Is it worth it to send to every agent?

I am frequently asked what I believe the best approach is for seeking out an agent. This same question often applies to editors as well.

There are many writers that believe massively sending out those proposals will take care of things. In my humble opinion, it is simply a complete waste of time and money. The same goes for sending those manuscripts out to every editor simply because they say they take your genre of writing. Not only will you receive a ton of rejections, combined with the weeks of negative feelings about your writing after the rejections, it will simply drain your wallet. Come on and think about it? Copy costs, postage, envelopes... the list is endless. I don't know about you, but in these tough times, I simply don't have the finances to support that hobby.

I take the same approach when I submit manuscripts to editors (and so should you). Each writer has a unique voice and it needs to be paired with that specific house. I don't go firing it off to every place out there. Writers stories are simply not going to fit in all places. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record but it is true.

So take your time, think before you start firing off your story. Of course this also links back to that prior post about writing for select niche markets. The smaller the market, the less places to send things to.

Good luck!

And by the way, Greyhaus will be closed for the next two weeks. If I get to blogging I will try but the odds are, you might not hear much. And for those of you with submissions, they are ready to be written and I will get to them by this weekend.