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!).
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!
Yup, Agent Query. Search by fiction genre and whether they’re taking new clients, and then do follow-up research from there!
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.
OMG this is such great information, super informative! Wow! Thank you!
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.
Great advice, Caroline! congratulations on finding an agent. That’s incredible!
Great advice, Caroline! congratulations on finding an agent. That’s incredible!
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…
Congrats on our agent! It’s always comforting to know that in our tight economy they are stilling signing new voices out there.
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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!
Caroline,
Thanks for stopping over at my blog and anwsering my questions. They are much appreciated.
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.