tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post8034611974299445723..comments2023-09-13T16:56:56.949+03:00Comments on Mike Wells Official Website: 5 Steps to Landing a Good Literary AgentMike Wellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-20050666580811228962015-05-01T15:58:58.128+03:002015-05-01T15:58:58.128+03:00Thanks for your comment, Chris, and kind words. U...Thanks for your comment, Chris, and kind words. Unfortunately I have no experience with children's books or books with illustrations. I find that authors are a little overly concerned about these issues at the beginning, as I don't think literary agents are in the habit of violating copyrights and your work has a common law copyright as soon as you finish it. You should consult a lawyer about this if you want further details. Good luck!Mike Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-18444884175248280492015-05-01T15:10:10.488+03:002015-05-01T15:10:10.488+03:00Hi Mike,
I have just spent my morning reading you...Hi Mike,<br /><br />I have just spent my morning reading your exceptional blog pages, and would like to say thank you and congratulations on creating one of the most useful resources on this subject I have had the pleasure to read.<br /><br />I am hoping I can further benefit from your knowledge and experience, and would be very grateful for your help, please.<br /><br />It has taken me the past twelve years (on and off!) to write and illustrate my children’s book. Having patiently (and lovingly) crafted the work into its twenty-first draft I finally feel it is ready for publication. I have invested a huge amount of time in my book and I am understandably very keen to protect my work. I would appreciate any advice you have about how I can protect my words, my characters and my illustrations; in essence can I/how do I legally protect/copyright my work?<br /><br />In addition, having read through your invaluable blog pages on how to publish I am now drafting my query letter to potential agents. Based on your blog advice I am considering including one page of text and the corresponding illustration at the end of my query letter (not as an attachment!). Should I include a copyright note in my query letter to protect this material? As a currently unpublished writer/illustrator I would not wish to come across as presumptuous or arrogant to a potential future agent – however I am very keen to do everything I can to protect my work.<br /><br />Your thoughts would be very welcome.<br /><br />ChrisAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04896112459122411730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-26026817682866110832013-06-03T12:45:20.409+03:002013-06-03T12:45:20.409+03:00I'm my own agent. I've had several very g...I'm my own agent. I've had several very good literary agents in the past, but none of them could sell any of my books. This was partially my fault for not being willing to make endless changes trying to please the whim of various publishing house editors. Which is why I self-published and now do everything myself.<br /><br />However, literary agents can work very well (obviously) for writers who are less stubborn than I an have the required character to deal with the publishing business bureaucracy. I'm too entrepreneurial for it.Mike Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-291206959112431842013-06-03T12:30:36.596+03:002013-06-03T12:30:36.596+03:00Hi Mike, who is your agent? Judging by the great w...Hi Mike, who is your agent? Judging by the great work he/she has done for you one wouldn't need to look any further.Peaceful Nuwara Eliyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07832422053339361462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-69243829558149624132013-05-31T08:45:17.730+03:002013-05-31T08:45:17.730+03:00Hi Craig. Good question. I think things are chan...Hi Craig. Good question. I think things are changing on this front. It used to be that self-publishing your novel and then trying to find an agent was nearly impossible, because there weren't that many writers doing it and publishers assumed that if the author couldn't sell the book it probably wasn't any good. But now, it's so easy to self-publish, almost push-button, and so many writers are doing it, many agents just take this in stride. That said, it certainly does not sit well with publishers because they like a clean slate--if they give you a contract, you will have to pull your book off the market, which muddles things for them. <br /><br />If I were you, I wouldn't approach agents or publishers until I had some impressive sales numbers to show them...on the other hand, when you reach that level you may not be interested in going the traditional route anymore. It is a paradox. Many people think that landing the agent or publishing contract will be the end of all their problems and that they'll soon be a NY Times bestselling author, but I can assure you, the traditional path is just as difficult as the self-publishing path, but in different ways.<br /><br />Probably not a very good answer, but it's a tough questionMike Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-83672746552270214352013-05-31T03:30:13.707+03:002013-05-31T03:30:13.707+03:00Hey Mike, would you recommend querying agents afte...Hey Mike, would you recommend querying agents after self publishing? I hear two different sides to this story. Some say they have no problem with it. Others flat out refuse to deal with self published novels.