Who Should You Submit Your Story To?

Despite what a lot of you might think, you do not submit to every agent and editor out there if they have posted that they take your genre. I know you hear people claim this is the approach, but the reality is, you will get a lot of rejections, waste a lot of time, and potentially, cut off bridges you might need later.

Who you send your project to depends on a lot of different things. This can include, obviously the genre, but more importantly, your word count, your voice, your style, the content of the book, and so forth. But there is also more... so let's start with which agent you should contact.

The reality is that you should have a list of agents that you REALLY would want to work with. We are not simply here for contract negotiations, but someone who will be around for a while. I know you have heard this before, but this is a long term marriage. For that reason, the agent needs to be someone who is on the same page with you and can meet your needs. If you need someone who is more of a developmental editor then look for that person. If you want someone who is going to target smaller presses, then look for that person. If you are looking for a team of agents because you write in different genres, then look for that agent. You should never have more than 10. Even I have looked at the colleagues that I work with. If I were a writer, there is only 1 that matches what I do. All of the others I 100% respect and love what they do, but their approach is not the approach I would take. 

Finding editors is the same thing. In this case, however, you have to match your voice to that of the publisher. The tone of the writing from one publisher to the next is vastly different, even though they might all take the same genre. Rom Con at Harper Collins is very different than the same genre over at Simon and Schuster or Source Books. 

So, what does this mean? YOU need to research. You need to look at the voice that you enjoy reading in the genre you are writing. Now see who the editors and agents are that represent that voice. More importantly, you need to see if your voice actually matches that writing. DO NOT be surprised if your writing is not what you think. It means it is time to make some decisions:

1. Keep your voice and style, which you are good at, and find the editors and agents that match your voice. 
2. Change your voice and style. This means time and patience. It can be done, but that story you want to submit is NOT going to work. You cannot change it. 

Of course, if you like rejections, keep doing what you are doing!