Finding a Publisher vs. Finding an Agent

There are two ways of finding a publisher for your novel...

• The first is submitting the manuscript directly to the publishing house of your choice.
• The second is finding an agent, who will approach the publisher on your behalf.

The question, of course, is which way is best?

Some sources recommend trying to find a publisher directly, others say that finding a publisher is almost impossible without a literary agent on board. The consensus seems to come down on the side of agents, and I agree.

Here are the reasons why...

1. Unless you happen to know somebody on the inside in the publishing world, all you will be able to do is pick publishers' names out of a directory when searching for a home for your novel.

   A literary agent will have contacts, lots of them, and they will know which of these contacts are the best ones to approach when finding a publisher for your particular novel.

   More than that, the commissioning editor of whichever publishing house the agent plumps for will take the submission far more seriously than an unsolicited submission from an unknown writer.

2. Although finding an agent isn't much easier (if at all) than finding a publisher directly, agents are good people to have on your side when it comes to the business side of publishing a novel.

   Agents know what they are doing, and they will negotiate a far stronger contract with the publisher than you could manage by yourself - quite possibly more than enough to offset the 15-20% of earnings they will charge you.

   It is their job to pick over the fine details in these contracts, and they will continue fighting your corner long after the contract-signing stage has passed, ensuring the publisher doesn't forget you.

3. Publishing houses increasingly refuse to consider unsolicited submissions, anyway.

   Why? Because of the "Slush Piles" of unsolicited novel manuscripts that used to overwhelm their offices. From these thousands of submissions, only a tiny percentage would show enough promise to take any further.

   A far stronger source of potential new novel writing talent came from those manuscripts submitted by literary agents, manuscripts which had already been through a rigorous selection process. So discouraging unsolicited manuscripts was an obvious step to take.

I am not saying that it is a waste of time going directly to publishing houses, just that the best way of finding a publisher for your novel is to find a literary agent first.

But what if all the agents reject your novel? How many should you approach before you give up? And what should you do then? All of these questions are answered in the next article, A Plan For Finding a Literary Agent or Publisher.