How Do I Find a Literary Agent

More to the point, how do I find a literary agent that's right for me?

OK, I know, it's daunting, and you feel like it's another hoop you have to get through to get your book published.  So let me cut to the chase and answer that question first.  Yes.  Yes, it is.  It's another hoop between you and getting published.  But seriously, let's look at the math of it.  Say you were hiring for a position in your office.  And you got 8,000,000 resumes.  I think you're following me already.  But I'll continue.  Hit fast-forward through the commercials if you need to.  So back in the day, editors would field these submissions directly, because not everyone on your block thought they could write a novel, but these days, they just don't have the time to do all that and work with the authors they do have under contract to get the books out that they've already bought.  Let's face it.  If you write directly to an editor at a publishing company, or even a worse idea, if you send in your full complete manuscript unsolicited, and everyone else were doing that, too, it would go into a pile of 8,000,000 boxes.  Your chances of getting published wouldn't be any better than the process that the system has put in place: getting a literary agent to represent you and make the submission to the right editors at the right houses.  [And you NEED a literary agent for oh so many reasons I will get to later.]

So you want to get published.  So what do you do?  You've heard the answer so many times, but you just don't want to listen.  Well, sorry, you should listen.  Do not send your complete book out unsolicited.  Rule #1: There Is No Back Door.  You must get an agent to represent you in submitting your book to publishing companies.  'But they won't even read my novel.'  You're a writer.  You can write a pitch letter.  If after reading your letter, they want to read a few chapters, they'll ask you to send it in later.

So what literary agent should I write to?  How do I find a literary agent?  Sing praise to the Internet, kids.  Imagine how much harder it was in the olden days of 1987.  As I mentioned in a previous post about editors, literary agents have tastes, too.  They each like what they like.  First rule of thumb: they like what's going to sell.  Literary agents are even more focused on the bottom line than an editor at a publishing company.  They want what they think they are going to be able to get a deal for.  But yes, they have personal preferences.  If you've written a romance novel, you don't want Joe Dude agent who typically sells espionage thrillers representing you.  So how do you find the RIGHT literary agent for you?  You can Google for 'literary agents who specialize in romance.'  Or a myriad of other keyword searches.  You can get onto Publishers Marketplace or find other directories of agents.  All so easily these days with an Internet connection and a good search.

The best way to find the perfect agent?  Go onto your own bookshelf or into a bookstore.  Identify the novelists that you are most similar to.  The ones you will be compared to.  The ones you aspire to be like.  Open their book and read the acknowledgments section.  Every author thanks their literary agent.  If they don't, they're not very nice.  It's like, 'I'd like to thank the academy....'  That's the person who got you the book deal.  Guess what, ... you thank them!  So write to those agents first!

A great way to find a literary agent, or at least to meet several of them all in one place at one time is to go to a writers' conference.  Typically over a long weekend, these conferences offer industry professionals (editors and agents) who attend as well as other writers just like you looking to get their big book noticed.  But the conference will offer panel discussions, cocktail parties, meet and greets, and really wonderful: one on one meet and greets with agents!

So you found that agent you want to write to.  You're not supposed to just send your entire manuscript, so what do you do?  Here it is: a one page letter.  Yes, it's absolutely okay (and preferable) if you can get an email address and send that one page letter as an email instead of a physical letter.  Before you've even written this letter about your book, even before the first sentence, the agent is already thinking, OK, is this something that's going to sell... so even more important than what's in your book, what it's about, or how good your writing is, is this: who are you.

So in that letter tell the agent:

who you are

what you've already done

what you do as a writer

do you have any audience already (are you a blogger, journalist,... etc)

what genre does your work fit into; what already-published successful works would you compare it to

what makes your book unique; what is your big spin

In this day and age, in that letter, you can include links to your blog, Facebook page, links to articles you've written, etc.  But do NOT submit your entire manuscript!  No, really, don't.  Really not even the first chapter or a sample chapter or an outline or the TOC.  If they WANT to read it, they'll ask you to see more.

Those are the rules.  Let's face it.  You don't want to stand out because you DON'T know what you're doing or you're not doing it right.  Because people will think you're going to act like that through the entire process.

OK, that's my post on how to find a literary agent.  There's so much more, so much more detail.  But for now, that's what you get.  I'll next give you a post on 'what does my literary agent do for me.'  Maybe I'll go back to some writing prompts and exercises first.

For now, don't worry about it until you've actually WRITTEN SOMETHING.  So get back to work!  Email me at SMHIOF@gmail.com or just post a comment here if you have any questions...