To Agents and Those Who Have Agents Already...

That Publisher's Marketplace is the best place to learn what agents are actually selling.

Even if you can only afford to subscribe for a month, do so and run your list of possible agents to query through their deal tracker. It will save you time and money in the long run and will get your query to those who are most likely to appreciate it.

Good luck!

If you want to know who to query, pull open the books you like on your shelf and look at the acknowledgment pages to find the agent.

Then, hop over to places like publisher's marketplace and their websites to find out if they're looking for new clients.

Also (and this cannot be stressed enough):

If you want to be a professional, you must act like one. Always ask yourself what the most professional writer in the world would do, and how that writer would present him or herself. Then, do that.

Storyteller5 said:

To the writers with agents, what do you wish you'd known before you started the search for your agent?

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That you should query using both your voice (IN YOUR QUERY) and that you should start with your strongest project. And that not all projects end up as winners in the long run.

badducky said:

If you want to know who to query, pull open the books you like on your shelf and look at the acknowledgment pages to find the agent.

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This hardly ever worked for me... maybe genres differ but almost none of the books I looked at had thanks to the author's agents. Although, if you want to try this for books that seem similar to yours but you don't have a copy of, try Google Book Search.

Otherwise my experience backs up Irysangel's point: If your best friend who is an editor and published writer says that book B is better than book A, query for book B!!! Even you wanted the books to be a series and wanted book A to come first!!! I'm happy where I ended up but... so much time wasted!

I wish I would have known how popular sex and paranormal was, before I busted my keester on the Sf genre, which did not have as many open slots for publication as I thought. I've stunning, almost unreal compliments on my SF novel from several publishers and my agent. Believe it or not, it was not nearly enough to pass muster with the large houses.

The importance of the query letter. Great premise and a terrific hook/tag line could have garnered more reads than what I got. I've learned to write one like advertizing copy.

Tri

badducky said:

If you want to know who to query, pull open the books you like on your shelf and look at the acknowledgment pages to find the agent.

Then, hop over to places like publisher's marketplace and their websites to find out if they're looking for new clients.

Also (and this cannot be stressed enough):

If you want to be a professional, you must act like one. Always ask yourself what the most professional writer in the world would do, and how that writer would present him or herself. Then, do that.

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I have to disagree about looking in books, badducky. It sounds good in theory, but not a single book I have looked at refers to the agent--NOT ONE. And I have a substantial bookshelf. If there were, the info there would be years out of date even for recent works considering the time that books take to get to print and I usually (for obvious money reasons) buy paperbacks so that's even more time. (The rest of your comments seem to me to be spot on.)

I have emailed several authors who write in my genre asking who their agent is and most will be happy to tell you, or have been me. Some mention it on their blog or website--Holly Lisle for one. Some I just know from industry buzz who their agent is--Terry Goodkind for one. And I happen to know which agency acts for the SFWA although I'm not quite sure WHERE I read that.

What I haven't been sure of, after doing research on a very large number of agencies and narrowing my list down the ones who SAY that they are interested in looking at the genre I write and check out as legit, which ones actually SELL it. Selling fantasy is, I am told, a bit specialized.

lkp just answered that and I very much appreciate the information. I didn't realize that there was a deal tracker there or I would have subscribed sooner. Thanks for the heads up!

J. R. Tomlin said:

What I haven't been sure of, after doing research on a very large number of agencies and narrowing my list down the ones who SAY that they are interested in looking at the genre I write and check out as legit, which ones actually SELL it. Selling fantasy is, I am told, a bit specialized.

lkp just answered that and I very much appreciate the information. I didn't realize that there was a deal tracker there or I would have subscribed sooner. Thanks for the heads up!

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Locus Magazine also reports SF/F/H deals.
I studied their deal announcements for a year or so and picked up a pretty good idea of who was regularly selling fantasy

J. R. Tomlin said:

If there were, the info there would be years out of date even for recent works considering the time that books take to get to print and I usually (for obvious money reasons) buy paperbacks so that's even more time. (The rest of your comments seem to me to be spot on.)

