You want a super hero. An agent who will pitch your book to the perfect house at the perfect time and get you a great contract. Or at least sell your book fairly quick, help you build a career and keep you informed on a regular basis. Someone who won't sign you and ignore you. So, the book is done, polished and repolished and its time to start thinking where to send it. A little tempted to try a publishing house directly, but an agent would probably be a better idea.
As I check out websites and blogs of agents I can see submission guidelines, genres they like, and client lists, but is this enough? How can you tell if you're going to be a good fit with an agent? Everyone looks good on paper. The websites are all techie and shiny. Client list looks great but how do you know they will take care of you? Is it better to go with a small agency where the client list is smaller? Or a big agency and maybe get lost in the crowd?
How did you choose? Is it working for you?
What questions did you ask or what made you decide this was the agent for you?
6 comments:
I'm still in the non-agented writer group. Hoping to get one this year. I'd definitely like mine to look like Batman.
I sold 35 books on my own before I got an agent a year ago. I wasn't really looking for one. I just met her at a conference and liked her, and we chatted a while. Then I ran into her at another conference, and chatted again in the bookstore when no one was talking to either of us, and we simply liked each other as people. So when she left her publishing house (she was an editor) and became an agent and called me, I already really liked and respected her. That mattered the most to me at first. (Obviously, she's very knowledgeable too.) Anyway, it worked out fine. I like working with her, but I already liked her as a person.
Julia-Good luck on the agent hunt! Batman would be great, but I get the urge to run my hands over those sculpted abs. lol
Kristi,
35 books on your own? Thats amazing.
I definately think I'd have to really like an agent. I'd want us to be friends. Someone I can respect. I want someone who is plain old nice-to everyone.
Is this too much to ask for?
:)
Aimless, I'm on the agent hunt now. I have agented friends, and that helps me with my search. If they rave about their agent, I'm more likely to send to them. Also, I look at what they've sold (I subscribe to Publishers Weekly). That narrows it down.
Good luck in your search!
Aimless,
I'm going to be hunting an agent this year, God willing.
I need an agent who believes in my work, number one. I also need to feel comfortable with them. There are some agents I enjoy reading on their blogs and I think they are quite good at what they do. There is some niggling feeling that we wouldn't mesh well, though. I'm ashamed to say an important part my writing career might be based on a gut feeling.
Good luck with your search.
JW
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