Top Lit Agents GALORE! (Google sheets)

Bickernicks

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Well, my book failed - time to puke up all my research onto the public. :) I'm the guy who posted the 1,000 Youtube Booktubers (Google sheet) and 5948 Book Blogs (Google Sheet).

Publishers Marketplace Top Lit Agents

These guys track all the deals and how much everyone made. The top guys were doing multiple 6 figure deals for their clients, and then the list goes down from there. If the lit agent your pursuing isn't on one of these lists, then they're not a mover and a shaker.

These are links to Google Sheets. You can copy and paste everything into Excel.

Top 100 - General / Other Lit Agents
Top 100 - Debut Authors Lit Agents
Top 100 - Horror Lit Agents
Top 100 - Inspirational Lit Agents
Top 100 - Mystery / Crime Lit Agents
Top 100 - New Adults Lit Agents
Top 100 - Paranormal Lit Agents
Top 100 - Thriller Lit Agents
Top 100 - Sci-Fi Lit Agents
Top 15 - Women's Romance Lit Agents

QueryTracker Lit Agents

These guys list everybody and anybody.

QT - Humor / Satire Lit Agents
QT - General / Other Lit Agents
QT - Horror Lit Agents
QT - Inspirational Lit Agents
QT - Mystery Crime Lit Agents
QT - New Adults Lit Agents
QT - Paranormal Lit Agents
QT - Thriller Lit Agents
QT - Sci-Fi Lit Agents 316

Hollywood Lit Agents

These came from the Variety magazine database. Anyone who is anyone in Hollywood is listed there.

Variety - Hollywood Lit Agents 633

All of the links above can be found on my SHEETS page. (Remember that link if someone bitches about this forum post.)
 

Woollybear

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Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your book but impressed by your research.
 

Bickernicks

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Lists are great! But an agent needs more than big deals to be a good agent.

Right. Problem is there are a million people who claim to be "lit agents" out there. (yea yea yea, do your due diligence, etc etc) The worst thing you could do is sign with some person who only has an uncle in the biz and thinks they can sell your novel. Who are the heavy hitters in the biz? Who are the top lit agencies? I had no idea until I searched and scraped this list. Publishers Marketplace keeps track of all this stuff. You should pay for at least a months access to see what's going on over there. This list is about a year old.

That being said, you'll notice a Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group at the top of many lists. Apparently he HAS gotten many six figure deals, but I've seen many more "he signed me and I never heard from him" stories. I never sent an inquiry letter to him.
 

lizmonster

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Absolutely agree that the ability to get good deals is important. It's just not the only thing. What happens to the client after that initial big deal is much more informative.

And I do think it's worth cutting less experienced agents some slack if they're at a long-standing agency with a reputation for doing some mentoring. Everyone has to start somewhere.
 

Bickernicks

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Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your book but impressed by your research.

Yea, I didn't know what the hell I was thinking - I wrote something unique, fast paced with a STRONG VOICE. I got completely ignored by at least 70 lit agents.

I converted it to a screenplay and beat out 7,000 other scripts at the Nichol Academy Fellowships. (Academy as in ACADEMY AWARDS) There. I still stand by my story.

James Patterson is now my hero. Next novel will be a by-the-book mystery novel. Screw voice, screw unique. If people want to pay for literary hamburgers, then I'll be writing with a spatula. :p
 

Woollybear

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Next novel will be a by-the-book mystery novel. Screw voice, screw unique. If people want to pay for literary hamburgers, then I'll be writing with a spatula. :p

Sounds like a workable plan.

Personally, I'm still hoping the market basis used by agents / houses misses part of the readership pie. Literary hamburgers is depressing. I'm loving a classic right now--Wuthering Heights--I suppose it's literary fiction because it sure isn't formulaic. I just finished a chapter that head hops from Nellie to Lockwood from one paragraph to the next, both in first person, and it's fine. Clear, sensible, and perfect.
 
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Bickernicks

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Literary hamburgers is depressing. I'm loving a classic right now--Wuthering Heights--I suppose it's literary fiction because it sure isn't formulaic.

Of course literary hamburgers are depressing! :) Do you want to be CONSUMED (commercial fiction/literary hamburgers) and get PAID or just admired? (literary fiction)

I was able to get a copy of this from Stanford: Reading the bestseller : an analysis of 20,000 novels by Jodie Archer. She used this thesis to write: The The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel. She clearly defines what sells for regular humanity and what gets the rocks off for academics.

It's two different worlds with their own rules and styles. (I'm warming up my GRILL right now.) Now that I know WHO I'm selling to, I can stop torturing myself over the ART aspect. Oh yea, if anyone wants to see Jodie's thesis, give me a shout. ;)
 
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lizmonster

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Be careful. Use these lists as starting points, but back them up with solid research. I'm not getting into actual names here to protect AW & myself, but some agents on these lists have been noted for rather problematic behavior.

+1.

I do a basic review on QueryTracker, then check AW, and only then head to the agency's web site. Agenting is a business and your research should treat it as such.
 

Bickernicks

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Great list. I hope you don't mind that I posted the link to the sf agents in the AW SF/F agents thread here (giving you due credit for compiling it)

Cool - my big fat failed book was supposed to be Sci-Fi - I grabbed the top 316 at QueryTracker.

Oh yea, you'll notice I found Twitter accounts to many of the agents. Maybe someone can run with this - I started following a bunch and made it a point to engage in their posts. (thus, attracting attention to myself) Since they all rejected me, screw it...you guys should start following and being "friendly" to these guys and see what happens. :p
 

mccardey

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I found Twitter accounts to many of the agents. Maybe someone can run with this - I started following a bunch and made it a point to engage in their posts. (thus, attracting attention to myself) Since they all rejected me, screw it...you guys should start following and being "friendly" to these guys and see what happens. :p

Try not to take rejections too personally (or place too much faith in engaging and "being friendly" to agents on twitter.) It's a business, that's all. It doesn't mean that your book is bad or that agents are unkind - just that you haven't found an agent who thinks they can sell it. It's not about you, or them. It's just the biz.

:Hug2:
 
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