The best way to find an agent

Danthia said:

Agentquery.com has a great list and search engine for finding agents who rep what you write, but that's only the first step. Once you have your list, check it against Writers Beware and Preditors&Editors to make sure everyone on the list is a legitimate agent and not a scammer.

One you have that list, start your research on them. Read their blogs, websites, Google them to see if anything bad pops up. Read some of their books to get a feel for who likes what. (At the very least read the cover copy of the stuff on their client list). Get a subscription to Publisher's Marketplace for a month and see what deals they've done. (Not all agents post their deals there, but enough do to make it useful)

Then query away Best of luck!

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tricon7 said:

I have a historical novel finished and ready to be pitched. I've had two agents in the past, but neither had any success at finding a publisher for me, and I eventually stopped hearing from both of them - at which point I told them, thanks, I appreciated their assistance (in hindsight, maybe that wasn't the best avenue to follow). Oh well.

Anyway, someone had told me that I might want to go into the local bookstores and find novels in the same genre of my book, in order to find the appropriate publisher(s). However, I wouldn't be contacting a publisher directly, so I don't see how that would benefit me. And contacting an author to find a good agent isn't a terrific way, either (I tried that once; I never heard back). I am going to need to find a good agent again, but with so many villains out there, waiting to prey on the needy, I don't really know who to turn to.

Could someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

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Wordwrestler said:

If you don't mind my asking, how long did you go without hearing from them? Have you since researched them to find out whether they were legit, or was it just not a good fit? Did you officially end your contract?

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