Seven stages between a finished manuscript and the right agent.

Before anyone else reads it, describe your manuscript in two sentences without using the words 'unique' or 'journey'. If that is difficult, the difficulty is usually structural rather than promotional.

Agents read the first page for voice, the first chapter for control, and the synopsis for whether the middle holds. Know which of those three is your weakest and be honest about it.

Find three books published in the last five years that a reader of yours would already own. Not the classics you admire — the titles currently sitting in the same section of a bookshop.

Those comparisons tell an agent which editors they would call. A manuscript without them is harder to sell even when it is better written.

Agents are not interchangeable. Each one has a list — the books they already represent — and that list is the clearest statement of what they will take on next.

Check the acknowledgements pages of your comparison titles, the agency's own client roster, and recent deal announcements. An agent who sold a book like yours eighteen months ago is a far better prospect than a famous name who has not.

Submission guidelines are not a formality. They tell readers how to process a queue, and ignoring them is the fastest way to be passed over without a reading.

Note the exact requirements for each agent: word count of sample, file format, whether a synopsis is wanted, whether simultaneous submissions are accepted, and how long they ask you to wait.

Write a core query letter, a one-page synopsis and a polished opening. Then adapt only the paragraph that explains why this agent in particular.

That paragraph should point at something specific on their list. Generic flattery reads as a mail merge, because it usually is one.

Send to six to eight agents at a time rather than the whole list at once. If the first wave produces no full-manuscript requests, you have kept the rest of your list available while you revise.

Keep a simple record of who has the material, what they asked for, and when you sent it. Nothing more elaborate is needed.

A form rejection carries no information. A personal one usually does, even when it is brief, and repeated remarks across several agents are worth acting on.

Silence is also an answer at most agencies. Note the stated response window, wait it out, and move on without chasing.

An offer of representation is the beginning of a negotiation, not the end of one. Ask about editorial plans, submission strategy, the agency agreement and commission before saying yes.