Why Agents Stop Reading

The only way to sell a book is to get people to read past that first page. The voice, the story, the setting, all of it has to mesh in such a way to make the reader wonder “and then what?”

Publishing traditionally has had a fair amount of gatekeeping — right or wrong. Even today, if you’re a writer trying to get someone else to publish your work, you send your manuscript to agents or publishers, and your manuscript lands in what is called the ‘slush pile.’

Despite the term, it’s not actually derogatory. It’s simply the unsolicited manuscripts sent to the agent or publisher through the proper channels. All agents and publishers have directions for writers on how to submit manuscripts.

Now, I know my stories — and probably yours — are amazing. And if the agents and publishers read the full story, they’d see its shining merits. Unfortunately, time is limited, the slush piles are enormous, and no one is getting paid for books that never sell. Most manuscripts from the slush pile are put down before the reader makes it through the first page.

Today, I’m here with tips from Imaginarium 2023. I had the privilege to read a stack of first pages aloud to publishers and agents and heard firsthand why they would put down that page.

The agents and publishers really do want to find the diamond in the pile of mediocre-to-bad stories. But, they need a reason NOT to reject your story, rather than a reason TO reject it. There are just too many coming their way, and they can’t publish everything.

8 Reasons Agents and Publishers Stop Reading Your First Page

1 – You didn’t follow the submission guidelines

I know. Every literary agency and publisher has their own idea about what the perfect manuscript package looks like. It feels like they just want to make you jump through hoops. But, they also want to make sure you understand industry standards, can follow directions, and can communicate in a professional manner. Even the best writers, if they’re hard to work with, can have a hard time keeping an agent and a publisher.

Use manuscript format. Use standard fonts. Act like a professional.

2 – Your grammar/writing needs work

Every writer has their own voice. Every character has their own way of communicating. And rules are meant to be broken. But, you need to understand what the rule was intended to do. You can only break the rules if you don’t sacrifice readability. Some people innately know where they can get away with things, but the rest of us have to do our homework.

Other things beginner writers often do to weaken their writing:

• overuse adverbs, instead of stronger verbs
  • “She walked slowly home.” versus “She trudged home.”
• have multiple descriptive phrases to describe the same thing, instead of picking the best one and deleting the rest
• use filter words (think, feel, know, believe, seems, notice, spot, see, realize, wonder, decides, etc)
  • “She saw the birds fly past the window.” versus “The birds flew past the window.”
• use passive voice.
  • “The window was flown past by birds.” versus “The birds flew past the window.”
  • find passive voice in your writing by looking for instances of the verb ‘to be’ paired with another verb, in which the subject of the sentence is what is being acted upon, and not the one doing the action.
    • forms of ‘to be’: am, is, was, were, be, being, been

Make sure to edit your work thoroughly and be certain it flows smoothly when read aloud.

3 – You focus too much on [aspect]

Whether it’s action, description, or world-building, if you go more than two paragraphs without breaking up an aspect of your writing, especially on page one, your pacing is probably off.

While film and tv can get away with starting in true media res, with books, you’re probably better off letting us know who the characters are and why we should care, before we’re in the middle of an expansive action scene.

If you’re coming from a screenwriting or MFA background, it can be tempting to fully describe the scene before you get started with the story. Resist the urge — especially with non-literary fiction! Or, at least have your main character pace the room while you’re doing it.

And let’s keep world-building to a sentence or two at a time. Slowly filter it in, and let the full setting come into focus as you build the story around it.

4 – You don’t know your genre – today

Your voice should reflect the genre. If you’re writing a light-hearted fantasy, but all of the descriptions would better fit a thriller, OR a generational literary drama, but the language is aimed at 10-year-olds, it’s going to be a hard sell.

If your word count is outside of genre standards, especially for a debut novelist, it’s going to be a hard sell.

If your voice and pacing ignore what’s been selling for the last 10+ years, but instead, reflect the classics you read as a child, it’s going to be a hard sell.

5 – Your characters are passive

In the current trends, publishers are looking for characters with agency. Where the characters make choices and suffer consequences, not just follow the plot along for the ride.

Note: In some genres, like coming-of-age stories, women’s lit, anything where the character is ‘finding themselves’, you can get away with starting off more passive, as long as the character grows into their own.

6 – You’re using tired clichés

While tropes and clichés often help define your genre, there are a few that have been overdone on the first page of a story.

• Waking up (either using the dream as the opening action sequence, or just literally starting the character’s day)
• Describing your character by having them look into a mirror
• Having your character describe things that are everyday to them (their day job, the culture they live in, etc)
• phrases like:
  • “released a breath I didn’t know I was holding”

7 – You’re being vague and overly dramatic

While that’s definitely a valid choice for a voice, it’s a hard sell in the narrative of the story. Specificity draws us in. If you’re vague enough, Fern Gully, Avatar (with the aliens), and Pocahontas are the same movie.

Make sure the reader knows this isn’t a story they’ve read 100 times — or if it is, that the voice and storytelling are going to make it worth their time.

8 – You’re starting in the wrong place

Sometimes, writers start with a prologue or flashback with a different point of view character. There are some genres (thrillers) where it’s done, but in most, it’s best to avoid it. It can be confusing to readers to start off with one narrator, and then get switched to another point of view character.

Beginner writers (and sometimes more experienced ones) often start the story about 5 pages into the novel. Meanwhile, the opening is simply scene setting, world-building, or showing off their fancy writing chops.

If you’re tempted to send in page 5 instead of page 1, or would rather pick a different scene to read for an audience than the beginning, it might behoove you to think twice about where your story truly starts.