Agent Guide

John Kelin

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Hi all,

I'm a regular reader of Rachelle Gardner's blog (http://www.rachellegardner.com/). In today's post (9-18-11) she recommends a resource called the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents (with the caveat that she is a contributor).

Anyone familiar with this book? It's only about twenty bucks, so it appeals to the cheapskate in me. I've always used the Jeff Herman guide, which is more expensive.

What do folks think of using ANY sort of guide? My Jeff Herman book is several years old. But it's still useful, since mostly I use it to point me toward an agency's (any agency's) web site, which gets me the most up-to-date info.

Any and all thoughts/experiences appreciated. Thanks.
 

Drachen Jager

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I just used QueryTracker. It has most agents, stats on the agents and you can track your submissions with a free account or use advanced features for a fee.
 

kidcharlemagne

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There is some outlay involved but in my agent search I found the following combination provided a very comprehensive overview of who is who along with submissions guidelines plus preferred genres and track record/reputation:

1) Query tracker - paid version
2) Publisher's marketplace
3) Absolute Write Bewares section
4) Agentquery.com
5) Preditors and Editors
6) Google and Google Books
7) Agent Spotlight
 

JanetO

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The Guide to Literary Agents used to be a great resource, but with two exhaustive sites---Query Tracker and AgentQuery---the book has become a little outdated. The list posted here is a good one, but I'd also suggest MediaBistro, which has a lot of profiles of agents, with their preferences, comments, etc, not to mention a bunch of other stuff for freelancers. Requires a paid subscription, but probably worth it.
 

kidcharlemagne

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The Guide to Literary Agents used to be a great resource, but with two exhaustive sites---Query Tracker and AgentQuery---the book has become a little outdated. The list posted here is a good one, but I'd also suggest MediaBistro, which has a lot of profiles of agents, with their preferences, comments, etc, not to mention a bunch of other stuff for freelancers. Requires a paid subscription, but probably worth it.

Yes, looks interesting. Just signed up for it although I'm not sure how much value add there is in that Pitching an Agent section. On first glance it looks like the agent info is also available elsewhere and quite generic but too early to tell yet.