Finding The Right Agent

You've completed the manuscript and decided which market best fits your project. So, how do you find an agent? Better, how do you find the right agent?

There are only a couple of hard and fast rules about agents. If you want reputable representation, look for the *golden* AAR beside their name. This is a national association which requires member agents to abide by a code of ethics. Namely, no reading fees. Full disclosure in their dealings with editors/publishers on your behalf. Fair trade percentiles and a host of other rules. I suggest you look it up and become familiar with the edicts.


Agents, just like people, run the gamut of personality types and tastes. You have the well-established "I only take previously published NYT Bestsellers" to "I'm new. Just finished my apprenticeship. Looking to build a stable of authors and build my name" and the somewhere in the middle "I've been doing this for a while. I have a growing client base. I have a business plan and I know how to use it". They also have varying degrees of interaction. Hands-on. Editorial. Cheerleader/Counselor. "Don't call me unless it's an emergency of if you're going to miss your deadline." The point is, find the agent-style that works best for you.


Now, on to finding that elusive agent.


1. Word of Mouth-- cost $free
Start by asking your friends who are already represented about their agent. Chances are, they'll give you not only the rundown on their specific agent but the agents in the same house. Most writers are generous. Don't be too shy to ask questions like: What characteristics do you like best about your agent? What's your agent's communication style? (Prompt? Procrastinator?) How many clients does your agent currently represent?

Most importantly, you need to find out if the agency represents what you're selling. If not, there's no reason to waste the postage. Most agents are interested in building a name in a certain genre/genres. They've worked hard to establish contacts with particular houses and editors. So do yourself and them a favor--if they say they don't want Westerns and that's what you have-- mark them off your list of potential agents (at least for now, until they see the error of their ways. It happens!).

You can usually amass a great pool of potential agents you can contact with a query letter referencing their client and the good things you've heard about them/the agency.

2. Publisher's Marketplace - Online cost: $20 per month
If you don't have a critique group or a chapter full of agented writers, the next best thing is to sign up for Publisher's Marketplace. The online mag lists deals, daily or weekly. Be sure and focus on the agents who are selling books in your genre. You can search that agent through the online system and turn up anything the agent or their clients have reported as sales in the last five years (I recommend searching the last 12 months.)
*There is a possibility all the sales won't be reported. But I ask you, only a lazy agent wouldn't want their sales reported in Publisher's Marketplace. This is a tool to grow their name recognition and their client's name recognition. Who wouldn't want that?

Here, you simply preface your query with the good sales report you read in Publisher's Marketplace and congratulate them on a job well done. Then pitch your stuff and why you think they're the best person to represent the project. (Please note: the manuscript is not your "baby". It's a product. You want to sell it by which you will make yourself and your prospective agent fabulously wealthy. Get it?)

3. Conferences -- cost: $--$$$
Whether big or small, most conferences will pay the expense to have at least one editor/agent or more attend their conference. Some conferences are hugely expensive but yeild the greatest number of face-to-face meetings with potential agents. The downside is your time is usually around 8-10 minutes. Smaller conferences have fewer agents to choose from but you may have more time with the agent, dragging them around for dinner, picking up from the airport, etc. You get the picture.

4. Virtual Conferences -- cost: $free
This is a new one for me. Blogs are rampant! They're also a great insight into conferences you can't attend but where agents may be clamoring for books just like yours. (Yes, clamoring is a word.)Most bloggers use the "labels" function at the bottom of their post. Just google a specific conference and see who's posting. I've found a couple of potential agents this way.

Here, you begin your query with the "great things you heard coming out of the conference" or whatever brilliant one liner you think up. Just be sure and mention you heard the information where the agent attended such-n-such conference and mentioned they were looking for genre-x. Which you just happen to have!

There, not so hard. Just always be certain you're focused on what the agent represents and doesn't represent. And sit back and wait. Start the next book. The first question an agent wants to know is what else you have written (both completed and works in progress.)

How to interview a potential agent and what to do while you're waiting for those contacts/calls would be a great topic for next week. So I'll save it for next Wednesday.

Until then,
Happy Writing
Sherry