Why Are Literary Agents Not Calling You Back?

It is a common difficulty for authors and writers how to have good literary agents. Regardless of their difficulty, it does not mean that they should be ignored. Done sending a query letter to them? If yes, there might be reasons why literary agents are not calling you back.

Check out the following reasons:

1. You Do Not Have A Good Query Letter

As a writer, your book may have the potential to make a bestseller book; however, if you do not have a good query letter that demonstrates your book’s quality, you’re in a bad disposition. Selling yourself as a writer and your book only takes mere seconds.

Writing your book’s content into a paragraph or two can be a struggle, but it needs to be done. If you don’t know how to create a good query letter, you can check samples from websites. It is vital to you as a reader to read as much, so you can notice how the other writers could create a perfect query letter that encapsulates their book’s content.

2. Query Letter is Good; Sample Pages are NOT

Along with your pitch, literary agents will also ask you to submit your book’s opening chapter; regardless of how good your query letter is, they may also be put off the execution of your opening chapters. Take note that an unsolicited submission is a sales pitch. Your opening chapters need to be gripping, exciting, entertaining, or extraordinary, and this is where most writers fail.

3. Wrong Strategy

Have you been constantly sending your query letter to all literary agents that you see? If yes, then STOP! Constantly blasting the email will not make a difference, especially if you have a one-all pitch. Have a personalized pitch and send it to your highly targeted literary agents. After sending that email, do not forget to follow- up. Make your follow-up email short and polite.

4. Book is NOT SIMPLY Good

This could be a plausible scenario. Nobody knows how many manuscripts are sitting on an individual’s hard drives, but it is reasonable to think that a literary agent will choose only a tiny fraction. Having said that, if you are targeting the proper agents and have a solid and strong query letter and good opening chapters, you should receive a few to several requests for your book.

If your query letter is wholly disregarded, begin by rewriting it. If a literary agent expresses interest in your query letter but then disappears after you deliver the complete, the issue is likely to be in the manuscript, and you might consider hiring an editor and beta readers.

Do not be discouraged, as this issue is fixable. This does not mean that writing is not for you; take your writing journey step by step.