How I Queried My Literary Agent
A tale full of intrigue, doubt, and success (Part 1)
Setting the stage
I had researched literary agents and had whittled down my list to the top three. I had an honor award winning SCBWI portfolio, some books published, and some dusty picturebook manuscripts. I was in a dead period where I couldn’t sign with a new agent as per the terms of leaving my old agency.
And I was pretty damn nervous.
It felt like I needed a big swing. Any success in publishing was not the goal anymore, I wanted more. Leaving my old agency was dangerous in that they had been my partner in my first published projects and there was no guarantee of a new home. I knew I needed a literary agent vs an illustration agency1 this time around, but didn’t know how to query2 or if any of the scraps of stories I had would be the right hook to snag one of my top three.
There’s this thing where you standing on the edge of some big precipice and the winds are swirling and the unknowns echoing off of ledges and maybe water you can’t see that is oddly… exciting? Terrifying and good? Nerve-wracking and exhilarating?
Despite all of that career angst circa late 2021, I knew it was time to jump. Staying still wouldn’t get me to where I wanted to go. Poop or get off the pot. Scared money don’t make money. Time for some risk.
Making the book dummy
In the end, I selected a story I wrote during the pandemic to take from manuscript to book dummy. It’s about a mouse and a circus train titled “You’re in the Circus?!” I chose it because I was most proud of the writing and was really excited to illustrate it. I wanted to practice limiting myself to draw out more creativity (kind of like folktale week) so our main mouse’s dialogue is made up entirely of questions.
Looking back I think it would have been a mistake to choose anything other than this story. It’s got a lot of me to it and my excitement about the art meant that would too. I wanted to be amped to share what I’d made so when I hit send on that query (with my knees buckling) that I’d be putting my best out there without reservation. Riding into battle on my best horse, if you will.3
One of the things going for me this time around was that I had been published, which meant I knew how to make a book dummy. It’s the same process for working with a publisher on your own story, only without the help of an art director or editor. I was flying solo for this one.4
This probably deserves more of a deep dive, but some of the issues I worked through were:
Are the page turns well constructed? I wanted the beats of the story to land. It’s a natural pause for the reader and for the audience to revisit the pictures. Many kids “read” the pictures while an adult reads the text and then they both revisit the image before the page is turned. You can build a sense of drama or make a funny moment funnier with a well timed page turn.
Do the risks make sense for the good of the story? I started this book in a weird spot but could not figure out a better beginning. It was unconventional but served the story. So I kept it as is. There’s also a wordless spread I was less worried about and a final coda spot that put a bow on things. If they didn’t land, I could look amateurish. They needed to be well considered risks.
Is this world believable? Not that talking mice and circus trains exist or don’t - but does this world make sense? I don’t want to say “this is how this works here” and then have the reader or the kid say “why did that happen when you just said it works a certain kind of way?”
Did I make myself clear and avoid any major issues? Having a self-awareness of what the book is about and what it is not about is super important. At the book dummy stage it should be boiled down to its cleanest and most concise. This is a great time to make sure you’re not saying something unintentional. For example, the Mom mouse in the dummy was coming off as uncaring when she was just in a rush. A change to the text in one spot and a different pose in another fixed it.
If you know me, you’ll know the moment I wrapped on this book dummy I began to question if it would get my foot in any of the doors I was trying to get into. I was happy with it and thought it could be a book. But again, I’m standing on the edge of a cliff wondering what’s next, so my mental state was a soup of hopeful and terrified.
Literary agents who represent illustrators specialize in publishing and earn a percentage of any book deals you sign while with them even if you’re just the illustrator. It’s typically a smaller percentage than what illustration agencies make. Illustration agencies take a larger percentage and often from any project they broker. Pros and cons to both, IMO.
Querying is the opening gambit in getting the attention of a literary agent. Authors usually send a bit of writing alongside a query letter. Author/Illustrators do what the agency asks, but for me was a link to my portfolio, a query letter, and a link to my finished book dummy in PDF form.
I love analogies. No need to encourage me! Bwahahaha.
See? Another analogy.
Thank you for this post. It was so insightful. Loved all the info about the page turns. Don’t think many realise how much work, expertise and thought goes into making a picture book.
Thanks so much for this Jacob ! Would love to hear what your top 3 agency pie in the Sky picks were but totally understand if you want to keep that private !