attend the Romance Writers of America conference every year and I met Tracie Peterson (the former editor of Barbour Publishing’s Heartsong Presents line). Although Tracie didn’t offer me a contract for my story, when her former colleague, Stephen Reginald, was looking for an African American Christian Fiction author to write a novel for a special 3-in-1 collection for Crossings book club, he contacted Tracie for suggestions and she gave him my name. As a result, I landed the contract for Someone For Toni, my first book in the novel collection entitled Promises To Keep that was released back in 2002.

Sue wrote with the following questions:
I’ve written two novels and pressing my way through a third right now. I’ve sent a query letter to a handful of agents, trying to concentrate my efforts to agents who represent “inspirational” or “Christian” fiction. I’ve had several reply with encouraging remarks, half a dozen requests for more material, and a few recommendations to send my project to another specific agency. I find this, so far, encouraging.

My questions are: How do I know an agent is good?

Again, I’m not agented, but can only speak for what I hear at writers conferences and on writers loops. You’ll need to find out the reputations of agents through other authors. Most agents have a list of authors that they represent on their website. Contact these authors and ask if they like their agent. Also, I’ve noticed that if writers have a negative opinion about agents, they’re more likely to open up about their agents if you’re talking to them face-to-face at a writers conference vs. email. However, if they love their agent, they’ll probably have no problem sending you an email singing praises about their agent. Also, I have an idea about which agents I want to avoid. There are a few that I know I’m not going to submit to because of complaints that I’ve heard from other writers. I can just sense that I won’t be a good fit for some agents, but that doesn’t mean that those agents won’t work for other authors.

What can I do to further my cause?

Keep writing books and submitting them. Also, you might want to join a writers organization and attend some writers conferences if you haven’t already done so. It took me five and a half years and several books before I landed a contract. Also, if you’re writing Christian fiction, you might want to join American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and attend their annual conference this September. It’s the best place to be if you’re trying to get your Christian novel published. Most major publishers and agencies will be there, under one roof, and if you’re savvy enough, you can get a chance to speak to all of them. If you can’t afford to go, do some research to see if there’s a Christian writers conference that’s in your area. Sometimes you can find one-day conferences in certain areas that are cheaper than the ACFW conference.

How do I ask authors to read my material in order to get that seemingly elusive recommendation that so many agencies are looking for?

Hmm. Are you talking about an endorsement? Most writers won’t give endorsements unless they know you. It’s best to hook up at a writers conference and make connections that way. I’ve never sought endorsements for my own work because I write category romances, and for category romances, the publisher usually does not care about having the endorsements for authors on the covers of the books. I’d think if your writing is strong enough, you can let the agency know that you’re a member of a large writers group and will seek endorsements once a contract has been granted. I’ve heard of writers doing this.

And, finally, do you have any experience with specific agencies that would cause you to recommend them to me?

Nope. Never been agented. Since this question has popped up more than a few times over the last six months, I’ll tell you about my agent search. I started searching for an agent about three years ago, but the search has NOT been on-going. I’ve searched for an agent for this project and most agents think it’s a hard sell because I have a blind protagonist. One of my faults is that I’m stubborn, and I don’t always listen to others if something is set in my mind. I’m determined to see this book published in spite of what the agents say. I’ve made some contacts with editors myself at writers conferences and I’ve been submitting it on my own to publishers. Most of the houses that I’ve been submitting the material to require an agent for submission, however, I was able to bypass that requirement since I’ve been meeting these editors at conferences and they’ve invited me to submit. I’ve also had one large Christian publisher to contact me looking for submissions for their African-American line. This project actually made it to committee before it was rejected. Strangest rejection I ever received. The editor did call me and we chatted for over an hour. She did suggest that I submit something in the future and I threw out a few ideas.

Another agent did call me about my query letter. The agent called over a year after I’d sent my query, but, at the time, I didn’t have time to finish the novel because I was in the midst of a three-book contract with Barbour Publishing and because of deadlines, I couldn’t focus on my other book. This agent ended up closing their agency a few months after his phone call to me.

~Cecelia Dowdy~