how do you find published author's agents?

i think i'm having a dumb attack. i am trying to track down the agents of several authors. i've found their names in acknowledgements and am researching them on the web but i seem to be getting nowhere.

is there a trick to this?

Perhaps you need to narrow the parameters of your search. The easiest way I know is by using quotation marks. If the agent is Richard Brown and he represents John Author then you might enter: "Richard Brown" "John Author" in the Google search thingy (sorry for the technospeak). This would bring up every website which mentions both of them.

"Richard Brown" "literary agent" would similarly bring hits in which both terms appear on a site's page. Then you'd eliminate every Richard Brown who had nothing to do with agenting.

If you've already been doing this and getting zero results, then I'm baffled too. Perhaps you found the only few agents left on the planet without a web presence.

Chris - once you have the name of the agent you can also check sites like Preditors and Editors or everyonewhosanyone to find out what agency the agent is with.

Who are the agents, Christine? Someone here might know something.

- Victoria

at this point, i'm looking for virginia barber and lizzie grossman. i've googled both of them and their names do come up in searches but, so far, only anecdotally.

thanks if you can point me in the right direction!

Christine, are you seeking information on them because they represent the kind of writing you have to offer or because you like particular authors?

Virginia Barber

Christine -

Virginia Barber is with William Morris - www.wma.com.

Re: Virginia Barber

Speaking of authors... if you know the author's address, should you contact them directly, or should you go through their agents anyway?

Re: Virginia Barber

It would depend on what you wanted from them but general rule of them is to go through agent or publisher until invited to contact them directly.
Its just nicer.

Andrea 0]

thank you!

thanks for the info!

I contacted the author's directly

We interviewed quite a few authors for our new book. If the author has a website and many do, they usually have a contact page. Even the authors who declined to be interviewed were very nice.

You can also contact the publisher. The publicity departments can be quite helpful.

Dee Power
The Making of a Bestseller, Dearborn Trade, April 2005
www.BrianHillAndDeePower.com

Re: I contacted the author's directly

Dee and everyone

If an author has a site, they are inviting contact-especially when they display snail or email addresses. I got the impression the original poster was working from a list of authors and had culled their publicists or publishers' addresses and/or possibly some author addresses and was curious as to which address to use.

For example:
Ursula LeGuin and Janet Evanovich have websites with addresses and encourage contact. JD Salinger does not.

If I had an address for Mr. Salinger and one for his agent, I would use the one for his agent until some response said "contact him directly and here is the ...".

The majority of writers enjoy interaction with their fans and like some form of contact. The ones who don't should have their choice respected and not be invaded because their information is available.

So, as a clarification of my previous advice, I would contact them directly if they clearly want it. If they don't or you don't know their policy, go through their publisher or agent or publicist.

Andrea 0]

Re: I contacted the author's directly

I sent an email to Janet Evanovich personally to find out who her agent was, as i write similar novels, and she emailed me right back with the name of her agent.

Usually if they have contact details on their website, one would assume they are open to being contacted.