I really do want to revisit the idea of analyzing bestsellers and really
encourage readers to simply note what elements make them tick—what caught hold
of the reader’s imagination. Even if you only use it as something that’s at the
back of your mind.
I mention this because so many writers seem to write in a vacuum—that they
simply write the story “of their heart” without necessarily thinking through
the elements that could make the project universal or cross genre or age
boundaries.
What happens then, as an agent, is that I end up reading stories where I think,
“it’s just not big enough” or “there doesn’t seem to be a strong enough idea to
carry the whole story” or “this is solid but it seems to be lacking that extra
oomph.” It’s about the writing and this indefinable but crucial element that
makes the difference between a pass and a yes.
And it’s also about timing. (You’ve heard that about relationships too, I know.
It’s true for that as well.) And writers hate to hear it but timing is often
the crucial component for a sale happening. I can’t count the number of sales
where the project just happened to land on the editor’s desk at exactly the
right time. Maybe an author on their list couldn’t make a deadline and a slot
has opened up. The editor is scrambling to find that special manuscript and
boom, it lands on his/her desk.
It happens. In fact, it has happened for me and one of my clients this year.
Maybe an editor is thinking “wow, I’d really love to see an XYZ project and the
next day I just happen to call about a novel that’s going out on submission,
and it’s suddenly like a gift has dropped into the editor’s lap. They read it
overnight or whatever.
