Writing Tip Wednesday: How to get an Agent

Today, let’s talk about literary agents. Caveat: I don’t have an agent. Since I self-publish my books, and don’t shop them around to publishers, I don’t need an agent. As a self-published author, I direct that energy into building my mailing list, writing books, and marketing/promoting to grow my income stream.

If you want to be traditionally published, you will likely need an agent. You can submit manuscripts to publishing houses on your own, but an agent will help you focus your search on those publishing companies that would be good fits for your books. For the largest publishing companies, you will definitely need an agent since those companies do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

How to find an agent?

You need to do your research and seek agents who specialize in your genre. Get to know the agent. Agents often complain that authors don’t do their research before submitting agent or publisher queries.

Here’s where to find agents:

1. Writer’s Digest has weekly agent alerts, which let authors know about agents who are currently recruiting clients to represent. If you’re interested in finding an agent to help you get your books published, this is a great first step.
2. This past week, Writer’s Digest also released a list of agents who are currently seeking author clients. Note that the list was first published in May 2019, but it should still be current. This is a great resource.
3. See Reedsy’s article How to get a Literary Agent for your Book. If you haven’t signed up with Reedsy, do it today. It is one of the greatest free resources for authors out there.
4. Talk to your author friends who have agents; maybe their agents are accepting new clients. Make sure those agents work with your genre(s).
5. There are also lots of agents on Twitter. New agents are often active on Twitter seeking clients. It’s a good idea to follow them and see if they are open to new authors. Don’t be afraid to pitch to a brand-new agent; they usually have the time and energy to dedicate to you and your books.

Why it may be a good idea to have an agent

I highly recommend that you get an agent if you are going the traditionally published route, because your agent already has relationships with the publishers and knows what genres they are currently accepting. And when it comes time to sign that publishing contract, your agent will (should) advocate for you, getting you the best deal.

Further, most agents are only paid when you sell a book to a publisher. Agents are paid by commission, and receive a cut of the money you make from selling your book. According to Reedsy, that cut is about 15%, so it’s in the agent’s interest to advocate for a larger payout for the author. Reedsy also indicates that this commission often applies to the royalties you make after your book is published, in addition to the initial contract amount.

If you’re brand new to the world of traditional publishing, and aren’t sure about the usual contract terms, you may want to hire an attorney specialized in literary contracts to review the agent contract for you. You’ll pay the attorney a (usually hourly) fee, but that contract will define your royalty amounts ad infinitum, so it is worthwhile to spend the money, in my opinion.

How to pitch to an agent

This is the most important step. Once you’ve done your research and identified several agents who work in your genres and sub-genres, craft the pitch. Know all about the agent before writing the pitch. Make it personalized and brief.

This is your elevator pitch; you need to capture the agent’s attention in the first couple of lines of your pitch, whether it’s in the form of an email, letter, or verbally at an event. Have your pitch prepared so that, if you unexpectedly meet an agent at an event, you’ll be ready.

As far as what to contain in your pitch, Reedsy has already done the work for you here. Just follow these steps to draft your agent query letter.

You can also pitch directly to publishers, without an agent. Reedsy has done some research for you on this, and gives you access to its database of independent publishers. When you search this database, you can check the option “accepts unsolicited submissions.”

Let me know how your agent search goes, and how you found your agent!