Young adult/middle grade fantasy agents

Agent listings can be found here: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

And many of them have had their feet held over the fire here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

See-also:
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

Before you send a query, I'd suggest you post some of your work to the SYW (Share Your Work) forum. It's great for getting an unbiased crit of your work. And good luck. And welcome.

You should also decide which it is, Middle Grade or Young Adult, as not all agents represent both.

kdm said:

From everything I've heard, though, it's kind of dangerous to post your work online, isn't it?

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Here's where it can get "dangerous": You post, publicly, your work in its entirety, thusly consuming rights that could potentially be sold.

As far as people "stealing your work" -- I've heard more people complaining about it possibly being a problem than anybody ever actually having that problem.

In fact, we have a thread crop up every once in awhile, on this topic, and whenever people call out for "If you've had your online-posted work plagiarized in publications, say something" it's usually met with ringing silence.

Though note, you can't copyright ideas.

Anyway you're not posting your full work here on AW. Just an intro, then maybe you find betas you trust to get the full work.

kdm said:

Thanks!

From everything I've heard, though, it's kind of dangerous to post your work online, isn't it?

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It can be round here.
If you post it, people may critique it and you might not like what they say.

That's the only danger though

kdm said:

Hi -

I'm new to Absolute Write, so there's probably somewhere I could already find the answer to this question. If so, please let me know!

I've written a ~50,000 word novel that is suitable for middle grade/young adults. It's a fantasy because it deals with magic and takes place in an imaginary country. It deals with political problems, the ethics of war and dystopian societies.

Does anyone know what kind of agent I would query for this novel? Any particular ones you would recommend?

Thanks in advance!

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Well, even though they signify what genre's they cover, most agents/publishers are going to put you where they think best anyway. It's not a well known fact, but something I picked up on. You may think that you have a great fantasy novel, but they may see it fitting better in sci/fi. So don't try to get too hung up on the genre of your writing. When you search, broaden it out. For example: Fiction. Just type 'fiction' and see what it brings. One of the best resources I have found is AgentQuery.com. They not only have a broad selection of agents, but describe them well, give links to the agents websites, email or snail queries, lots of stuff. If you haven't tried there go there, it's really informative. I don't know how new you are to this, but whenever possible, go to the agent's agency homepage. You will get more info on submitting than anywhere else. I have found a lot of search engines to be completely wrong on describing what an agents wants, plus it will help you to 'personalize' your query.