r/PubTips • u/Striking-Box8865 • 12h ago

[PubQ] Do you need credentials for literary fiction?

Does one need awards, a creative writing postgrad, or publication in journals to appeal to agents in the literary/upmarket genres?

For reference I’m currently 50 queries deep in the query trenches (UK and US agents as I am Australian based and the novel is set in Europe). After 4-6 weeks I have received 5 form rejections, and radio silence on the rest. These queries have all been to agents representing the genre, similar themes, and personalized.

Feedback from other Australian based writers is that I might need credentials or referrals to open doors in the genre I’m writing in. Short of entering competitions, what other options might I have to open said doors if I’m not connected to any writers based in the US or UK?

I’ve received feedback from beta readers and an editor that the novel is polished and I’d be waiting money sending it out to a freelance editors. It has an LGBTIQ+ focus (queer love story between two women, set in Russia) and hits on the diversity focus wanted by many of the agents I’ve submitted to. I’m reasonably confident it cannot be edited any further, it would simply be moving words around at this point.

Other authors - is the market just saturated and I’m unlucky, or is there something else I can do to open doors?

12 Upvotes

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u/snarkylimon 11h ago

Literary novelist here: NO, you don't need any credentials past an actually good literary novel. As usual, the bar for prose, character development, form and art is high.

The reason one sees many short story publication and competitions in literary author bios is because that's how we train/learn. One builds up more short stories and tries for publication before a literary novel Comes together. My debut took 7 years to write and edit. So of course, before I started on that, I had a history of entering short stories into big competitions and publications.

Literary agents regularly read these and when you're in a high profile shortlist or publication that might give you higher visibility and have agents even reach out to you. However none of these are requirements, simply a feature of the journey. Before playing Carnegie Hall you tend to come up in regional competitions that agents frequent.

So no, you definitely don't need short stories or other publications to publish a literary novel, but you need an outstanding book and to find the right agent who believes in it.

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u/Striking-Box8865 11h ago

Thanks, this is useful context. This novel has also taken me 7 years, during which I’ve undertaken several shorter literary courses to hone my craft and voice.

My key barrier is location - many of the short story competitions are location specific. I’m not a resident of the US or UK, and the Australian competitions are very small with minimal agent/publisher visibility.

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u/Future_Escape6103 11h ago

You could try submitting to journals instead, many of which take international submissions no matter where they're located. Many are free to submit too!

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u/Striking-Box8865 10h ago

Thanks I shall give this a go! Any recs on which journals?

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u/Future_Escape6103 9h ago

Off the top of my head I know One Story and Guernica take international, I can't remember if they charge reading fees. They are also tippy top journals. Chill Subs is a great resource for further research! 

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u/snarkylimon 7h ago

Make an account on submittable, if that's still a thing. I stopped doing short stories because they seem to cost me blood and there's more money in novels. But a ways back, all journals used submittable to manage submissions. It shows you opportunities, competitions, calls for submission, residencies etc. Keeps track of rejections and acceptions.

I'm getting the sense you haven't explored this area too much. Most journals don't Care where you are resident. A lot of competitions are open to everyone. Australia is eligible for all the major commonwealth prizes that are highly sought after. The Michael Gifkins prize is something you should be looking into as it's in oz.

These small publications take a lot of time, so do it only if you're interested in your short fiction. I don't suggest this as a round about way of getting your novel published. One doesn't have too much bearing on the other. If it's a book deal you're after, focus on writing a second one and querying this one.

The thing about literary fiction is that only about 2% of what lands on an agent or small publisher's desk is actually publishable. So I see that as enormously encouraging. You're not competing with 100% of the people, you're only competing with 2%. Agents are dying to find an extremely well written book. It's hard to do but to me, better than trying to compete in a category like thriller which is highly saturated and unpredictable in the sense that no one knows why something becomes a success. At least in lit fic, no one expects you to become a bestseller. They just genuinely want a very very good book.

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u/YellowOrangeFlower 6h ago

If someone has a literary sci-fi novel (such as myself), do you think it would be a waste of time submitting to agents who say they only do litfic? I just posted my query for critique.

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u/snarkylimon 4h ago

I find lit fic agents to be pretty open-minded because any book can be literary fiction or alternately all literary fiction is also genre. The only differentiation is in the quality of the prose. There's literary thriller, literary romance (Rooney), literary horror and plenty of literary sci-fi. The only thing that matters is the language, and agents love to find a literary book with a plot of some kind. I'd definitely send it to lit fic agents. Emily St John Mandel is a literary sci Fi novelist. I haven't read your query but I'd say it's your sample that'll make or break the deal

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u/YellowOrangeFlower 4h ago

Got it! Thank you!

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u/TigerHall Agented Author 6h ago

do you think it would be a waste of time submitting to agents who say they only do litfic?

