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Finding a Literary Agent

by Sue McKlveen

Trust me...getting an agent to represent you is no walk in the park. The rumor is that getting an agent is tougher than getting a publisher to believe in your writing. There are some basic steps, but, from what I've found, you have to exactly fit the mold of what they're looking for, and your story has to be what they're used to pitching to editors.

Do you even need an agent? No, but it gets your foot in the door to an editor faster than sending the thing off by yourself. Editors work on their 'slush piles'--a stack of things received into their offices to be considered for publication--at their own rate. If you send something in by yourself, you get put at the bottom of the slush pile. But for an agent to represent you, sometimes even hand-delivering your query letter or manuscript to the publishers office, will get you to the top of the slush pile faster. Granted, the usual take for an agent is 15%, however, if it takes a year for that editor to read your query or manuscript, it might be worth it. One rule to remember, though, is 'no agent is better than a bad agent'.

So how do you go about finding a literary agent? I've put the major steps in red bold below:

The first thing to do is to finish your manuscript. Most books are between 65,000 and 120,000 words, with most of them in the 80,000-100,000 range. So finish your book. Have others read it and critique it. It's worth the time investment to have it combed through to find any errors or plot holes you might have.

After your manuscript is done, research the agents. There are a few websites that I recommend to do this. The first place I'd go is to www.agentquery.com. Type in the genre, fiction and/or keywords and search the database to see which agents are listed. Before you contact those agents, search under agents & attorneys on www.invirtuo.cc/prededitors/ to see if they're recommended as being a reputable agent. Never send anything to an agent who charges fees just to read your manuscript. The Association of Author Representatives (AAR) is another place (www.aar-online.org to find reputable agents.

So you've found your dream agent. How do you 'wow' them and what do you do next? Write a query letter and a synopsis. Neither one of these exercises are easy, even for the seasoned vet, so take heart and realize that writing the whole manuscript may have been a walk in the park compared to the query letter and synopsis.

The query letter is almost like an advertisement for your story, with a small blurb, the word count for your story, and a little bit about you. This part should be only one page in length. Agents are busy and if you don't 'wow' them in the first sentence, they're likely to turn you down. So, keep your letter brief and make the blurb no more than a paragraph in length.

The bio part of the query letter lists all your writing accomplishments. You'd also list any education pertaining to writing, and anything that makes you stand out as an writer. One suggestion for getting better known is to write articles for magazines. Or, join a professional writing group such as the Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America or Sisters in Crime. That lends credibility to you as a writer, willing to commit to being a professional by joining professional organizations. Some writers also advocate having a website or starting a blog, and sometimes that does work. But it's not necessary and it's completely up to you how to make yourself known as a writer.

At the end of the letter, state that you're including a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) unless the query is done by email. Depending on what the agent is requesting, they may ask you to state if you want the partial (usually the first three chapters) of your story back. I wouldn't recommend that, and would only enclose a regular-sized envelope for a letter to be returned to you. I would specifically state to destroy the enclosed manuscript when they're done with it.

If you can chose to send by email or by snail-mail, it's up to you, and the industry seems to be changing in that respect. Some agents prefer snail-mail, but it's more likely to beg to be read if it's in their email account.

If the query is sent by email, many times they'll state that they want the synopsis and a small amount of your story in the body of the email and not as an attachment. It should be double spaced, and below the query.

The synopsis is a summary of your story, condensed to six or less double-spaced pages. Every word is important, so there's no need to explain anything that doesn't have to do with your plot. The entire story must be there, including the ending.

After all that is completed, send the query and wait. I usually send out a bunch of queries at a time, because the time period of waiting for them to read your query can take up to a year, and I don't want to wait that long for a rejection, just to start all over again, wasting my time waiting. You also can be writing your next book in the meantime, or edit that manuscript one more time.

Good luck. You never know what agent will fall in love with your writing. If they don't, don't let it upset you. This is a business and they're not rejecting you, but just that one manuscript.

References:
How to Find a Literary Agent

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