Historicals and Literary Agents

gothicangel · Jan 5, 2014

So, I completed draft 3 of my WIP today (and now building up the courage to post on SYW :flag:

)

I have also complied a list of literary agents, with the potential of submission, to which I have about 100. I have a top four who I want to sub to, mainly because they have my favourite HF novelists as clients. But it made me wonder how others choose who their A-list is. There aren't that many out there who specifically say HF, so how do you choose? Is it those who say they're keen to hear from new writers? Who their clients are? Or something else?

Undercover · Jan 5, 2014

The only ones I would say to stay away from are those that show small publisher sales. Especially if all the agent reps is books from places that you can submit to yourself.

I know some are reputable still, but to me that shows that the agent doesn't have the right connections to the top publishers. You want an agent that will help you submit to a place you wouldn't be able to get into without an agent.

Then again, there's a lot of very reputable agents that still can't sell the book or has poor communication. You'll want one that fits for you and not all reputable agents fit for every writer they rep.

There's a good number of Historical Fiction agents out there. Have you tried AgentQuery, Querytracker(net) Publisher's Marketplace? You may be able to broaden your search on those sites. Good luck with it.

gothicangel · Jan 6, 2014

Undercover said:
There's a good number of Historical Fiction agents out there. Have you tried AgentQuery, Querytracker(net) Publisher's Marketplace? You may be able to broaden your search on those sites. Good luck with it.

Are they of any good for UK based agents? So far I'm using Writers and Artists' Yearbook (going to buy a subscription online.)

Undercover · Jan 6, 2014

I know Querytracker.net you can search for UK agents. You might be able to do a search on Agentquery too. There's loads of info on it so it would be good to at least check it out.

If you don't connect, you could try US agents too if you're still interested in getting an agent. But be careful of the commission, it's usually 15% domestic and 20% foreign rights. So there may be that 5% increase if you get an agent from another country. I would keep that option open. It will also open more doors to your search.

gothicangel · Jan 6, 2014

Undercover said:
I know Querytracker.net you can search for UK agents. You might be able to do a search on Agentquery too. There's loads of info on it so it would be good to at least check it out.

If you don't connect, you could try US agents too if you're still interested in getting an agent. But be careful of the commission, it's usually 15% domestic and 20% foreign rights. So there may be that 5% increase if you get an agent from another country. I would keep that option open. It will also open more doors to your search.

Thanks.

Undercover · Jan 6, 2014

Cool, hope it helps! Good luck with it.

SpinningWheel · Jan 6, 2014

I went mainly on who they rep already, but I also looked at any blogs or articles they'd written and followed them on Twitter and scoured hashtags like #mswl (manuscript wishlist). Partly this was to look for anything they had to say about what they were looking for, but also to get some sense of their approach and personality and whether I felt I'd like to work with them.
I also noted the names of the ones that go to writing conferences and festivals, because that seemed to me to demonstrate that they really were actively looking for new clients. IME there are quite a few, especially the more established ones, who say on their websites that they are always looking for new talent but actually they don't take on that many new writers so you'd have to be absolutely stellar to catch their eye.

Good luck!

ps. I look forward to reading your thing in SYW. Don't be scared!

waylander · Jan 6, 2014

gothicangel said:
Are they of any good for UK based agents? So far I'm using Writers and Artists' Yearbook (going to buy a subscription online.)

There's this site: https://sites.google.com/site/literaryportal/literary-agency-directory-uk

gothicangel · Jan 6, 2014

waylander said:
There's this site: https://sites.google.com/site/literaryportal/literary-agency-directory-uk

Thanks.

gothicangel · Jan 6, 2014

SpinningWheel said:
ps. I look forward to reading your thing in SYW. Don't be scared!

The plan is to post it when I'm going to be out all day . . .

Hip-Hop-a-potamus · Jan 11, 2014

I use querytracker.net for just about everything. I like how I can do searches for historical fiction, and I can also narrow down by where they are.

Another thing I do is follow a lot of agents and agencies on Twitter. Once in a while, Twitter will then recommend other agencies or agents to me, and sometimes they're not on querytracker, so I have added them to another document so I can keep track of THOSE submissions separately.

Good luck!
HH

gothicangel · Jan 12, 2014

Hip-Hop-a-potamus said:
I use querytracker.net for just about everything. I like how I can do searches for historical fiction, and I can also narrow down by where they are.

Another thing I do is follow a lot of agents and agencies on Twitter. Once in a while, Twitter will then recommend other agencies or agents to me, and sometimes they're not on querytracker, so I have added them to another document so I can keep track of THOSE submissions separately.

Good luck!
HH

Thanks. I've taken a look at Query Tracker, and quite impressed and its reasonably priced, so will sign up nearer the time.

Historicals and Literary Agents

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Undercover

I got it covered

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Undercover

I got it covered

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Undercover

I got it covered

SpinningWheel

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

gothicangel

Toughen up.

gothicangel

Toughen up.

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

My rhymes are bottomless

gothicangel

Toughen up.