Querying an Agent: Top Tips About Submission

I have a lot of faith in the submissions process. It is how I’ve found nearly all of my authors – writers who just happened to send me a query email along with their first few chapters. [...] As an agent, I try to remember that behind every submission, there is a story. I share these tips in the hope that it will give some insight into the querying (submission) process. It’s a dream for me to fall in love with something I’m reading – and I feel that sense of possibility every time I open my submissions inbox. 

My first time has to be about revision. The most important thing will always be the quality of the work. When you have finished your book, there is often a compulsion to send it out to agents straight away. This is completely natural; you’ve finished your work and you want someone to read it. However, it’s important to resist this feeling and give yourself the space to read your book again, and revise. Never send out a first draft. A first impression is the best one, and you’ll need time and space away from your project to be able to read it with perspective. If you can, set the book away for a month or two, and then re-read it again. Edit it again.

The querying process is not the place to receive feedback. Sometimes we hear writers say that they will send out a project to see what agents will say about it, but this can be a very discouraging approach. It’s a terrible feeling to send out a project that you know is probably not ready and, most of the time, agents will not give feedback. I often have writers ask me if I can give editorial advice, but I resist doing this unless I have a clear idea of what I think would improve the book. Firstly because it is subjective, but also because, if I’m not able to give a considered and thoughtful response to a manuscript, I don’t think it’s helpful for me to offer a quick reaction.

Remember that there will always be more edits after signing with an agent, and even more after receiving a publication offer. The best thing you can do for yourself ahead of the querying process is to make your manuscript as strong as it can be, so you feel confident that you’re presenting your best work. When I finished my first draft, I was really excited to share it because I couldn’t believe I’d finished. I wanted to share it with an agent, but I fought that urge and set it aside for several weeks. When I opened it again, I realised it wasn’t ready, and so I redrafted. I think the version I eventually sent to my agent was my 11th or 12th draft. I would go on to do another three drafts with my agent, ones that completely took my book apart. Each time I felt I’d gone the furthest I could go – but we kept pushing, and the book kept getting better.

This is an abridged version of an article taken from the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2023, available to order now from Bloomsbury.com

Catherine Cho is a literary agent at Paper Literary, which she founded in 2021. She began her publishing career in New York at Folio Literary Management, before moving to London to work at Curtis Brown in London, and later building her own list at Madeleine Milburn Agency. Catherine is the author of Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness (Bloomsbury Circus 2020) and is a regular contributor to national publications. For more information see www.paperliterary.com. Follow her on Twitter @Catkcho.