Anyone have a literary agent?

Question

If so, how'd you go about retaining them? Did you just send a query letter along with your manuscript or did you have to know someone...I'm desperate to get my foot in the door.

Answer 1

You have to start out by purchasing Writers Market or going to some of the various websites that list agents. There are also sites to visit that give lists of which agents to steer clear of. a first chapter.

Then you have to read exactly what that agent wants in the form of a query. Some want a summary. Some want 10 pages. Some want a first chapter. Some accept e mails. Some dont. You have to follow their instructions exactly. Believe it or not, some agents are even picky about the stamps you use. If you use goofy stamps like cartoon characters or love stamps, they consider you amateur and you get a form letter. Im serious. Get plain stamps.

From there, they will either reject you or ask you for more. Then you send what they ask for. If they ask for a complete manuscript you send it in a manuscript box. That is a box within a box. You put postage on both and address the inner box to yourself so they can send it back if they reject it. You buy those boxes online. Its worth it because it costs about 40 bucks or more to print a copy and if an agent tosses it out, you have to make another copy which gets expensive.

Agents generally are very limited in what they read. You have to find ones that are accepting books in the genre you write. Dont send your horror novel to an agent who only reads kids books LOL. Some dont mind if you query more than one agent at a time, others dont accept multiple submissions.

One good idea is to surf that agent's name on the net and read everything about them. A lot of them have given interviews that are posted online with tips on how to catch their eye. Those interviews help a lot.

In NYC we have a "pitch convention" once a year when dozens of agents sit all day long listening to authors pitch their books. It's an interesting day but very expensive. If I remember correctly it's 4 or 5 hundred bucks to go to a pitch convention.

You can bypass agents by going to smaller publishers, but again refer to Preditors and Editors and pick a decent one. Lots of fakes out there. Some authors I know have published small press first then look for an agent for their second book. That's a foot in the door too. So are contests.
Right now, the First Chapter contest that's going on is pretty cool. Somebody is going to get a big contract out of that.

Another idea is that you can pay an editor to edit your book for you. There are a lot of professional editors who are former agents and publishing house people. They can edit your book and help you get through to some of their old contacts sometimes.


It s a long and rough road. You have to have tough skin. You will get nice form letters that usually say "Although your work does have merit, our agency handles many clients and at the moment, we do not feel we can do justice to your work..." Just keep writing letters. And keep reminding yourself that James Patterson got something like 61 rejection letters before he got published.

Good luck. C.

Answer 2

The people at Writer's Market have a great book, called "Guide to Literary Agents". I would suggest taking a look at that because it can answer many of your questions. Every agent is different, and they each want something different from a submission. Doing your homework on that particular person is so important!

Besides listings of specific agents, it has a ton of information on creating your submission package and preparing your manuscript.

Good luck!!

Answer 3

try reading (or at least skim it) the Writer's Market. it's very helpful.