Writers often ask me how to find an agent.
Let’s back up a few steps first. Realize that with most agents, you’ll only get one chance to present your work. In most cases, you’ll get either a ‘Not interested’ or a ‘Please send me more of your manuscript’. You’re probably not going to ever hear: ‘Wow! This needs work. Send it back once you’ve polished it up a little bit more.’ So evaluate your manuscript: is it absolutely the very best that you can do? If you have it in final form, have you put it away for a while and then taken it out to read it one last time? (A break from your manuscript can provide much-needed perspective.) Have you thought about hiring a free-lance developmental editor? A developmental edit can highlight character, plot, and pacing issues.
If you’re confident that your manuscript is ready for the big time, then who am I to stop you?
You’re going to have to put together a query letter (or more likely a query e-mail). But let’s talk first about gaining access to an agent. If you’ve spent any time looking, you’ll find that many of them are either not accepting new clients or are not accepting unpublished clients. It’s a chicken-and-egg quandary. How are you supposed to get your book published if you haven’t yet managed to get your book published?
Here’s where you have to learn to think like an agent. It’s not that agents aren’t looking for fresh voices or terrific manuscripts, they’re simply looking for them in different places.
First assignment: take a trip to the library or your local bookstore and browse the recently published books in your genre. Flip to the Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements pages. You’re looking for the author’s agents and editor(s). Also note the publisher. Make a list. After you’ve made your list, then spend some time on the internet. Ideally you’ll find that some of those agents and editors have blogs. At a minimum, maybe they have twitter accounts or websites. Scan their social media accounts.
*do they provide any information on what they look for in a query?
*do they run any query or pitch contests?
*are they attending any upcoming writers’ conferences (where you might have a chance to meet them)?
*are they taking pitches or scheduling appointments with writers during any upcoming writers’ conferences?
Second assignment: if you’re not already a member of a writers’ organization, then spend some time on the internet doing research about them. Each genre has its own writers groups: Romance Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, American Christian Fiction Writers, etc. Some of these organizations also have local chapters. Many of these organizations sponsor writing contests. Your chance with these organizations to interact with agents and editors is two-fold. Sometimes they speak at national and local conferences. Sometimes they judge writing contests. Editors sometimes sign authors based on their contest entries. So find out where editors and agents are spending their time interacting with writers and then figure out how to show up – whether in person* or by entering a contest. *Note: be appropriate; if agents/editors are taking appointments, then sign up for one – don’t be the person who stalks an agent into the bathroom to make a pitch. Spoiler alert – you’re not going to get a contract that way!