Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

  • home
  • Bio
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Anthologies
    • Blue Birds
    • The Burning Season
    • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine
    • May B.
    • Miraculous
    • Over in the Wetlands
    • A Race Around the World
    • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • Author Visits
  • Virtual Visits
  • Events
  • Teacher Resources
  • Contact
  • Writing One to One

Finding My Agent

13 Comments

Thank you for all your kind words and support yesterday! I love the real community we’ve created in the blogosphere and count you all as friends.

How do you go about searching for an agent? I have to admit, I’ve never had one consistent system. Some people keep detailed charts, ranking potential agents as top choices, back ups, etc. I didn’t start with a single-minded approach until this spring, and I would hardly call it organized or scientific (unless you view a smattering of notes left on every paper in front of the computer screen that way!). Here are some things I’ve tried:

Reading the Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Market agent section:  Here is a consistent inconsistency: I only replace my old copy every other year. Hmmm… has this been part of why everything’s taken me so long? 🙂  I did get one full and one partial request this route. Still, information there — especially in an older copy — is old.

Reading and searching Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Cynsations blog:  Cynthia has fantastic interviews and has up-to-date information on new agents, what certain agencies are looking for, and which authors work with which agents.

Taking advantage of SCBWI’s members’ only resources:  The agent information here is helpful, like a mini CWIM. Still, it can be obsolete quickly, so always cross reference.

Digging through every issue of Writer’s Digest:  Often, agents are listed in this monthly magazine. It’s a great way to learn who’s out there and what they’re looking for. Writer’s Digest has a yearly listing of the 101 Best Websites/Blogs for Writers. It’s worth sifting through.

Following agent blogs:  This is one I only started this spring. Again, it’s a great opportunity to see what things interest which agents. There is an incredible number of resources at many of these sites and often links to other agents’ blogs. 

Following Casey McCormick’s Literary Rambles blog: Casey has an on-going feature called Agent Spotlight. She’s done huge amounts of research on various agents and provides great links to agent websites, interviews, etc. This site helped me get a number of requests and kept me motivated to continue submitting. Thanks, Casey!

Following the Guide to Literary Agents blog:  I have to confess, I’d stop here every few months, but never signed up for the email feed until mid-October, right about the time I read the article on Michelle Humphrey, my lovely agent! It is a must for any of you searching. New information about agents comes through everyday, plus lots of helpful posts about queries and the like.  I credit this site for leading me to Michelle. Thanks, Guide to Literary Agents blog!

Things I didn’t do/did too late that would have been helpful: I never signed up for Absolute Write, the writing community filled with information on everything and everyone related to publishing. I did spend plenty of afternoons there, reading up on various agents. I only signed up with QueryTracker.net in October. Both of these groups would have made my search easier and more stream-lined.

Most of you, I know, do all these things and more. What sorts of things have been helpful in your agent search?

Next week, what to do after an agent requests material (or maybe not what to do, but what I did!).

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Filed Under: publication, the writing life

Comments

  1. Valerie Geary says

    November 6, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    I use agentquery.com to narrow down the list and then I Google their name to see if they have any interviews or additional information/websites/blogs online that would help me make the best decision on whether or not to query and whether or not I think we’d work well together. And like you said already, Absolute Write is also a great place for agent info!

    Reply
  2. CKHB says

    November 6, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    Yup, Agent Query. Search by fiction genre and whether they’re taking new clients, and then do follow-up research from there!

    Reply
  3. Jade says

    November 6, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    Congrats Caroline! I’m so happy for you!!

    I’ve signed up for Publishers Marketplace and that gets you extra info such as top dealmakers etc.

    Reply
  4. Frankie Diane Mallis says

    November 6, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    OMG this is such great information, super informative! Wow! Thank you!

    Reply
  5. Corey Schwartz says

    November 6, 2009 at 10:27 pm

    Congrats, again! I tried to find my agent through referrals. Networking is very important in this industry. I felt that agents took a closer look at my work if they knew someone who knew me.

    Reply
  6. Heather Sunseri says

    November 7, 2009 at 12:41 am

    Great advice, Caroline! congratulations on finding an agent. That’s incredible!

    Reply
  7. Heather Sunseri says

    November 7, 2009 at 12:41 am

    Great advice, Caroline! congratulations on finding an agent. That’s incredible!

    Reply
  8. Sharon Mayhew says

    November 7, 2009 at 4:10 am

    Great Advice, Caroline! Do you write one specific genre? I keep looking at agents, but want one that does (I sounds so self-assured.) PB, ER, MG and YA. So I just keep reading about them…

    Reply
  9. Veronica Barton-Dean says

    November 7, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Congrats on our agent! It’s always comforting to know that in our tight economy they are stilling signing new voices out there.

    Reply
  10. Casey McCormick says

    November 7, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    Reply
  11. Casey McCormick says

    November 7, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    Let’s try again, without the funky typos. : p

    Love the list! I use the query databases to find kidlit agents of interest and then research them to death using Publisher’s Marketplace, interviews, Google Blog Search, Guide to Literary Agents blog, and many others. If it can be dug up, I usually find it. : ) Maybe one of these days I can put my search skills to good use and find my own agent.

    Congrats again!

    Reply
  12. Sharon Mayhew says

    November 9, 2009 at 1:43 am

    Caroline,
    Thanks for stopping over at my blog and anwsering my questions. They are much appreciated.

    Reply
  13. Rosslyn Elliott says

    November 9, 2009 at 5:43 am

    This probably isn’t very helpful because it’s intuitive rather than logical. Nonetheless, I KNEW when I came across my future agent on line. I knew she was the one for me. I knew she had the background to like my work. I knew I could trust her.

    Sure enough, that was the one.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Meet Caroline Starr Rose
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

my books

Subscribe to my newsletter + to receive regular blog posts

categories

  • A Race Around the World
  • authors
  • Blue Birds
  • books and reading
  • classroom connections
  • encouragement
  • faith
  • family
  • historical fiction
  • home
  • Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine
  • May B.
  • Miraculous
  • non-fiction
  • Over in the Wetlands
  • poetry
  • publication
  • Ride On, Will Cody!
  • Song of the Raven
  • teaching
  • The Burning Season
  • The Notebook Series
  • the writing life
  • this and that

Copyright © 2023 · Caroline Starr Rose · Site by Design by Insight

I participate in Amazon Services LLC Associates and Bookshop.org, affiliate programs that allow me to make a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting this site!

Sign up for biweekly blog posts + my quarterly author newsletter and receive a printable quote from my novel, Blue Birds.