Where have all the agents gone?

fredfuller

Registered
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
38
Reaction score
9
Location
In a house in Roanoke, VA
I know if I spend two or three days searching Absolute's forums, I'll find a thread to deal with what I'm asking. But, I am lazy.

I have my first novel to my editor right now, and we hope to have a mss by late spring. Next, I need an agent, and I'm extremely ignorant about this phase of publishing. Does anyone in AbsoluteWrite land know of any agents who are taking new writers? I want a legitimate one, of course. To your knowledge, does this kind of person exist, and where does a old guy like me find one? (I thought about making my cat, Millie, my agent, but she bites. Not sure that's good.)

My novel: For the Heart's Treasure

http://www.millicentandme.com
 
Last edited:

Chumplet

This hat is getting too hot
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
3,348
Reaction score
854
Age
64
Location
Ontario, Canader
Website
www.chumpletwrites.blogspot.com
Sorry, dude, ya gotta start somewhere and do some research to narrow down your choices. Surf, surf surf! Read. Poke around bookstores to see who's writing your kind of stuff and google the authors to find their agents. Congrats on the book, and good luck with the agent search. I'm in the same boat, except I started by querying widely and THEN selling the book. I'll start the agent search all over again with my next novel, and this time I'll have a publishing credit under my belt.
 

Popeyesays

Now departed. Rest in peace, Scott, from all of us
Requiescat In Pace
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
1,461
Reaction score
163
Almost any agent will take a look if the query letter stands out. Many agents who do not take unsolicited manuscripts will take unsolicited queries.
Writer's Market, Agentquery.com are good places. Vette all your choices through the index here in Bewares and at Preditors and Editors.

If an agent wants pre-paid fees take a pass, if you have already paid them money why should they want to sell your manuscript?

Regards,
Scott
 

nygirl

Registered
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
29
Reaction score
1
Being lazy is not going to get you an agent. Do your work. It's the only way.
 

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
7,705
Reaction score
1,336
Location
Where the Wild Things Are
Website
www.christine-norris.com
Yeah, I have to agree. We don't know your book like you do. You need to seek out agents that represent what genre your book is (if indeed, it is a genre book). Then you should spend some time looking over their client lists - what have they sold, to who, and when. Most of the time you can find that information on the agent's site and/or publisher's lunch.


Then you need to sort of look over each site and get a feel for which would be the best fit for your book.

It's not easy, and no one can do it for you. Agent query is a good place to start.
 

fredfuller

Registered
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
38
Reaction score
9
Location
In a house in Roanoke, VA
You're right, nygirl. I guess I should have said tired. Having just completed 117,000-word novel, I'm kinda tuckered.

Thank you for your interest.
 

EngineerTiger

Writing HF Again, Thank God
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
408
Reaction score
49
Location
Indianapolis
Website
grayarmybrat.com
A good place to start is Agentquery.com. You can search by genre and it can help point to agents who handle your type of book. Also, many of the agents listed have links to the web pages of their agencies which can provide you with more details about the agency.
 

rugcat

Lost in the Fog
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
Messages
16,339
Reaction score
4,110
Location
East O' The Sun & West O' The Moon
Website
www.jlevitt.com
Once you come up with a few names, you can use the search function here at AW to find what experience others may have had with that agent. If you can't find any previous mention, you can post asking about a specific agent and perhaps get some feedback here.
 

Sage

Currently titleless
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
64,561
Reaction score
22,363
Age
43
Location
Cheering you all on!
AgentQuery.com is good for finding agents who handle your genre. Often there are links to the websites of the agents or agency, where you can get a better idea of what they're looking for within that genre. Some of them have blogs, which will give you an even better idea of what exactly they want.