Welcome to this week’s Master Your Craft post! Each Wednesday we’ll discuss writing a new book from the BIG IDEA to QUERYING. Last year, we walked you through every step from getting the big idea through polishing your finished novel. Last time, we discussed the Dreaded Synopsis. This week we’ll help you get organized as you research agents.
Finding an agent is just as much about you as it is about them. Where do you being? Do you just Google “literary agents” and start sending out random queries?
No!
The first step is to do your research.
Before I go any further, let’s just get some basics out of the way:
1. Know your genre and age group.
Genre is: Contemporary, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, etc.
Age group is: MG (middle grade), YA (young adult), etc.
2. Look for agents who represent the above
Ok, like I said, basics. Whew! Now that we got that out of the way grab a notebook, or an Excel spreadsheet, and let’s get researching!
I really wasn’t joking about the notebook thing. Okay, if you really are one of those tech-is-better people, open up Excel.
One of the first things about researching agents is to be organized. This is not my strong suit, so please learn from my mistakes and get yourself some kind of order. Personally, I had a notebook dedicated to agents. One page per agent– front and back in case I came across other agents from the same agency. I didn’t bother with alphabetical order (which is where Excel would come in handy as far as making changes and such), I focused on getting names, agency, genres repped and special notes (comments from interviews or websites that I found noteworthy, etc).
So, now that you’ve got yourself organized go ahead and Google “literary agents”. Numerous articles, interviews and blog posts will pop up. It’s definitely a good place to begin. Jane Friedman’s post is very reliable and comprehensive. You’ll see some options to find lists of agents on various websites. All great places to start.
Another amazing site to check out is QueryTracker. This site allows you to scour their database of agents, check agent stats and even organize and track your queries. AND it’s free.
I find these are good Round 1 ways of creating a list of potential agents.
After getting a general idea of who repps the kind of books you’re writing, it’s time to dig a bit deeper. Here are some sites I found very useful. I’d call these my Round 2 sites:
Middle Grade Ninja (7 Questions)
Literary Rambles (Agent Spotlight)
These give you a bit more in depth, personal feel for the agents you’ve chosen. It can also help you cross off or star any agents on your list. I would caution that you check all information on these sites with the agents Twitter bio and/or the agency website just to ensure the information is up to date and accurate. Some of the interviews are from a few years ago.
Now, you’ve gone through 2 rounds and you’ve hopefully crossed off a few agents who aren’t a good fit or added a few new ones. Round 3 involves checking out which authors the remaining agents represent, what books they’ve sold and read those books. See if you like them. See if yours is too similar or too different.
BUT
I give this advice with a grain of salt! New agents won’t have sales information or even client lists available, so don’t cross off an agent for not having sold any books– if they’re a new agent AND from a reputable agency! Do your research ensuring any agent is legit. Of course, we’ll discuss more of this as we get closer to the querying process.
Round 3 is also about checking out the agent on Twitter and Instagram or their blog. If the opportunity to interact with them naturally comes up, do it. Don’t try too hard or feel you have to make an impression. Be professional! Several agents will Tweet #querytips. Take note! Following simple preferences will make a better and more lasting impression than a retweet.
Once you have your list of agents, your notebook/spreadsheet will still come in handy as you start the querying process we’ll dig deeper into in two weeks.
Ready for more craft advice on writing middle grade or young adult fiction? Head back to our Master Your Craft page where you’ll find dozens of more topics to choose from!
Kristi Wientge is the author of KARMA KHULLAR’S MUSTACHE (S&S BFYR)