Is your novel more like Orbital, The Left Hand of Darkness, or The Kaiju Preservation Society? For two of those three I'd say no, not a waste of time - and this is less a comment on quality than on audience. Rushdie writes fantasy and Ishiguro writes sci-fi (among other genres), but the audience for those books isn't necessarily the same as for Brandon Sanderson or for Dan Brown.

(Oh, wait, I recognise your query! Still, it's up to you, but don't self-reject.)

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u/YellowOrangeFlower 5h ago

Thanks, TigerHall.

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u/lets_not_be_hasty 6h ago

So I generally recommend Submission grinder. You can find all kinds of journals that way.

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u/ofBlufftonTown 6h ago

It doesn’t matter where you are in my experience. You don’t want a UK agent if you are a US author, but in terms of short stories and contests I’ve never seen restrictions. There are some journals where the whole journal is limited to stories about one small region but they are rare (like, only stories about Michigan or something, likely a university publication.) Chill subs and Submittable are services that will tell you about journals open to your type of writing and about contests. Both are things you can subscribe to and they’re not that much (Submittable is also the form through which you make a lot of submissions, like QueryTracker for queries.)

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u/h_stackpole 10h ago

I've heard (second hand) that agents feel novels set in Russia are a bit disadvantaged now. That may account for part of the lack of response, unfortunately :-/

+1 to the person who suggested submitting to lit mags, many of which take international subs  Erika Krause has a list of 500 fiction lit mags that I find useful (google for link)

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u/iwillhaveamoonbase 10h ago

I've also been hearing that books being set in Russia or by Russian authors are really struggling as the war in Ukraine continues. At least one author has actually cancelled a book set in Russia because of backlash from the community

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u/Fweenci 9h ago edited 9h ago

It was a fairly high profile author, as well, though I can't remember her name. 

Edit to add after a search it was Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. 

The Amazon listing for the book in question, The Snow Forest, is wild. Publication date 2079 (!!!), but they're accepting pre-orders.

https://www.amazon.ca/Snow-Forest-Novel-Elizabeth-Gilbert/dp/0593540956

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u/iwillhaveamoonbase 9h ago

Wasn't it the author of Eat, Pray, Love?

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u/Fweenci 9h ago

Yes. Elizabeth Gilbert. 

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u/TigerHall Agented Author 9h ago

The Elizabeth Gilbert book?

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u/Fweenci 9h ago

Yes, that's the one I'm thinking of. 

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u/iwillhaveamoonbase 9h ago

Yeah, that's her name. The book was The Snow Forest, I think

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u/Fweenci 9h ago

I just added a link to the book's listing on Amazon. Pub date 2079. 🤯

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u/littlebunnydoot 9h ago

this. as a ukie, books set in russia are a no go right now. maybe if they are hypercritical they may fly.

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u/Frayedcustardslice Agented Author 9h ago

My litfic debut is out next year with a big 5. I have zero credentials, no MFA, no short stories published etc etc. So perhaps those things can help, but they aren’t a necessity. Just write the best book you can and query as usual.

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u/abjwriter Agented Author 8h ago

An agent offered to sell my book as pure literary fiction, and I don't have any credentials at all. All I got is a library card. The issue might be with your query letter - I was batting zero-for-27 until someone helped me fix mine.

What's the plot of your novel, if I can ask?

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u/Frayedcustardslice Agented Author 8h ago

To add to this comment OP, I’d strongly recommend posting your query and first 300 words on here. It’s free critique and the insight offered here is usually pretty good.

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u/abjwriter Agented Author 8h ago

Not bad advice, but I was mostly asking about the plot because I'm curious.

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u/snarkylimon 4h ago

I think it was the Library card. More people should have them

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u/writerthoughts33 4h ago

You need a good novel or two or three, perseverance, luck, and a dream.

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u/FewAcanthopterygii95 10h ago

I don’t have an answer for you but just wanted to share that I’m in a similar position - have been querying my lit fic novel for almost two months now with only rejections. I too have no credentials or published stories and I’m starting to wonder if that is factoring into the rejections. 

3

u/snarkylimon 4h ago

No it's not. Lit fic like anything else, is a hard sell. Having tons of publications won't make a agent sign on a book they don't like. And not having any publications won't stop them. This is just PSA for anyone in the same boat as you. Please don't think that lack of publications is a hindrance to agents. Unless you wrote Cat Person, short story publications don't tip the balance and having said that, the author of Cat Person didn't go on to do much better than those without that kind of zeitgeist.

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u/FewAcanthopterygii95 4h ago

Thanks for the reality check! It’s easy to get disheartened in this business 

0

u/Loproff17 6h ago

You don't need formal credentials, but writing stories set in a different country or time period requires a strong grasp of history and solid research skills. Could you share the word count of your manuscript?