How to Find an Agent

I’ll be speaking to the Stanford Club of Pasadena and the Stanford Professional Women this Sunday on the topic, Writing and Publishing in a Text(ing) World. For more information, go here:

https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/events/details?event_id=31478

I’ll be distributing a number of handouts. Here’s one of them:

How to Find an Agent (updated June 2019)

HOT TIP: Find 10 recent books that are similar (but not exactly like yours) and identify who the author’s agent is.

How?

• Look at a book’s acknowledgments.
• Google author’s name and “agent.”
• Look up Publishers Weekly reviews on bn.com (Barnes and Noble) or Google author’s name and “Publishers Weekly” and “review.”
• agentquery.com
• Publishers Marketplace publishersmarketplace.com(You now have to subscribe to receive deal details.)

Find the latest information as many authors change their literary representation.

Publishers Lunch (free) http://publishersmarketplace.com/lunch/subscribe.html

AUTHOR BEWARE

Bookends’ Jessica Faust on bad literary agents: http://bookendsliterary.com/2018/08/14/bad-literary-agents/

Once you’ve identified a potential agent, do your due diligence.

• Research on querytracker (querytracker.com), Absolute Write Water Cooler, and Writer Beware.
• Subscribe to Publishers Marketplace (or find someone who does) and pull up that agent’s deals over the past year.
• Find the agent’s list of clients and find a fellow writer who is either on that list or knows someone on that list and get feedback.

Authors Guild’s advice on agency clauses and agency agreements: https://www.authorsguild.org/member-services/writers-resource-library/all-about-literary-agents/authors-guide-agency-agreements/

NEW WAYS OF PROCURING REPRESENTATION

Twitter: #pitchwars #pitmad https://pitchwars.org/