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You really don't want to be chasing agents that haven't been doing the gig for a while. Exhaust the top choices first.

Usually the agent/author relationship - if it is a good one - will last a long time. If you can't find it in the acknowledgments page, look it up on-line.

Chasing

badducky said:

You really don't want to be chasing agents that haven't been doing the gig for a while. Exhaust the top choices first.
.

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In a sense, there's a real exception to this, and it's one of the best ways for a new writer to find a good agent.

One of the smartest things a new writer can do is to watch for new agents/agencies by a person who has spent a few years working for a larger agency, or as an editor for a major publisher.

You get someone with experience this way, someone who knows all the ins and outs of the business, but also someone who is probably hungry for new clients.

Agents

I've never been an agent, but I've had three good agents, and I've worked the slush for a couple.

First, I do wish writers would do their homework, and just knowing that the agent handles SF, or horror, or romance is not nearly enough. Read some of the novels the agent has successfully placed with publishers. This is really the only way to know what kind of SF/horror/romance she likes, and what kind of writing/voice/characterization she likes along with the kind.

But most of all, I really wish writers knew how to write an exciting query letter and synopsis. When a writer can't make a 250 word query letter, and/or a 1,000 word synopsis, exciting, there's no reason on earth to think he can make a 100,000 word novel exciting.

Same thing with poor writing in general. When syntax gets screwed up in a short query letter, when sentences read awkwardly, or choppy, in a query letter, only a masochist is going to want to read the novel.

And I really, really, really wish more writers would send along the first three or so pages of the manuscript along with the query. Doing so can pull a bad query letter out of the hottest fire.

First, write a great book. That's a given. Get people to read it. Join a writer's group or a critique group, whether online or in person. Listen to their advice.

Write a kick-ass query letter. Don't just show it to your friends, they know nothing about query letters. Scour the internet for those helpful agents and editors who show us what a good query letter looks like. Follow the rules when sending out queries. Treat each query as if it's a personal letter, but not too personal.

Get to know agents who have a good online presence. Spend a little time in their world so you'll know how to treat them, and how you should expect to be treated. You don't want to make your biggest mistakes with the bigger agents when you start out. It's kinda hard to go back and make it right, although that can happen, too!

Don't expect the answers to come to you. Ya gotta get out there and find them. It's a fun and informative ride!

Write a good book! Damn. I never thought of that.

You are all acting like this is some kind of easy process, and it isn't. A lot of this information on agents isn't available by just googling an agent's name. I know because I have spent a lot of time researching agents.

And going to their website is fine, but agency websites very frequently don't say which agents made which sales. They do NOT make it easy to know who to submit to.

It doesn't make a lot of sense, since they constantly complain and whine about how authors don't send them appropriate manuscripts.

Maybe they'd get more appropriate manuscripts if agents who NEVER sell fantasy didn't say they want to look at fantasy and if agents made it easy to find out exactly what they have sold in the past if that's what they want to look at in the future.

As far as what "voice" an agents wants, I try very hard to write with my own voice and not someone else's. *shrug*

Jamesaritchie said:

One of the smartest things a new writer can do is to watch for new agents/agencies by a person who has spent a few years working for a larger agency, or as an editor for a major publisher.

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I had a very bad experience with one of those, James. I can not recommend that in my personal experience.

And, regardless, I got that person because the name I was chasing gave the new guy with 19 years editing experience my query.

J. R. Tomlin said:

I have to disagree about looking in books, badducky. It sounds good in theory, but not a single book I have looked at refers to the agent--NOT ONE. And I have a substantial bookshelf. If there were, the info there would be years out of date even for recent works considering the time that books take to get to print and I usually (for obvious money reasons) buy paperbacks so that's even more time. (The rest of your comments seem to me to be spot on.)

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This seems rather odd. Although the genre I was looking in was crime thrillers, I found that at least half of the authors mentioned their agent in the acknowledgment page of the novel. This is especially the case for early novels by a particular author, since the agent has a much harder sell than would be the case if that author already has five or six novels published.

