I now have two agents: one who handles my fiction and another who handles the baby-naming books. The ideal is to have an agent who knows more about the area you’re writing because they’ll know the editors who buy that kind of work.
- This is not an original idea, but it’s an effective one: Go to the bookstore or your own bookshelves and look at the books that you really love that you would love your own novel or your own work to be like. Read the acknowledgments and see who that author thanks as their agent.
- A lot of authors have websites that tell who their agents are. Google your favorite authors and see if you can find that information on their websites.
- There’s also a site called Publishers Marketplace that, for $20 a month, will send you a daily email with all the book deals that have been made, their agent was and editor, and how much money in general the author received. The “Who Represents” part of their site lists writers and their agents.
- A lot of agents choose the books they represent based on what they love, especially with fiction because fiction is still bought and sold more on passion than on any kind of intellectualized marketing decision. So, look for an agent who loves the kind of book that you’re writing. If you’re writing domestic romance, you probably don’t want to pitch the agent who sold The DaVinci Code.
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Pamela,
I’m a self-published Author of a Fantasy Fiction book whose dream is to get my book in the hands of readers who would love the story I’ve written. I thank you so much for the information you’ve shared. I will take this information and apply it just as you have suggested. Sharon Vinay/Author http://www.sharonvinay.com