Get Off Your Butt And Do Your Research!

In recent months I have seen a disturbing trend with submissions. Authors are simply not doing their

research. Authors are simply sending out projects to editors and agents without knowing if their projects even fit with what they are looking for. Along the same lines, authors are simply writing stories and not verifying if that story even is the genre they claim the story to be.

Again, let me stress that editors and agents are VERY clear as to the type of stories the represent. They spend a lot of time on their websites insuring that information is clear. They also go out of their way to write articles, get involved with social media and so forth to make it clear to authors. And yet, authors are simply ignoring this information.

I have seen a lot of authors relying on websites and external resources that simply list names of editors and agents with their email addresses. Now, please note that many of these sites ALSO list the web address and many also include a brief description of what that editor or agent is looking for. But authors are simply ignoring this information, copying and pasting the email address into their form query letter and sending the project out to everyone.

Authors are also not taking the time to learn what the market is really looking for. No, I am not talking about trends here. I am talking about taking the time to understand the genre. For me, here at Greyhaus I only represent romance and women's fiction. Authors, however, seem to think if there is sex in the book, or if there is a romantic element, or if it is set in a romantic city, or a husband and wife relationship is romantic, then it is romance. Sorry! Not romance!


I just saw a colleague of mine several days ago comment that she was seeing women's fiction projects coming in at 50,000 some odd words. And yet, if the authors were truly doing their research, they would know that women's fiction is going to be in the 80,000-100,000 word count range.

For me, when I look at women's fiction, I am also very clear what women's fiction involves. Just because women would read the story, or there is a female protagonist DOES NOT make a story women's fiction.

Another great example would be the number of authors who submit to me claiming their story is perfect for a Harlequin line, and yet, they have never picked up one of those novels. I had people pitching to me 80,000 word literary fiction pieces and then saying the story is perfect for a Harlequin series. Sorry. Not going to happen here.

I would also add that editors and agents are VERY clear with how the material is to be submitted to us. If someone says, do not send an attachment, and you do, you will be rejected. If we say to only embed a synopsis and you send more, you will be rejected. At Greyhaus, an initial query for me is just a query letter. No embedded synopsis. No embedded first three chapters. No attachments. Just a query letter. Send something else, the odds are you are looking at a rejection. Why? Because you did not do the research.

If you think this is a hoop to jump through, you are missing the point. This is not. We know what we want and we know what we do not want. It is as simple as that.

The real disturbing piece of this puzzle are the reactions we get from the authors after they have been rejected due to not doing their research. They dive into self-publishing proclaiming that editors and agents don't know a great story. They proclaim the editors and agents are not interested in quality projects. No, these authors were rejected simply because they did not do their research.

Some of you probably have some great stories that do need to be published, but not doing your research is the simple reason your project is not hitting the bookshelves or getting the response you want.

So, what is the take-away here? Do your research. Read. Find out what your story truly is. Find out what each of those editors and agents really want.