Is there a database that literary agents have access to that is not available to the general public that gives them the email addresses/contact info. of editors that they wish to submit to at publishing houses? I have to assume that they don't know all of the editors personally, and that newer agents must have some type of a database to draw from. Does anyone know?
How do literary agents get the contact info of editors at different publishing houses?
- Thread starter GinaBrown
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Why?
Your best (I think your only) bet is to approach a publishing house that accepts unagentted submissions. That's directly hooked to an editor.
Your best (I think your only) bet is to approach a publishing house that accepts unagentted submissions. That's directly hooked to an editor.
There's no such database, but a good agency will have its own lists; and new agents who haven't worked in publishing before, and so haven't been able to build their own address books, aren't likely to be able to do a good job for you, so there's little point in submitting to them.
A good agent almost certainly does know all the top editors in the genres she handles. And even editors she doesn't know personally will know about her. Most good genre agents do not submit to tiny publishers.
But you don't need a database. It doesn't take a lot of research to learn who handles what at a given publisher.
But you don't need a database. It doesn't take a lot of research to learn who handles what at a given publisher.
Actually, there is-- Publishers Marketplace has a "contacts" section. Most editors are on there, and if they aren't, each publishing house has a certain email setup (like [email protected]).
The first thing I did as an agent, before I signed a single client, was start making contacts.
Edited to add: 90% of these publishing houses are closed to unagented writers, so certainly don't go using the emails to contact them. It won't do you any good.
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Actually, they overwhelmingly do know the editors personally. Knowing those editors personally is part of their job. And newer agents meet those editors through introductions from the older, more experienced agent(s) with whom they're working.
The vast majority of successful agents start out as assistants for successful agents. (In fact, I'm not aware of a single truly successful agent who became an agent by just hanging out a shingle, as it were, without any previous experience.)
Just having an editor's contact info isn't enough. An agent needs to know who that editor is, what s/he likes and doesn't like, what s/he is looking for and is sick of, what s/he just acquired and is desperate to acquire, what sorts of authorial voices or outlooks said editor is more likely to connect with... That's what agents are paid for (among other things).
If Editor A and Editor B are both at one imprint, and are both looking for genre X, the agent can't submit Manuscript Y to both. The agent has to choose one or the other, and that agent is going to choose the one most likely to love the book, and they can only do that by knowing the tastes of each editor.
No; there's not "database" as such.
It's all about personal contacts.
You generally become an agent by working as an assistant to an established agent, who will have many personal contacts and so you will meet the editors who work with that agency, as well as many other agents.
But even before that, you become an assistant by working in publishing—perhaps in editorial, or perhaps you're a receptionist or similar staff member at an agency, and you learn on the job and are promoted.
But really, it is about personal connections and personal contacts. Editors tell you what they're looking for; other agents you are friends with tell you they're looking for a particular kind of book, so you might refer an author to them.
True. There IS a database for contact information, but that doesn't tell me what I need to know.
My personal editor spreadsheet, that contains books they've worked on, details via in-person meetings and emails/phone calls, is more than 50 pages long.
It's not hard to get the information, as editors gladly share their tastes/interests/history/etc when I reach out. It's just very, very time-consuming to keep up with it. But that's part of my job.
Gina,
why do you ask? If your hope is to circumvent the agent's take, well, there is a lot more to it than them just owning an excel sheet of contacts. If you are just asking out of curiosity, I'm sure they have contact lists, but those are collected over years of experience, and go well beyond "likes high literary SF" and into personal contacts and discussions, prior experience with them, etc.
why do you ask? If your hope is to circumvent the agent's take, well, there is a lot more to it than them just owning an excel sheet of contacts. If you are just asking out of curiosity, I'm sure they have contact lists, but those are collected over years of experience, and go well beyond "likes high literary SF" and into personal contacts and discussions, prior experience with them, etc.
Thanks everyone. Mandy, last night I did come across the "contacts" section of publishersmarketplace. So thank you so much for answering.I also came across a couple of websites that listed editors' contact information.Quickline: I asked because my literary agent is a newer agent from a small agency. I was just curious how a newer agent would have the contact information necessary to contact editors. I do believe that it's always better to have personal contacts, but I'm glad to see that my agent can still reach out to some editors who might have an interest in my type of book, even if she hasn't had any previous dealings with him or her.
Mostly they build up contacts through networking, meetings, conferences, shared clients, referals from other agents, introductions etc. Just like anyone else in another job. You build up your contracs.
It's really worth it to join PM. You get your own page, so that you can post info about your book and post it in the Offerings section. Also, under Deals, you can see what editors are buying. There's a nice feature, where you can see what individual editors are buying, and/or you can see who's buying mss in your genre. It's only $20 per month and you can quit or re-join any time you want.
All agents, I hope, are members. There's lot of industry news and industry gossip on the site, too.
All agents, I hope, are members. There's lot of industry news and industry gossip on the site, too.
Personally, I don't think a membership to Publisher's Marketplace is worth the cost. YMMV, of course. Unless you're already a writing professional, most of the features of the site are pretty useless.
The Offerings section and your personal page suffer from the same problems as all display sites: no one looks at them other than vanity-publishers or "co-publishers" (they are the same thing).
The Submissions database feature can be useful, but not worth the subscription cost since you can do that on a spreadsheet.
You can get industry news and gossip from the Publisher's Lunch, which is the free newsletter.
Participating regularly in the Bewares, Recommentations and Backgroung Check forum here will give you all the information you need about what agents and publishers are interested in.
I'm not saying Publisher's Marketplace is entirely useless, but for the writer trying to break in, it's mostly wasted money.
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A good agent actual personally knows the people at the publisher she or he is contacting. So their contact info is in her Filofax (or digital equivalent).
I think it's vital to know what editors are buying these days. And what specific editors are buying. The PM website can give you that at a glance. To each his own.
It's true that the PM website can tell you that, so long as the editors and publishers keep their sections updated.
But if you're an agent and you want your author-clients' works read swiftly, you'll do better to know the editors concerned; and you'll have a more in-depth understanding of what they're looking for if you know them, too.
I can see how PM could be useful: but I don't think it replaces knowing the people in publishing.
But if you're an agent and you want your author-clients' works read swiftly, you'll do better to know the editors concerned; and you'll have a more in-depth understanding of what they're looking for if you know them, too.
I can see how PM could be useful: but I don't think it replaces knowing the people in publishing.
I agree, Old Hack. And PM doesn't always keep up with editors who move around a lot. And except for the UK, they don't list contacts for overseas editors. I use it as a guide to see what's being bought. Most editors who have been with a p-co for a long time are well-known to agents, or should be. Many new editors will gladly send out a "wish list" to agents when asked.