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15048318173989446824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-28079497751546908542013-04-16T04:54:43.619+03:002013-04-16T04:54:43.619+03:00Wow, thanks for this Mike. Very nice article!Wow, thanks for this Mike. Very nice article!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10969592028208954104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-57926716660597996212013-03-24T03:11:19.295+02:002013-03-24T03:11:19.295+02:00Good stuff Mike, makes me wish I needed an Agent! ...Good stuff Mike, makes me wish I needed an Agent! (laughing) I have always handled everything myself. Good read regardless! John "The Comforter" West.The Comforter John Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09558205122933941756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-17344602031782032492013-03-23T19:20:38.040+02:002013-03-23T19:20:38.040+02:00Thank you for sharing this. I'm at the queryin...Thank you for sharing this. I'm at the querying stage and I used this as a sort of check-list. This has been fantastic help. MarieAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06874758223403197085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-33331180260342103782012-12-23T09:26:11.530+02:002012-12-23T09:26:11.530+02:00Thank you so much for the information you have sha...Thank you so much for the information you have shared. It is very helpful!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06512557197814718193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-82004752898598474262012-08-31T12:20:43.588+03:002012-08-31T12:20:43.588+03:00Hi Mike! You've got me quite inspired! I'm...Hi Mike! You've got me quite inspired! I'm moving back to Germany soon, I'm thinking I'll make writing a project while I'm there. Hell of a lot of creating and polishing to do before there's anything worthwhile, though, yet, maybe next year..Hottentottenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03492171390124236875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-45597387179848056092012-03-07T04:55:05.696+02:002012-03-07T04:55:05.696+02:00This is really very helpful. Thanks for posting it...This is really very helpful. Thanks for posting it on Twitter. Just have to finish my book first. Hehe... ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-26742843200197066002012-03-07T03:22:21.904+02:002012-03-07T03:22:21.904+02:00Great article, Mike. You caught me early in the qu...Great article, Mike. You caught me early in the query process, so this is really valuable.Betsy Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08052454318698742646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-51072752527713092972012-01-22T08:50:06.065+02:002012-01-22T08:50:06.065+02:00Mike,
I wish I had seen this last year. I strugg...Mike, <br />I wish I had seen this last year. I struggled through all of these steps with only a hodge podge of advice from various sites. This is extremely informative.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18421928919601722343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-64375274864348349572011-11-12T08:31:18.641+02:002011-11-12T08:31:18.641+02:00Awesome article. I love your blog--you've writ...Awesome article. I love your blog--you've written some really informative articles. I'm a few months away from beginning the querying process, but I figure learning all I can about it now can't hurt.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06111212491987393873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-66917205850437154952011-10-27T21:59:34.638+03:002011-10-27T21:59:34.638+03:00It's pretty much the same process, except you ...It's pretty much the same process, except you are pitching (querying) producers instead of literary agents. Hollywood is much more of a face-to-face oriented business, though, it's hard to get anywhere unless you are actually in LA. There are lists & directories of producers you can buy which give emails, phone numbers, etc. Getting an agent to represent a screenplay is even harder than getting one to represent a book. Hope that helps.Mike Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-23711435622492465402011-10-27T19:13:31.313+03:002011-10-27T19:13:31.313+03:00I'm so happy I found this page! Although my bo...I'm so happy I found this page! Although my book is not finished yet, it's good to know what to when I finally get there. Do you have any idea what to do with trying to get screenplays out there? I have a couple of those also lying around :)JPhoenixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03965832492954382238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-29661507800059771622011-10-24T23:49:44.054+03:002011-10-24T23:49:44.054+03:00Thank you, Kim! I guess it's just the result ...Thank you, Kim! I guess it's just the result of a lot of years of trial-and-error agent-seeking, and wading through seemingly endless piles rejection letters!Mike Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201237076057603217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8799373378016545552.post-38667027943082476482011-10-24T23:33:58.850+03:002011-10-24T23:33:58.850+03:00This is probably the most thorough article I'v...This is probably the most thorough article I've ever seen written on the subject. Although I've already secured an agent and hope to never have to go through this process again, I am bookmarking this page to show to friends who ask me about how to query. This is an amazing amount of work you've put into this blog post!Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09097357933665534207noreply@blogger.com