I'm so stymied by this issue I don't even know how to ask the question, for which I apologize. I'm hoping that just explaining the problem to everyone here will help me understand it.
The best advice I've seen on finding an agent is; find out who represents authors who've written stuff like yours, in your genre, send them queries. That sounds perfectly reasonable. But I start to scratch my head because I don't know what the result would be. Or should be. Even as I write this, I'm beginning to suspect I'm *drastically* overthinking it.
I've had several readers say "It's a lot like the Dresden Files, but better." Does that mean I should go find out who that dude's agent is? And...how do I know that's a good idea?
I.e. let's imagine a BEST CASE scenario. I somehow find out who represents Jim Butcher, author of that series. I send a query letter, which I've never done before but I feel confident I can figure that part out. The agent says "A+, Would Buy From This Seller Again" and agrees to represent me. Again, this the the deliberately unrealistic "best case scenario."
Am I now represented by someone for who I am an extremely low priority, because this agent represents someone who's doing well and therefore has bigger fish to fry? Will the work not get the attention it might get from someone else, because I'm not the agent's highest priority? Or the opposite? The agent has represented someone doing something similar, to success, and is now better able to rep me?
I think maybe I understand my issue a little better now that I've explained it. Maybe the problem is; I've never done this before. I know what the next step is; "query, query, query," but I don't know what happens *after* that. If, through the intersection of opportunity and preparedness, I get lucky and someone offers to represent me...what do I do then? Do I say "Thank god!" and shake hands? Or do I try to figure out "is this agent right for me?"
And, if so, what is *that* process like? How does an author figure out if an agent who's said "Love the book, let's go sell it to someone" is the right agent for the work? IS there any way to answer that?
As I write this, these sound like incredibly naive questions. Which means the answer is probably, "it's a complete crap shoot, query everyone in your genre who looks reasonable, be happy if you get anyone. If it turns out there are problems afterward, well A: there will always be problems no matter what and B: you can fight that battle when it happens and C: these are the problems authors *want* to have. Oh, and D: guess what? It's a crap shoot for the agent too. They've got to get lucky with the author and the author has to get lucky with them and that happens about as often as you'd expect it to.
But I want to know what everyone else thinks. You don't need to tell me I'm overthinking it, I know that.
This is the process!
The best advice I've seen on finding an agent is; find out who represents authors who've written stuff like yours, in your genre, send them queries. That sounds perfectly reasonable. But I start to scratch my head because I don't know what the result would be. Or should be. Even as I write this, I'm beginning to suspect I'm *drastically* overthinking it.
I've had several readers say "It's a lot like the Dresden Files, but better." Does that mean I should go find out who that dude's agent is? And...how do I know that's a good idea?
I.e. let's imagine a BEST CASE scenario. I somehow find out who represents Jim Butcher, author of that series. I send a query letter, which I've never done before but I feel confident I can figure that part out. The agent says "A+, Would Buy From This Seller Again" and agrees to represent me. Again, this the the deliberately unrealistic "best case scenario."
Am I now represented by someone for who I am an extremely low priority, because this agent represents someone who's doing well and therefore has bigger fish to fry? Will the work not get the attention it might get from someone else, because I'm not the agent's highest priority? Or the opposite? The agent has represented someone doing something similar, to success, and is now better able to rep me?
I think maybe I understand my issue a little better now that I've explained it. Maybe the problem is; I've never done this before. I know what the next step is; "query, query, query," but I don't know what happens *after* that. If, through the intersection of opportunity and preparedness, I get lucky and someone offers to represent me...what do I do then? Do I say "Thank god!" and shake hands? Or do I try to figure out "is this agent right for me?"
And, if so, what is *that* process like? How does an author figure out if an agent who's said "Love the book, let's go sell it to someone" is the right agent for the work? IS there any way to answer that?
As I write this, these sound like incredibly naive questions. Which means the answer is probably, "it's a complete crap shoot, query everyone in your genre who looks reasonable, be happy if you get anyone. If it turns out there are problems afterward, well A: there will always be problems no matter what and B: you can fight that battle when it happens and C: these are the problems authors *want* to have. Oh, and D: guess what? It's a crap shoot for the agent too. They've got to get lucky with the author and the author has to get lucky with them and that happens about as often as you'd expect it to.
But I want to know what everyone else thinks. You don't need to tell me I'm overthinking it, I know that.
This is the process!
