10 Things NOT to say to an Agent or Editor, # 3
#3: “Do you represent/publish sci-fi?”
It might sound demanding but literary agents and commissioning editors expect you to know what categories or genres of writing they represent/publish. All agents and publishers are not the same and it wastes everybody’s time when writers submit work that is inappropriate.
Every week we get queries or submissions in a category or genre that we don’t represent — despite making our preferences clear in all our literature.
So before sending off a query or submission, do your homework. Check out your chosen agent’s/publisher’s website, catalogue, brochure or directory listing.
You only get one shot so don’t submit to anybody until you know for sure what categories and genres they handle.


