We’ve been over the snail mail query and the e-query, but there are three other ways to get to your targeted agent/editor.
- Conference/Workshop–if you have a manuscript that you are sure is destined for one person, then look where she will be appearing and go to that conference. It worked for Elizabeth Bunce. If you’re not that sure, then attend conferences near you and sign up for a pitch/critique session with an agent/editor you’re interested in. Practice your sales pitch with your critique partners ahead of time and don’t freak yourself out. If your story intrigues your intended agent, she will make the encounter easy. If she’s a wiener to you, well, you just found out she’s not someone you want to work with. Some people talk a good game on line and turn out to be something very different in person. Valuable information.
- Twitter–I DO NOT MEAN RANDOM PITCHING THROUGH TWITTER DO NOT SAY I TOLD YOU TO DO THAT I WILL DENY EVER KNOWING YOU. However, some agents occasionally participate in a pitchapalooza, where peeps throw their pitch up during a certain time frame with the hashtag #pitchapalooza, and agents respond to the ones they want pages from. Only way you’re going to know about that is to get on Twitter and watch for it. It’s a fairly loose and spontaneous thing.
- Blog contests–Many blogs have contests where the prize is a chance to pitch an agent/editor or get a critique from an agent/editor, which of course, gets an agent or editor’s eyeballs. Miss Snark’s First Victim does lots of these. You can also check Verla Kay’s Blue Boards for others.
That’s not to say your manuscript won’t be plucked from the query box, many are. But sometimes it’s nice to have a change of pace.
If I think of any other legal ways to get to your dream agent/editor, I’ll let you know.
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