Querying internationally

williamfromkc · Jan 29, 2008

I've been wondering for some time whether a writer needs to stay on his own side of the pond with respect to potential agents. I see that London is home to almost as many agents as New York. Do British agents represent many American writers? Do they primarily concern themselves with British and foreign publishers or do they deal with American publishers?

waylander · Jan 29, 2008

My understanding is that most of them deal primarily with the British publishing market and have a tie-up with a US agent for the US market, some deal direct with with US publishers. However, there are US-based writers who have UK agents.
If you are thinking of querying UK agents you need to think about whether your work would work in the UK market.
Far fewer UK agents have websites than US agents.
The standard submission package is your first 3 chapters + synopsis and a short covering letter - no query letter with 'hook' or 'pitch' paragraph.
This page has a fairly comprehensive list of UK agents
http://www.writersservices.com/agent/uk08/agent_uk.htm

victoriastrauss · Jan 30, 2008

Since this is a general question about agents, rather than a discussion of a specific agent, I've moved it from Bewares to Ask the Agent.

- Victoria

ORION · Jan 30, 2008

Although I have an agent here in the US (WMA) I have a different agent for my UK edition although they are still affiliated with WMA.

Toothpaste · Jan 30, 2008

I have a UK agent, but it was a bit of a strange situation as I was living in the UK at the time. But she handles everything, including all North American stuff. She rocks.

I agree with the others though, your book needs to be marketable in the UK.

David I · Jan 31, 2008

Some UK agents specifically state they will not act as primary agent for a US writer. Others are more open on the topic.

If you decide to explore representation in the UK, you may want to pick up a copy of the current Writer's & Artist's Yearbook--similar to the Writer's Digest/Writer's Market agent books in the US.

And have fun with the SASE problem!

Sandi LeFaucheur · Feb 2, 2008

With regards to the SASE, you can buy postage stamps on line from the Royal Mail. However, it'll cost you a bomb--especially if you're going to send enough postage to return 50 pages!

I do wish British agents would jump on the email submission bandwagon. Although I now live in Canada, my books are set in England, and I feel I'd have a much better chance of selling them to an English agent.

aruna · Feb 2, 2008

Actually, quite a few British agents do accept email submissions; some accept ONLY email.

Dollywagon · Feb 2, 2008

I sub to the US from the UK all the time and find it's cheaper (stamp wise) to tell them to recycle the manuscript and just put a return sae for their response.

Also you may find some publishers and agents in the UK will accept email subs but only from overseas (ie not me) writers.

Lccorp2 · May 2, 2008

I was just wondering, since I live on the other side of the world from the US or UK (In the South-East Asian region)

Is there an implicit disadvantage in querying, say, US agents from there for one reason or the other? Maybe because of the costs of long-distance calls, the hassle involved in one thing or another compared to those living in their home country?

Hm.

waylander · May 3, 2008

I've seen one or two agents say they will not handle clients outside of the US, but that is literally one or two out of a cast of hundreds. I spent a long time querying US agents from here in the UK and it was never an issue. An AWer in South Africa (I think) just landed representation with one of the best SF/F agents in NewYork

victoriastrauss · May 3, 2008

I don't often merge threads in this forum, but I've done so in this case because I think that people looking for this information will benefit by having it all in one place.

- Victoria

Barber · May 12, 2008

I've always wondered if you were to query outside your region, would you need to make sure your spelling was correct? I assume yes, and since I live in Canada, I've put all my writing in American (ours is a really frustrating cross between US and UK), but I wonder if I would need to convert to British should I ever query across the pond.

waylander · May 12, 2008

I don't think it would be necessary, we are used to your strange spellings.
I did not change my spellings for submission to US agents and editors.

lkp · May 12, 2008

I queried in the States using all Canadian spellings without difficulty.

Kiltinator · May 14, 2008

aruna said:
Actually, quite a few British agents do accept email submissions; some accept ONLY email.

Just wanted to second this. I've queried British agents by email, even one who said he didn't take email submissions. It's not been a problem for any of them, and they all requested at least partials.

Nakhlasmoke · May 14, 2008

I queried US and UK agents using South African spelling (basically UK English) and I only equeried because I couldn't afford the postage across the water.

It took me a while but I did get an agent. I will point out that no agents ever called me when offering representation, I think partly due to the prohibitive cost of an international call, and I'm also pretty certain that fair few of my form rejections were based on the fact that I did not live in either the US or the UK.

Hope that helps a little.

Barber · May 14, 2008

lkp said:
I queried in the States using all Canadian spellings without difficulty.

Wow, so what you saying is, my making 3 different MSs (UK, US, and CDN) was a bit excessive? No, don't answer that; I don't want to hear it. LOL

It takes a bit of the pressure off, though. I still wonder if I got all the spellings completely correct!!! On the plus side, I'm quite the spelling bee now--in three different regions!

lkp · May 14, 2008

Not only that but for my first book, which was published by an American university press, I insisted they *keep* the Canadian spellings in the published book. They did.

shokadh · Apr 3, 2009

Overseas agents? A good idea?

I have a question about publishing overseas. If I am living in the UK and not finding representation in my genre, (after having gone through QLH, etc) is it advisable to seek out agents in the US? (or vice versa?) What would be the drawbacks or benefits, from your experiences?

Danthia · Apr 4, 2009

Totally. Tons of non-US authors have US agents. With today's technology, it's easy to contact each other and send materials, so it doesn't matter where you or your agent lives.

I can't speak for pros and cons since I'm not in that situation, but others here are and can be more helpful there.

Chanelley · Apr 4, 2009

I'm currently querying both UK and US agents and living in the UK. I know a lot of agents have clients from around the world. My preference would be to get a US agent with links to the UK so I'd have my book in both

waylander · Apr 4, 2009

shokadh said:
I have a question about publishing overseas. If I am living in the UK and not finding representation in my genre, (after having gone through QLH, etc) is it advisable to seek out agents in the US? (or vice versa?) What would be the drawbacks or benefits, from your experiences?

Is your work is marketable in the US?
If it is then go right ahead. I know of many UK authors who have US agents.

ORION · Apr 4, 2009

A friend of mine in the netherlands has a US agent...
I have sub agents in each country my book has sold in (20+)

victoriastrauss · Apr 4, 2009

Since the subject of these two threads was so similar (and the earlier one garnered some helpful answers), I've merged them.

- Victoria

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