Yep, I think I'm ready... think I have a shot and want to pick your brains.
The first time I ran the miles looking for an agent I realized how hard this process is. After a few nods and many more shakes of the head I decided on spending more time learning and writing and eventually publishing my work with up and coming publishers to get my start.
Now that I have published some of my work I'd like to test the waters of an agent to represent me in a series of dark paranormals. The question is... who? I have the P&E site in my favorites but who do I submit to first?
Do you have an agent?
If so, who are they and what do you like about them?
If you don't have an agent... Who would you pick to represent you and why?
12 comments:
i'm at the same stage too.
fortunately for you, paranormal is hot right now.
are you part of rwa? if so, hit up their agents list.
if not, i found the 2009 guide to literary agents helpful.
always check the agents sites, cause they vary in what they want. write a stellar, but short query with your bio, book blurb with hook, etc.
bookends lit agency and nathan bransford have blog sites here. they are helpful.
much luck.
xo
oh, make sure they belong to aar, and don't charge reading fees.
those are scammers.
submit to many at once, but don't write form letter query letters. they have to be personalized.
you'll be waiting eons if you do it one at a time.
xo
I'm familiar with the waiting game. In fact one of my author friends suggested I polish up my proposal, send it out, and then work on finishing up the book. Apparently some litereary agencys are willing to look and work with authors this way if they are previously published. Not sure how well that will fly, but I'm willing to try it.
I used to be a memeber of RWA, but pulled out when e-pubbed authors weren't as recognized as they are now. I have a dozen agencies to consider, in which I'll mostly likely sub to three or four at a time.
The P&E list kept me from signing with a nasty agency 2 years ago. I'm very careful of who I sub to now.
Catherine, first of all, congratulations on making the bestseller list!
As to agents - no, I don't have one. Would I like one? Yes, of course, but only if he/she is good. I've heard horror stories about bad agents. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to go out and research potential agents and do the submitting. So basically, you're ahead of me, LOL, so I have no advice whatsoever.
But congrats again on the success of KW!
H
Good luck with your search, Catherine! I'm still a ways behind you. I want to get my whole series ePubbed first...still have two stories left to submit. Then I'll actually be looking for an agent for a young adult sci-fi/fantasy.
Helen: Thanks m'dear. I'm super excited to be in the top ten list. I've heard horror stories too. I wanna stay away from editors on the bad list.
Emma: Oh, I plan on staying with my e-publishers. Only with this next series I wouldn't mind a few dollars as an advance. lol
I hear that! :)
I can't help too much with the agent search, though I have done a little research for if and when. Enough that I've settled on two "dream" agents who specialize in different things - Cori Deyoe at Three Seas for category romance and Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency for UF. I'm getting closer to stepping my toes into the agent waters, but I'm not quite there yet. ;)
Best of luck on your search, Catherine!
I used AgentyQuery as a starting point. Although I hadn't been agent hunting for over a year, previously I'd been looking for about three years so found out a lot about various agencies back then.
I always submitted to several agents at once, never exclusives. There's no telling how fast or not they'll get back to you, plus I used to read Miss Snark!! (actually there's an article on my website about agent hunting!)
Good luck, Catherine! And huge congrats on Kilt Worthy hitting the top ten!!
Catherine - as Christina said Agent Query is a good place to start. Subscribe to the feeds for agents blogs and follow them. This helps you get the feel for what an agent likes and what they're looking for.
Don't start submitting until you have a full manuscript and it's ready to go. I know it's tempting to do it the other way, but from my experience it's often a rejection if you don't have a full polished manuscript ready to submit.
Good luck with your search!
I am not prolific enough for an agent!
on the hunt too Catherine... best of luck!
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