Querying Literary Agents...Where to Begin

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. If seeking a traditional publisher is your goal, the first agonizing step is to find an agent. And, be prepared to spend weeks, months, even years on your quest. To begin with, buy The Guide to Literary Agents or Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents. The internet is also helpful, sites like Writer’s Weekly and Feedblitz, but there are many more avenues on line, too. Just type in “literary agents” in a search field and see what pops up. The savvy writer will also subscribe to magazines like The Writer’s Digest, The Writer, Poets and Writers, and online publications. All contain valuable information on querying agents, preparing a proposal or a synopsis, and some list potential agencies.


You’ll need to prepare a query letter, a synopsis, proposal, detailed outline, author bio, comparable titles, marketing tools, and sample chapters. Then tweak each and every one before submitting. Have you compiled a list of possible agencies yet? Do that, and then the day-to-day business is less daunting. Also, keep track of submissions by maintaining a spreadsheet and continue to update it, because after the first twenty or thirty queries sent, believe me, it all becomes a blur. Even with a spreadsheet, mistakes happen. After I compiled the perfect pitch and hit the send button, I found that I had already sent a query to that agency. It was an idiotic mistake. I had an alphabetized list, but inadvertently placed that agency under its first name instead of the last name. Agencies frown on this.

Don’t hold your breath, expecting a nice note back from each agent; they are rare. In fact, you’re lucky to get a standard “Sorry. It doesn’t fit our needs.” Most of the time, they only respond if interested, but don’t get discouraged. Some will give a time frame of when they will reply if interested. But as a rule, three months is long enough to hold out any hope. In the meantime, keep churning out queries to other agents.

Expect to spend a hefty amount of time scouring agency websites to decide if they are a match. And, don’t forget to check the acknowledgments of other books similar to yours. If they mention their agent, be sure to add them to your list. You could spend hours checking out other on-line information about the agency, but limit yourself. Remember, time is money, unless you’re loaded and just like to surf the net. Write a personalized query for each agent; no mass mail outs. Check and double check for errors before hitting the send button.

Don’t let rejection hold you back. Alex Haley submitted his first book two hundred times and Jack London tried six hundred times before reaching that golden winner’s circle.

Self-publishing is likely here to stay and can be considered after exhausting the list of possible agents. Knowing there is a fallback option makes it easier to go forward. Just remember to follow the agency’s requirements, be cordial, never call or fax unless asked to, and persevere. This ain’t a game for wimps.

Guidelines for Literary Agents

Tons of information on how to submit to an agent exists: books, e-books, internet sites, even the writers magazine whips out words of wisdom. Granted, even with all this, I haven’t gotten it quite right yet, or I wouldn’t be griping. But all too often would-be authors open their inboxes to find nary a word from agencies. Is it too much to ask to respond to e-mail submissions? It wouldn’t hurt for agents to follow a few guidelines too.

After all, writers spend hours pondering which agent to pitch, checking guidelines and reviewing their author lists, and even click on their blog for more details. We thoughtfully prepare a correctly concocted query for that particular agent. Then, we wait and wait for a response and wonder if it’s lost in Cyberspace. Did they get the gall darn thing or not?

Even though we carefully input the address, stuff happens. Maybe one too many periods slipped in, or we misread a c for an e. Most aren’t set up to auto respond, so we wonder, should we resubmit, or are they even still in business? Best not to dwell too long, I surmise; just push on and try another agent.

How long is too long to wait for a response? Most don’t even give a specific time frame, so I can’t help thinking I probably wrote something stupid, so they simply deleted or shredded my little gem. Maybe that’s why, after a year of querying, I’ve only received one request for the complete manuscript, which was subsequently rejected. Maybe, my book is a complete dud. If so, go ahead, say so. I can take it. (I hope.)

Once, I got this sweet note from an agent. She said she thought my book was charming, but not quite right for her list, but suggested I add 30,000 more words. By the way, that happened to be a few thousand more words than the whole book was at the time. It took months of wracking my brain and endless rewrites, but I did go from 26,000 words to 53,000. Now, that’s progress, right. I’m tempted to write, “Dear Miss Charmed Agent, wouldn’t you like to take another look? I did what you said.” Well, maybe not.

In the desperate search to locate an agent, and don’t kid yourself, I’m not going to be too picky at this point; my alphabetized spreadsheet is now five pages long. Anyhow, finding an agent is only part of the agonizing journey. As a wanna-bee, I push on and comb through all the books that are similar, looking up their agents. At this point, I have two choices: Little House on the Prairie and A Girl named Zippy, neither actually come that close to mine. Sometimes, the agent isn’t mentioned, and I have to dig deeper. For all my trouble, I usually find they’ve gone on to bigger, more profitable ventures, like selling editorial services; or they quit and moved to the beach near a four-star golf course.

The worst is when agents ask that the proposal be mailed. Mailed? I hate snail mail. Yet when an agent represents a book similar to mine or seems extremely promising, I dole out a few Washingtons, for which this pessimist is sure she’ll receive a form rejection. Hey! It’s something. What’s really shocking is to discover that an agency does have a website, but only accepts postal submissions. Don’t they care about the trees tumbling to the ground, the bushel-baskets full of paper we insignificant peons must use? Whatever happened to going green?

Would-be authors can attest to receiving a reject similar to this: “Sorry, but it doesn’t fit our needs.” That makes me hopping mad. I did so do my homework. I read their guidelines. Right there in black and white, it said Memoir. What else do they want? Couldn’t they be more specific? Perhaps: “We only consider celebrities, ex-presidents, governors who abdicate, and those who fell into a volcano or walked on Venus.”

For those agents still reading this, I’m especially ticked off at the nincompoops who only respond if interested, but don’t give a time frame. I’m begging; please signify if the wait is a month, a year, or a decade, which, come to think of it, could be my entire life. Try: “If interest, it may take up to three months to respond.” See! That wasn’t so hard, was it?

So you abhor simultaneous submissions. I bet a lot of writers have read, “We give priority to those who send us an exclusive query.” Yeah, sure! No self-respecting author is going to fall for that one, especially if there’s no acknowledgment or response time given. My guess is priority or not, all queries get dumped in the slush pile. Besides, if the agency looked there first, it might not have to cry into its morning java because it missed a blockbuster. Something to consider, right?

Are any agents still with me? If so, is it so difficult to give us lowly authors some of the same considerations we graciously give you? Most do meet your requirements, right? If it says snail mail with a self-addressed-stamped envelope, we oblige. If it asks for the information in the body of the email, so be it. We don’t send an attachment when you say this will result in an immediate deletion or meeting the mouth of the shredder. We’re not stupid. Single space the cover and double space the synopsis? You got it!

Not all agencies are at fault here. Some do give consideration to authors. For that, I sincerely thank you, as, I’m sure, all hopefuls do. But for those who are dallying behind in this digital age, please give a time frame, accept emails and use an automatic responder. This not only saves our environment, it saves the sanity of millions of aspiring authors. Think of it as a way of giving back for all the commission checks received.

Tip of the Day: Agencies who follow these guidelines will receive priority and go to the top of my querying list, alphabetically, of course.