Dear Geist,
Why do literary agents’ requirements vary so much? My writing buddy and I both got our first books accepted by agents in the same week. Sweet! But my friend only had to submit a short summary of his book (non-fiction), a ten-page writing sample and a one-page author info sheet. To sell my novel, I had to send the agent a full draft and notes on potential buyers, as well as an author info page. What gives?

Dear Fabio,
To some extent the differences have to do with agents’ preferences. But also, the marketability of most non-fiction depends mainly on information and presentation, whereas the marketability of fiction has more to do with story and writing style. So it’s not unusual for an agent to ask for a full draft of a first novel, to ensure that the writer has a good hold on the whole works. (The same often applies to literary non-fiction, which is marketed more like fiction.) For more on this, see our post
. A typical non-fiction book is signed up on the basis of a core proposal, which is then tweaked for ideal market position before the sentence-to-sentence writing begins. In the final totting up, you and your friend will both have written harder, longer and better than you knew you could!
—The Editors