One of the questions I’m often asked at conferences concerns when a writer should start querying their work. I always recommend waiting until you’ve taken the material as far as you possibly can on your own. Drafting and revising can be an arduous process, and it can be tempting to start querying when you reach a point of fatigue—when you know you haven’t quite solved X editorial problem, but you just can’t review the material again. That’s such an understandable impulse. But that’s the time to take a break—to put the work in a drawer, share it with a critique partner, or take it to a workshop. Otherwise, chances are that the agents reviewing your manuscript will flag the same editorial problem, and it could well end up being the reason they step aside. While I love working editorially with my clients to strengthen their work, as do many agents, ideally you want your agent to help you see new ways to improve the material. The stronger a project is when it goes on submission (to agents and, eventually, to publishers), the more likely it is to generate interest, which hopefully means multiple offers of representation (or publication). That then puts you in the wonderful position of getting to be choosy. It means hopefully moving forward with an agent (or publisher) who you feel really understands your vision and goals, rather than potentially feeling pressured to accept an offer because it’s the only one on the table. It requires so much patience and energy to do that work upfront, but it’s worth it in the long run.
—Sonali Chanchani, agent, Folio Literary Management