Agents for YA writers

Try agentquery.com. It'll give you about seventeen pages of YA agents.

Here's Robyn Schneider's YA version of Everyone Who's Anyone. There's not many agents, but it's a worthwhile read. You may get a few names from here.

http://www.robynschneider.com/correspondences.html

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I'm always eager to query some more agents.

what an interesting read, Provrb! Thanks for posting that.

Jo Scott, I am assuming you have already looked through Writer's Market?

I got one of my most positive responses from an agent who doesn't represent YA authors. I misread her entry in the WAYB and sent without knowing she didn't do my stuff, but she asked for the full script anyway, so you never know.

I have another question about agents. Up till now my writing has focused on category romance, but due to recent changes in their marketing I'm starting to feel a bit hung out to dry. I'm feeling there may no longer be a place for me in category. Anyway for the past few years I've been thinking about going YA. I've always loved Nancy Drew as a kid, and I would love to write something that catches sense of adventure. I have an idea, and I think it's pretty original. Not sure if its been done or not, but I'd like to give it a try.

Anyway my problem is when quering an agent should I mention my category experiences? I've always heard agents want writers to stick to one genre, so is mentioning my category successes going to damage my chances or not? Unfortunately I have nothing else to 'brag' about as far as writing goes, so would it better to say nothing or go ahead and mention them?

Also when a agent's submission info just says send a query, that's all you send, right? Just the letter, not the letter and synopsis?

Thanks
Sandy

If you are a published author in the category field I would certainly mention that. It shows agents that someone other than your mother thinks you are worthy of publication. It is okay to simply be changing genres.

Yes, there is room for YA mystery (I'm hard at work on one myself )

If they say query then just send the letter. Unless they sound really stern about "query only" I will probably send the first five pages too, but not the synopsis unless they request it.

Thanks Soccer Mom.

Sandy

hehe- Ms Snarks blog was on that issue today. Her advise is, if they say Query only just do the query. Most agents, I've been looking at, are pretty clear in what they want, and just how they want it too.

I did a no-no today and found an agent that got me really excited. I kept saying I want that one , I want that one, as I scribled down the info! came to the board to take a break and calm down, so that I may go back to objectively look at agents again and found this thread (the muse gods are mocking me again..aren't they?)

I have another question. What does high-concept mean? I've come across this term in regards to YA, and I have no clue. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Thanks

Sandy

From the Wikipedia entry on high concept:

The plot of a high concept movie is easily understood by audiences, and can often be described in a sentence or two, and succinctly summarized by the movie's title.

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I've also seen high concept described as, can you describe the novel in terms of other well known movies, as in "movie" meets "movie."

Hope this helps...

Thanks Moth

Provrb1810meggy said:

Here's Robyn Schneider's YA version of Everyone Who's Anyone. There's not many agents, but it's a worthwhile read. You may get a few names from here.

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I'd favor www.agentquery.com over Robyn's list. Agentquery also has links to the agents' websites, if they have them.

Also, go to www.verlakay.com. Click on forums. Within those forums are the names of many agents who rep YA. (It's a children's writer's site.)

Oh, stormie, I also favor AgentQuery too, but I didn't mention it since someone else already did.

I have the opposite problem. I think my novel lacks edge.

Jo Scott said:

How about YA novels that are a bit risqué? Say...one with drinking, parties, sex, drugs, violence?

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I wrote a similar type of YA book. I made sure I mentioned the risque theme in my query so the agent new exactly what he was getting and my target audience. Got a nibble, so it worked for me.

Here in the UK the YA market seems to gobble up the risque novels - most publishers here like that genre. Although there is room for the cosy YA novel, there is less of a market than in the US. I think our market has less of a tolerance for sentiment

I'll have to remember that, too!

Great sites! I've read Robyn's before and it was pretty helpful.

You might also try checking out Publishers Marketplace to see who's selling what. This helps see if the agent reps the sort of text you're trying to pitch. For example, my agent has solid successes with urban fantasy (YA & adult) and "edgy" texts. Another agent I'd met does more quirky and historical. He wouldn't have been a fit for me. By looking at the deals, I was able to narrow in my targets when I was shopping. Good luck.

I found this:
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php?topic=16647.0
Pretty cool.

I realize this is an old thread, but in case anyone is still looking, I have list of agencies that represent YA Fantasy and Science Fiction here.