Where the hell are you supposed to start?

Try QueryTracker.

Narrow down the list by sorting by genre, whether they take e-mail subs etc etc. You can also keep track of who you've sent to and when, and what responses you've had.

Good luck!

Step away from the brick wall!

I make a spread sheet and start logging in agents I think I want to query. I work my way through sites like agentquery.com and querytracker.net. I include things like agency name, specific agent, likes/dislikes, email/snail, blogs, clients, etc.

It's just like stalking someone. Except legal.

Then I look at the spread sheet and set them in batches of ten to query. I have a place on the spread sheet to log in the date sent and any responses.

What I do

Hi TheAntar,

I started with Canada, working my way in the U.S. Canada was pretty quick, since for fiction there's only a couple of dozen agents. In the U.S., I keep track of the States, go from West to East or alphabetically, keeping in mind what the agents mainly accept and where the largest agencies are focused.

It may be useful to keep in mind that the most famous agents and agencies, who represent best-selling authors may not be interested in your work, especially if you are an unpublished writer. Their hands are already full and you don't want this agents, yet, since most likely there are not going to give you the nourishment and guidance you need as a young and up-coming writer.

ED

Try this site.

Hi TheAntar - Agentquery.com is definitely a good place to start - but - I also double check with the Preditors and Editors website and the Bewares and Background Checks on this board to see if there are any potential problems with agents and agencies.

Developing and keeping a spreadsheet is essential. You can make it complex and include specifics of preferences or make it short and sweet and just include agency names, when you sent the query, how, and what response you got (and be aware, with e-mail queries the response rate is not stellar - a few snail mail query agencies don't even respond).

Because all of this is a learning process, don't put all your eggs into one basket and send out 50 queries the first week - pick five to ten and concentrate on them. Then as rejections come in (or lack of responses to e-mails after a week to two week period) send out another batch of 5-10. If you don't get any favorable responses by the time you hit twenty queries, take a good hard look at your query letter - maybe even run it through query letter hell in share your work.

All of this takes time. So be prepared. And good luck! Puma