I know I'm bumping an old thread but this is how I found the site, by performing a search on "conservative literary agent." I have the same question.
So far I have self-published because I didn't want to go through the process of dealing with publisher s and agents before I had something successful to show. I have had some success with it. Readers seem to like it.
I'm looking for an agent that can help me land a traditional publishing arrangement, not subsidized publishing or vanity publishing. I believe the quality and content of my work is on par with any out there. But I want to find the right agent. I think I prefer on in the New York City area with experience with the big publishing houses. When such an agent sees my work, I think it will rise to the attention of such an agent.
Now, my early work is generally conservative, as I am. It is intended to capitalize on the current wave of political/economic/social punditry in our society: Cable news and talk radio. However, my characters and themes are very layered. Bail Out is not overtly political and does not discuss politics at all, but rather the shift in the economic environment in which the characters live is a back-story. The characters live in the inner-city and are not thinking of such grand concepts as GDP, net exports, or inflation and unemployment rates. The reader sees their lives change due in large part to a change in their economic situations, which they never talk or think about in any academic sense.
My second book, Bail Out's companion, is overtly political. It demonstrates the struggles that occurred in order to cause the economic changes in Bail Out. Bail Out is the story of the average person's life, and Stimulus is the story of how the macroeconomic shift took place that resulted in the Bail Out story. Stimulus is a story of big business and corporate executives and their struggle with government regulators, minority activists, union organizers, and a hostile media.
But, though I definitely use the dialogue in Stimulus to educate and generally promote a pro-capitalist philosophy, and I am not denying that, the story and characters are far more layered than that. In fact, the main decision of the company that turns prosperity into poverty in Bail Out comes from a mid-level executive who is a social liberal but a corporate capitalist at the same time. It is one of her socially liberal, outside-the-box suggestions in the board room that is at the core of the story.
In addition, both stories deal largely with the personal lives, struggles, triumphs and failures of the major characters away from their professional careers, so the novels don't read like economics textbooks.
The political and economic discussions come from the characters' dialogue, with each character representing his or her own viewpoints. And, I think I represent all viewpoints fairly . I demonstrate why each character believes the way they believe, and no character is a straw man to be easily taken down easily. If their political and economic ideas are fail, the causes and manner in which they fail is demonstrated and discussed.
So far, I have approached this with the attitude of becoming my own publisher, even willing to accept other authors once I get some big orders for Bail Out. Bail Out is in print and is going into Books-A-Millions stores this week in limited supply, but is in the BAM ordering system so any store can order copies. I have contacted Baker & Taylor and Anderson Merchandising to become a supplier for both. That can potentially put me in every book retailer in North America. Bail Out is also available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
Stimulus is about 10 chapters from completion and will be finished by the end of this month. First draft, that is, and ready for the editing process. If I don’t have the budget for an initial printing, I will make Stimulus available for Kindle at Amazon at very low cost until it gains a market.
I have two other novels in progress, which I will return to when Stimulus is in major part complete. Neither of those are political stories; both are slices of Americana. One is in the detective genre, except instead of a murder mystery, it is a large accounting scandal at a corporation. The other is a bittersweet comedy about retired seniors. Finally, I am ghost-writing an autobiography of a beloved retired high school educator. See the "Mr. Edge's Memoirs" page at FaceBook.
There are so many web sites for literary agents of various types, and I suppose my challenge is weeding through them to find the right few so I am not sending out hundreds of queries to those who are not interested. I am looking for suggestions.