5 Reasons Writers Fail to Land an Agent or Book Deal

For many writers, publishing a book is their main goal. Here are five common reasons writers fail to land an agent or book deal.

Each writer has their own individual goals, whether that's to record their thoughts or supplement their income with freelance writing. Many have the goal of publishing a book, which requires landing a literary agent and/or a book deal with a publisher.

While there are many factors that can go into why a writer is able to finally find success (and it's not always writing talent), there are some no-brainer reasons why many writers fail to land an agent or book deal. I've collected five common reasons here to help writers avoid making these mistakes.

Reason #1: No manuscript

I don't know how many times I've run into a writer who wants to make it as a writer, but they haven't written the book. While someone may be able to get away with this in nonfiction (if they have a strong platform), most book deals require at the bare minimum a book manuscript. Anyone can have a book idea; authors take the idea and write it out.

Reason #2: Manuscript isn't ready

Some writers think a book deal is just a matter of writing a certain number of words and getting to "The End" of a manuscript. While it's an achievement to finish a book-length manuscript, most first drafts are not ready for the submission process. Rather, writers need to go through a rigorous editing and revision process that might mean as many as a dozen or more drafts (or at least two).

Reason #3: Don't know the manuscript's strengths

This is a common problem. A writer does write the manuscript and cleans it up with a thorough revision process. But if someone asks them about their book, they don't know what to say. What's the book about? Why is it worth reading? And the author needs to communicate this in a sentence or three, whether it's a work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

Reason #4: No understanding of the market

One of the first things an agent or editor wants to know when a writer pitches is a book is where the book fits in the market. While they're likely to know more about the market than an unpublished author, the author should have at least a general idea of where their book belongs. Know your genre, comparable books that have been published in the past few years, and who is likely to be interested in your book.

Reason #5: Lack of business awareness

One final red flag is the prospective author who lacks any business awareness. They are likely to send a pitch that warns the agent or editor that their work is protected by copyright (so they better not steal it, as if this is what agents and editors do in their free time [as if agents and editors have free time]). Or they say they'll settle for a six-figure advance. Or a movie deal. Or an appearance on a certain TV show. Or whatever other faux pas they can commit. 

Avoiding these mistakes won't guarantee success for a writer, but it will put them in a much better position to land that coveted agent and/or book deal.

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.