Submitting to the appropriate agent?

[aliajohnson]

If this isn't the appropriate spot for this thread, or if the information is already out there, and I've just missed it, I apologize in advance.

Here are my questions:

How do you know who to contact about your romance when an agency has mulitple agents and no info about who is interested in what? I've found quite a few that list romance as something they represent but not which of their agents I should contact.

Also, when an agency lists their interests as non-fiction, and literary and commercial fiction--then what? I've seen romance described as commercial fiction, and not.

I'd hate to send my historical romance off to someone specializing in medical non-fiction. That's just embarressing.

The information I've been using comes from AW (of course), Publishers Marketplace, AgentQuery, The 2006 Guide to Literary Agents, RWA website, and the AAR website. Tried googling too--with each agent's name along with the keyword "romance." It was a fairly useless endeavor.

Am I missing something, or do I need to start calling all these agencies? Please tell me I don't have to start calling all these agencies.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Little Red Barn]

Alia, did you try Agent Query, ask the agent? Put in your genre narrow it down and it should pick out the agents that are looking for your type of book...Hope this helps a little. kimmi

[Cathy C]

What subgenre of romance do you write, aliajohnson? You said historical, but I wasn't sure if that was an example. I might be able to give you a few clues where to start. :)

[aliajohnson]

Thanks Kimmi, I'll give that a try. (congrats again btw)


Cathy,
A single-title historical romance is what I'm submitting at the moment. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks, both of you.

[Cathy C]

Cool. Okay, here's a few to get you started. You'll need to look up the information on them and make sure you follow their submission guidelines. :)

Michelle Grajkowski or Cori Deyoe
3 Seas Literary

Meredith Bernstein
Meredith Bernstein Agency

Jessica Faust or Kim Lionetti
Bookends Literary

Pema Brown
Pema Brown Agency (Note: doesn't consider ms. already sent out to publishers)

Maria Carvainis & Moira Sullivan
Maria Carvainis Agency

Helen Breitwieser
Cornerstone Literary

Sha-Shana Crichton
Crichton & Associates

Elaine English
Elaine P. English LLLP

Jenny Rappaport
L. Perkins Agency

Susannah Taylor
Richard Henshaw Agency

Hope that helps!

[aliajohnson]

A thousand thanks Cathy! I've submitted to a couple of these, but most of them are new for me.

Really, really appreciated.