Re: Nelson, etc.
Some suggestions for agent-hunting, Eric--
Don't use the Internet as your primary research source. The Internet can be invaluable for followup research on agents you're interested in querying (here's an article of mine that gives some tips on this:
www.sff.net/people/Victor...ecord.html ). But agent lists you find online are often compiled by people who don't have the knowledge to vet the agents they include, or else are databases where anyone can enter information--either way, they're likely to be outdated or filled with questionables. A good print guide is a better place to start--I like Jeff Herman's
Writer's Guide and also
Literary Marketplace, but there are many others. (Note: print guides aren't perfect either--they all have a sprinkling of questionables, so do some extra research.)
The presence (or absence) of a website means nothing. Many top agencies don't have websites. Scads of questionable and scam agents do have websites. How to tell good from bad? A good agent's site will prominently include recent sales information (
specific sales information--author, title, publisher--so it can be verified) and background info on the agents. A bad agent's website won't mention sales (since the bad agent probably has none) and may not even list the names of the agent(s) involved, much less their resumes (since they are unlikely to have any relevant expertise).
Don't confine yourself to agents who will accept e-mail queries. Reputable agents are more amenable to e-mail queries than they used to be, but paper is still the norm. One of the ways that questionables lure writers is by allowing e-mail queries, which they know that writers are eager to make. That's not to say that every agent who accepts e-mail queries is questionable--but if you rule out paper queries, you're automatically excluding most of the best agents.
Never take an agent listing--wherever you find it--at face value. Always do additional research to assure yourself that the agent is successful--and do it
before you query, not after. It'll save you a ton of time and question in the long run.
Make an effort to find publications or writers' groups targeted to your genre. You can discover much agent/publisher/industry information that way. For SF/fantasy, there are a plethora of resources, including:
- Speculations (a market newsletter with discussion forums):
www.speculations.com/
- Locus Magazine (reports monthly on who's sold what to whom--a great way to find out about agents who sell fantasy and SF):
www.locusmag.com
- Chronicle: (ditto):
www.dnapublications.com/sfc/
- Victoria