Where do you search for agents these days?

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Fiender

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It's been a year since I've sent out queries, but I could've sworn I had found an up-to-date search engine that let you search for agents who were currently accepting queries and for specific genres. I looked at Victoria Strauss's "Safest way to search for an agent" page, found in one of the agent faq topics on AW, but the online resources she lists are Agent Query, Query Tracker, and Publisher's Marketplace.

Agent Query was the big one I was aware of, but it's "agent updates" page hasn't seen a new post since 2014 (and the website's copyright mark still says 2015). I can see a list of agents on Query Tracker but can't limit them down via genre without a premium membership. I cannot navigate Publisher's Marketplace for the life of me and, again, membership is tied behind a paywall. I was able to find a list of agents who are members on Publisher's Marketplace, but without any ability to refine for "currently accepting queries" or "genre" or anything.

What resources are people using these days to search for agents?

(Apologies if this is the wrong forum. My question isn't directly publisher or query related, and I'm not specifically looking for agents' feedback, so I wasn't sure where this would go.)
 

Night_Writer

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On QueryTracker, every agent has a Genre button on their page that you can click, and it gives the genres they represent. No premium membership needed. It should get you by well enough.
 

Fiender

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On QueryTracker, every agent has a Genre button on their page that you can click, and it gives the genres they represent. No premium membership needed. It should get you by well enough.

When I search QueryTracker for agents looking for submissions, it returns 1,200 results for me. That's an awful lot of profiles to click through haha. I was hoping to find a better search method/website than that.
 

PhoenixFlower

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If you have an account with them, you should sign in and see something similar to this:

At the right-hand side where I marked should be a search function.
 
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lizmonster

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When I search QueryTracker for agents looking for submissions, it returns 1,200 results for me. That's an awful lot of profiles to click through haha. I was hoping to find a better search method/website than that.

You're lucky. The last time I queried I found 29 suitable agents.

I don't think there's a magic bullet, but if you want to pare down your list you could start with your comps and see who reps those authors.
 

Fiender

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If you have an account with them, you should sign in and see something similar to this:

At the right-hand side where I marked should be a search function
/image snip

Wow, I can't believe I missed that haha. The 'advanced search' blocks off all those filters, and that's what I always clicked first.
 

PhoenixFlower

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Wow, I can't believe I missed that haha. The 'advanced search' blocks off all those filters, and that's what I always clicked first.

Just glad I could help :). This site is the one recommended to me by all my instructors when I went for my MA. So now I use it religiously.

I wish you the best of luck with your efforts. I also personally use the following sites to help me find agents:

1. Query Tracker (https://querytracker.net/updates.php)
2. Writers Digest (http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts)
3. Poets&Writers (https://www.pw.org/literary_agents?filter0=9680&field_electronic_submissions_value=All&items_per_page=25).
 

Harlequin

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Chracatoa here on AW has a pretty comprehensive list and lots of agent analytics on his site (I'll see if I can find you a link.)

For adult SFF, you have about 140 you can technically query. That number drops, though, because some agencies are query-one-query-us-all, some are closed (permanently or temporarily), and some won't touch Urban Fa.

My rough ballpark guess--you'll find about 60 who are worth your time. It's not so many to try at least.
 

Carrie in PA

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In addition to the resources above, I always run a google search (literary agents representing *genre*), because none of the resources could possibly be comprehensive (but QT is pretty darn close). I use a spreadsheet to track the agents I want to query, and once I have a massive list, I then do my due diligence and research each one before querying. That usually gets rid of a bunch who close to queries, have concerning feedback, changed agencies, etc.

This is a process that, in my humble opinion, blows.
 
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