And it wouldn't matter if the info were from several years ago, the fact remains that the agent sold the novel in question. The agent is hopefully still interested in the same kind of novel, even if the agent doesn't rep that author anymore.

Publishers Marketplace.
Publishers Marketplace.
Publishers Marketplace.
(And if you can afford it Publishers Weekly)

Again I echo Orion -- subscribe to Publishers Marketplace, even if only for a month. During that time you can search all the deals, search agent information etc. Granted, not all deals are posted, but it's a start if you want to know which agents are selling.

Then, to a certain extent, you just have to query without having all the information knowing that if you get offered representation that you can ask those questions then. If you're unsure of an agent's track record, but know they're legit, then query them and ask them about their track record when the time comes.

The other advice I echo is look to see who represents the authors you'd compare your writing to (check their acknowledgements, their website, their blog, google, or check Publishers Marketplace and you'll usually figure it out). I queried my agent because I'd noticed from PM that he'd recently sold a zombie book so I knew he wouldn't laugh when he saw my book had zombies.

Speaking from experience, it's easy to get caught up in researching agents to the point where you don't actually take the next step and query them. Remember, querying is initiating a conversation, not promising that you'll end up together.

badducky said:

I had a very bad experience with one of those, James. I can not recommend that in my personal experience.

And, regardless, I got that person because the name I was chasing gave the new guy with 19 years editing experience my query.

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You still have to do the research. The agent going out on her own must be one that has sold many books to publishers, and that has a good reputation with the agency she worked for, and with editors.

J. R. Tomlin said:

You are all acting like this is some kind of easy process, and it isn't.

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No, it really is.

Take my agency, for example: Folio. On their website, click on Our Agents. You'll see their list of six or seven agents. Click an agent. You'll see what the agent wants and what the agent doesn't want. You'll see whether the agent will take e-queries or not. You'll see a list of their clients. You'll find exactly how to get in touch with them. Simple.

Take another agency: Levine-Greenberg. They've got a handy submission form right there on their website. Author's House? All the info is on the site. Donald Maass? Ditto.

I did 100% of my research on PreditorsandEditors. There's nothing complicated about it. And as James says: write a good query. It always baffles me when a writer says, "I can't write query letters." Why not? If you've got a good book, you should be able to pitch it with a good query.

Just because it is an easy process (researching agents and figuring out what they handle) - especially with the internet now- doesn't mean that it isn't work to create a good query letter and it doesn't mean you will be ultimately successful. There are no real secrets about how to query agents-
The trick is what previous posters have said - write a good book and have an enticing hook in the query. Now those are NOT easy to do.
I think in some cases writers focus on the querying more than they do revising and perfecting their novel and writing the next one.
As Will says - there's nothing inherently complicated about the process.
What complicates things is not knowing whether your novel or premise is publishable.

Will Lavender is right.

Perhaps a better way of explaining it: It's simple, but it isn't easy.

The process is very simple. But, making sure your writing is good enough is not easy.

badducky said:

It's simple, but it isn't easy.

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Well said.

Jamesaritchie said:

But most of all, I really wish writers knew how to write an exciting query letter and synopsis. When a writer can't make a 250 word query letter, and/or a 1,000 word synopsis, exciting, there's no reason on earth to think he can make a 100,000 word novel exciting.

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While this may be generally true, these are two VERY different skills. I've spent many years writing more than a handful of 100,000 word novels and have achieved more than a modicum of (artistic...not yet financial) success. I won't have the same amount of time to dedicate to writing a query/synopsis...and therefore don't expect to approach a similar level of achievement.

Again, this may be generally true, but to say 'no reason on earth...etc.' is simply an overstatement. Well meaning perhaps...but an overstatement nonetheless.

What is a reasonable time frame for an agent to find a publisher

Can you give me an idea on how long it typically takes for an agent to find a publisher. What is reasonable? Also, how often should the agent be updating you on the progress?

Thanks

K