The Best Time to Submit to an Agent

Congratulations! You’ve finished your manuscript and now you are ready to submit it to an agent.

Realistically you can submit to an agent any time, but I have determined that there are some days that might make your quest less than successful. Just as we have seasons in our year, the publishing world has seasons as well. I will help you navigate those seasons to help increase your odds of success.

Here the four seasons for submission:

1. The Holiday Seasons- Try not to submit in months where there is a major holiday. This includes: Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, Arbor Day, Fourth of July, and Easter. If there are gifts or a feast involved, wait another month.

2. The Conference Season- Do not submit when there are major literature events such as: ALA, BEA, SCBWI Winter and Summer Conferences, Bologna…you get the idea. The weeks before the event they will be preparing for the events and the weeks following they will need to recover.

3. The Vacation Season- The months of June, July and August are tough for submissions. Some agents go on vacation or have children on vacation. It’s best to avoid these months as well.

4. The Submission Season- If you take the above factors into consideration you have two months to submit- May and October. Be sure to make it early May or you will be heading into Memorial Day and that is touching on both #1 and #3 above.

Now that you have settled on a month, you are not ready yet. Don’t forget to consider what day of the week you submit. I have been told that the best day to submit to an agent is on a Wednesday. This gives the agent the opportunity to go through their weekend mail and clear their desk before the coming weekend.

So with all of the considerations above, and a few calculations of my own, I have determined  the perfect day to submit to an agent this year is October 16, 2013.

Which was yesterday.

But don’t be sad, my math skills are not the greatest and I could be off by a month or two…or three or four. If it’s ready, send it.

Good Luck and Happy Submitting,

Suzanne Santillan,

Writing on the Sidewalk