Finding A Good Literary Agent

Finding A Good Literary Agent

Finding a good literary agent is like finding a good publisher, easy to find, almost impossible to get accepted. It's like some kind of evil merry-go-round in a horror movie. Commercial publishers don't want to hear from writers, they want to hear from your agent and agents don't want to speak to writers who haven't been published. So round and round we go. But take heart; there are actually some good agents out there who will read material by unpublished writers. Yes, believe it not, they are out there.

Remember to keep your goal in mind when shopping for a literary agent. Your goal is to be accepted by a major publisher or at least a good publisher even if a small company. Submitting to agents is like submitting to publishers. Find out what genre the agent wants to read and is looking for. If they say no poetry and you're a poet, look elsewhere. If you write horror or sci-fi, don't bother submitting to agents who are only interested in romance. Do your research and follow submission and query guidelines to the letter. If you don't, you'll be dead in the water. Another thing to do is to have your work proof read and edited as much as possible before ever sending it. Don't ever send in a query and say something like, "Here's the first three chapters of My Book. I know it needs work, Can you help me out with it?" That isn't their job. They're looking for new, exciting authors whose work they feel can be presented to publishers with an 'I'm really excited about this' attitude. It's a business contract between you and your agent, treat it as such.

Unfortunately the Internet is overflowing with new literary agents who are nothing but scam artists. If an agent wants to charge you any fees up front, I don't care what the fees are for, run away as fast as you can. No legitimate agent charges any up front fees. All fees are deducted from your future earnings. Some scammers will say they don't charge fees, but will suggest that your book needs editing and will suggest an editor that you pay. Run, Run, Run! This is a scam. There are also the ones who don't charge any fees at all and will actually claim to sell your book. But the publisher they sell it to is usually owned by them or is partners with them and when that publisher takes you on, they will find some way to get you to pay them. The best way to avoid this kind of scam is by doing extensive research on the agent before ever entering a contract with them.

Usual agent fees on domestic sales (US) is 15% including all expenses or 10% and you pay expenses such as photo copying, long distance call charges and courier costs. (Again these fees are not to be paid up front, they should come from your future earnings). Never pay more than 25% for any foreign sales. Most will charge 15% on TV or Film sales that are handled. I've heard of a few legitimate agents who charge their clients 25% on domestic sales. As far as I'm concerned this is pretty much a rip off. As desperate as I may get for a good agent, I'd never agree to pay that percentage. Of course that's just me you may feel differently.

Here's a list of just a few agents who accept very brief email queries with no attachments. You can find these and many more agents at the AAR website. Association of Authors' Representatives, Inc. At the time I wrote this, these agents were accepting submissions.

Lisa Erbach Vance
The Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency
New York, NY
levance@aaronpriest.com

Nathan Bransford
Curtis Brown, Ltd.
New York, NY
nb@cbltd.com

Bill Contardi
Brandt and Hochman Literary Agents, Inc.
New York, NY
bill@billcontardi.com

Victoria Gould Pryor
Arcadia
Dansbury, CT
arcadialit@att.net

My listing of these agents does not in any way constitute an endorsement, nor am I responsible for any errors in email addresses. Check the AAR site and do a thorough search. Good luck and I wish you all the best in finding the perfect agent for your needs.

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