Where to turn? Fellow writers, I need your help.

[F.F.]

Hi, my name is Forrest Fisher, I’m 29 and I have an HBA in English Lit. I’ve spent the last five years of my life working an odd assortment of dead end jobs, saving enough money to buy a plane ticket and traveling around the world with my eyes and ears open, absorbing all that I can and pouring my heart and soul into my novel. Yes, I write YA fantasy/action/adventure but more importantly, I write what I’d like to read and hopefully a large portion of the populace loves what I produce.

However, in order for me to draw them into my worlds, on wild adventures filled with action, excitement and maybe even a little lesson on the difference between right and wrong, being true to yourself and always doing the right thing no matter what the cost, my work needs to reach them.


I most certainly thought the hard part was done once it took me five years to write my story, little did I know that six weeks waiting for a cookie cutter rejection letter can be the longest eternity of one’s life. Not that I have queried an especially large number of agents, I just had a gut feeling of who I wanted to be my agent and sent those letters off. Well, now that I've heard back from a few and have been left unanswered by others I'm turning to the writing community for some sage like guidance.

I'm well aware of agentquery.com and the writer's market etc. But the bottom line is, who is good? There are about 96 Young Adult agents on Agentquery to wade through and rather than throw my work into the hands of someone at random just because they work in the right corner of the literary market, I'm primarily concerned about finding the right agent for me.

If I had to describe my work using other's titles I would say it's a blend of Harry Potter, Eragon and The Chronicles of Narnia meet Superman atop Mount Olympus. Obviously I'm biased, and I think know that my work is absolutely incredible and destined for greatness, but who do I send it to, that will not only appreciate it, but champion it to the highest bidder and ensure that it reaches far and wide into the hands of anyone thirsting for entertainment and enlightenment?

*sigh*

Can anyone point me in the right direction to a reputable, trustworthy and kindhearted YA agent who also has talons of the sharpest steel and eyes that burn with fire only hinting at the worlds of pain that await anyone foolish enough to cross them? I'm not even that particular, in fact I'd even be willing to swap out the talons and eyes of fire for excellent litigation skills. ;)

Thank you in advance for any and all help that is sent my way.

Be well,
Forrest

[Barb D]

I've just started researching agents myself, so I can't give you names. But one resource I've used is http://querytracker.net/clients.php . You can pick an author with a book similar to yours, and find out who his/her agent is.

Good luck, and welcome to AW!

[Nakhlasmoke]

There are loads of good YA agents. If you're worried, then check for recent sales on the agents page (assuming you're using agentquery) and also google said agent to see if any warnings come up.

Preditors and editors is a good site for checking if the agent is not recommended.

Other than that, i do suggest you get someone to look over your work, if you haven't already.

And unbiased someone - you could always try put up the opening in SYW and see what kind of feedback you get.

[Mumut]

[quote=F.F.;3213408] Yes, I write YA fantasy/action/adventure but more importantly, I write what I’d like to read and hopefully a large portion of the populace loves what I produce.

However, in order for me to draw them into my worlds, on wild adventures filled with action, excitement and maybe even a little lesson on the difference between right and wrong, being true to yourself and always doing the right thing no matter what the cost, my work needs to reach them. end quote]

Hi Forrest and welcome to AW. The above two paragraphs are spot on for my writing. I'm lucky in one way, though. I'm published and getting really good feedback. My misfortune is that I was not a member of AW when I finished writing and so I made all the mistakes you will be guided away from.

For example, I didn't understand the value of an agent and didn't look for one. I only approached two major publishers. But I did find a smaller Australian publishising company which has done a lot of work for me and I've sold lots of books. And in the next couple of months I'll be published in Canada for the USA/Canada market with another publisher. So things aren't totally shabby - but in your position now, well, you are at the stage where you can do it right, right from the start. I wish you best of luck with your writing.

[Danthia]

It's a lot of work, but your best bet is to take those 96 agents one by one and research them. That's the only way you'll know who represents what, if they're on any "beware" lists (check preditors & editors and writers beware), and what they've sold recently. Spend the $20 a month for one or two months and subscribe to Publishers Marketplace online to check sales. Not every agent reports them, but enough do to get a sense of what they've sold.

An agent might list YA on their site, but when you look at what they've sold, it's all military or crime fiction. That's an agent you can probably put low of the list to query. Another agent might have a slew of sold YA novels along the same lines as yours. That's a great agent to put at the top of your list. Look in the agent section of this forum. There's a lot of agents who drop by to answer questions, and you can get a good sense of things from that as well. The moderators here aren't going to let scammer agents into the forums.

Read agent websites, blogs, any interviews they've done. If there are any local conferences (or non local ones) soon, and agents will be there, try going and listing to them to get a feel for who they are and what they like.

