How I Got My Literary Agent (Through a Tweet): Jaimie M. Engle

“How I Got My Agent” is a recurring feature on the Guide to Literary Agents Blog, with this installment featuring Jaimie M. Engle, author of CLIFTON CHASE AND THE ARROW OF LIGHT. These columns are great ways for you to learn how to find a literary agent. Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings.

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The power of the slush pile

My first book experience was a disaster! After 98 agent rejections (out of the 150 I solicited), a small press picked me up and my dream was alive. But a week after my book hit the shelves, with only a handful of sales—of which I’m convinced were all from my family and friends anyway—the publisher was in breach of contract and we parted ways. I re-released the book as a self-published author, and learned a ton about marketing. So it wasn’t a loss by any means, just a very difficult situation and not nearly as magical as I had hoped. But I kept on writing.

A tweet by any other name

In January, my best friend mentioned that agents were tweeting about their wish lists. I checked it out and came across an agent who seemed like she could be a match for my Norse-Viking upper MG. I subbed my manuscript, Dreadlands, in February 2013 and received a full request in a few days. I spent the next couple weeks reading every blog interview I could find featuring this agent. I read her agency’s website, cross-referenced her clients with books, and anything else to gather intel on my “future agent”. In early March, I received an email from her asking if I was available to talk by phone later that day. Of course, I was. I waited until finally:

She called

She loved my book. She wanted to represent me. I should have had a ton of questions and witty remarks to show her how clever I was. Instead, I said that I would have to call her back when I could think clearly and wasn’t about to puke in the bushes. Classy, I know.

(7 Easy Things Writers Can Do Right Now to Get More Blog Traffic.)

Sign on the……

Within a few days, the contract was signed, and I went from the slush pile to the client roster. As I write this, my book is under consideration with several of the big 5 publishing houses, something I would not have been able to accomplish without my awesome agent, Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of D4EO Literary. Hopefully, the publishing contract will come soon. But in the meantime, I just keep on writing. My encouragement to anyone reading this is to keep writing, editing, and polishing your story. Study hard, learn from those who are willing to teach you, and always strive to write a story that is just outside your reach. This isn’t a quick business, by any means. It takes time to become competitive, to contract, to publish, and to build your brand. If you don’t give up, you’ll find success…even in the forbidden slush pile!

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