Writing Advice
What Does a Literary Agent Do?
Find out if an author needs one
The Women in Publishing 2023 Virtual Summit held March 1- March 4 that I attended ended four days jam packed with information with a Slush Fest.
By request I wrote a guest blog post, Insight Into The World Of Literary Agents, for the Women In Publishing Summit blog published May 2, 2023.
In it I share the Slush Fest, as well as sharing my previous experience with agents at other writing conferences.
A certain sense of mystery surrounds literary agents.
They are the gatekeepers in the publishing industry for the major publishers.
Does an author need one, and if so, how does one go about getting representation from an agent?
“The word slush refers to the slush pile of submitted manuscripts on an editor or agent’s desk, usually sorted through by an assistant, with the most promising ones forwarded for further consideration.”
At the Summit’s Slush Fest authors had the chance to have an agent’s input on their writing.
“Prior to the session those who wanted to take part sent the first page of a manuscript they intend to pitch to an agent or publisher without identification on it to allow for a blind read.”
All attendees gained a wealth of information from the session, as I believe you will by reading all the insights in the article.
“An important point I learned early in my writing career is that a rejection of my writing is not a rejection of me as a writer.
We need to keep our ego out of it, learn what needs improvement, and work on our craft to incorporate any feedback we’re fortunate to get. We keep on writing.”
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