Read some of their books to get a feel for what styles they like.

Once you have your list winnowed down, start sending queries. (Assuming you've spent time perfecting your query and it's shines bright).

Oh, and you probably don't want to mention in your query that the book is destined for greatness. Those self promotional phrases tend to turn agents off in a big way. Same with comparing your work to mega bestsellers. Just write a dang good hook and let the book speak for itself. Good books always do.

[Momento Mori]

Hi, Forrest, and welcome to AW!

F.F.:
Not that I have queried an especially large number of agents, I just had a gut feeling of who I wanted to be my agent and sent those letters off. Well, now that I've heard back from a few and have been left unanswered by others I'm turning to the writing community for some sage like guidance.

If the agents you've queried aren't responding or are giving you a form rejection, then your query letter probably needs some work doing to it. Check out the SYW Forum here on AW and post what you've done so that people can give you feedback (but be warned, people here don't mince their words!).

F.F.:
But the bottom line is, who is good? There are about 96 Young Adult agents on Agentquery to wade through and rather than throw my work into the hands of someone at random just because they work in the right corner of the literary market, I'm primarily concerned about finding the right agent for me.

I think it's right that you need to think about getting an agent who is right for you, but before you have the luxury of deciding that, you need to get some offers of representation. To that end, I agree with the other commentators about doing your research on agents to make sure you're targeting people who represent your genre or similar authors, but you shouldn't disregard an agent just because they don't represent the authors you like (for example). Query well and query widely should be your first approach.

I'd also recommend querying in batches - most people seem to agree that batches of 5 are a good place to start and I'd agree with that - and start with the agents who you're really keen on and work your way down. That way, you've always got something out on submission and you'll feel that you're making progress.

While you're waiting for a response, start working on your next book and I'd suggest that you make sure that next book is nothing to do with the first (even if you're planning a trilogy or series). This is because there is nothing more heartbreaking than starting work on the next in your trilogy/series, only to discover that no one wants your first book.

F.F.:
who do I send it to, that will not only appreciate it, but champion it to the highest bidder and ensure that it reaches far and wide into the hands of anyone thirsting for entertainment and enlightenment?

Money's great, but you should bear in mind that selling for the most money might not be the best way forward for sustaining a career in writing. This is because the advance offered to you will be calculated by the publisher with reference to the number of sales they think that they can make. The higher the advance, the more sales they anticipate making. Now, if (for whatever reason - and sometimes it can just be bad luck) your book doesn't make the sales level they thought it would make, they might decide not to take your second book. On top of that, you might find that other publishers will look at your sales figures and decide not to take on other work from you either.

In any event, big money deals in YA fiction are not a regular occurrence - the average figure for advances in the UK for example works out at £5,000 and that will usually be spread between 2 books (not to mention the fact that the advance will be a split payment in any event, with some on acceptance of the deal and a proportion only going to you when the final manuscript has been accepted).

This is all a long way in the future and it's something that will need to be discussed with your agent when the time comes, but sometimes a lower advance but a guaranteed marketing campaign can be better for an author than a big wadge of cash.

MM

[wandergirl]

Spend the $20 a month for one or two months and subscribe to Publishers Marketplace online to check sales. Not every agent reports them, but enough do to get a sense of what they've sold.

ACTUALLY... I have discovered that if you Google an agent's name along with "dealmaker", you can get to their Publisher's Marketplace Dealmaker page by clicking the Cached version (underneath the URL in the results page).

For example... (http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:s0MbYmWwurwJ:www.publishersmarketpl ace.com/cgi-bin/dealmaker.pl%3Fid%3D1160+steven+malk+dealmaker&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us)

Don't know how that loophole occurred, but it's pretty useful :)

[F.F.]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice. You've given me a good place to start my search for a super agent. As ridiculous as it may seem, I suppose I was sort of looking for you guys to literally throw names at me. Agents you've had first hand experience with, or have heard good things about etc. There are just so many of them and I figured it's such a small world that amongst YA authors there are probably only a handful of top notch agents to choose from. If anyone has any good recommendations please feel free to fire off a name and I can hunt them down and vet them with the earlier mentioned methods. Thanks again for the advice and the support.

F.F.

[Red.Ink.Rain]

Hmm, well, if you want me to throw names...

Tina Wexler

Marianne Merola

Jim McCarthy

Kristin Nelson

Stephen Barbara

Those are a few that I have either had experience with or I know of people who have had good experiences with them. The top two requested my partials and got back promptly with fabulous feedback, even though they ultimately rejected me.

In the end, though, only you can find that super agent. :) So don't limit yourself at all. Query everyone (unless they blatantly say DON'T QUERY ME. That's asking for trouble.)