Agent referrals

I'm pretty sure that it means referrals from other agents. For example, I queried agent A but he thought agent B at the same agency was a better fit, so he referred the query to her. She was closed to queries except through "referrals and conferences."

I think it would have to be either another agent or perhaps an author from Agent X's list itself. Beyond that, if you asked a writer friend for a referral to their agent's colleague, that would most likely be an uncool thing to do socially because it would put that writer in an awkward spot, whether or not they agreed to refer you.

I'd not want to put someone in that position or waste a precious writer contact. Might be best to just keep looking elsewhere.

^^ That. (DANG, ninja'd. Agreeing with both, but the arrows refer to Talana's post. )

Referrals are very specific. You have to be able to use a name, and the person whose name you use has to be willing to let you use it.

I'd say be really careful with this. Agents are pretty vocal about people who say they're referred but aren't...really. Or the referral is very tenuous. I think your friend could refer you to his/her agent, but not another agent they have no relationship with.

Yeah, ElaineA is right. And unless it's a really good friend, I'd hesitate to ask the writer for a referral to their own agent, too.

I'm super picky about whom I'll refer to my agent. I'd be thrilled to match up the right writer with her because she is awesome. But I know very few writers who, I think, match her sweet spot in terms of story and tone. Someone used my name once in a query to her (and asked me first). Since it was just a mention and not a referral, I agreed but didn't think the manuscript was a good fit for her tastes. And guess what? She never responded to that query or mentioned it to me.

BlankPage said:

Thanks all. That makes sense, and was kinda what I was thinking would be the case. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't being too cautious about it. It's really frustrating not to even be able to get as far as a query, but I guess we should all be used to some degree of frustration by now.

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Why would that frustrate you, really? It's not that Agent X is the only agent on the market. Just move on and find someone else who represents writers/books in the genre you're targeting, and you'll be fine.

Back in the day when I was still a staff writer, quite a few publications I applied to turned me down immediately because I don't have a college degree. Those editors, however, who looked past the missing degree and instead zoomed in on my published clips invited me to interviews, and not once did I not get the position offered after I made it as far as the interview. I could have been frustrated about those publications/editors who couldn't even be bothered to look at what I can do and who were solely concerned with what I chose not to do, instead I decided to consider that their loss, especially since I evolved into a leading writer in a couple of fields, award-winning'n'all, pretty quickly. So it actually turned out to be their loss of sorts, quite literally. Lesson learned: If they feel that they are - for whatever reason - above even looking at what I can do, I most certainly don't want to waste my time with them and for them. They are simply not worth it. There are, however, others who are, and those are the ones I would (and do) focus on.

If you adjust your attitude towards such agents accordingly, any feeling even remotely resembling frustration will automatically disappear. Don't let frustration hinder you; let such an agent's stand-off-ish policies fuel your drive to find someone even better and more suitable instead. Good luck to you!

If the agent is accepting queries by referral only, s/he doesn't WANT to deal with a query slush pile at the moment. Wanting to query an agent who doesn't want to receive queries is a waste of time and energy, BlankPage. Definitely not something worth getting frustrated over.