There are a few publishing paths that authors can take once they’ve poured the hours, months and even years into writing their book. If you have chosen to go the traditional publishing route (meaning you want your book published by a traditional publishing house), then you’ll have to first acquire representation from a literary agent.

This endeavor is a highly professional and formulaic process that involves prepping your manuscript for agents, writing a query letter, and researching the agents you’d like to work with. Though each part of the process involves a fair amount of heavy lifting, writers often overlook and underestimate the importance of researching an agent.

Some authors will try a blanket approach where they send their letter to any and every agent they can find, unwittingly burning bridges and wasting people’s precious time while getting no closer to landing an agent. Others may under research, certain that their top five will garner results, leaving them disappointed and aimless when it does not.

Kirby Kim, a literary agent with eighteen years of experience feels this part of the process is the MOST important element for finding an agent. He states:

“Do your research. The more time you spend researching your targets the more likely you’ll get requests for consideration. As well, vary your list with big agents and ones just starting out.”

But if you’re just now familiarizing yourself with the publishing landscape, knowing where to start your research is one of the biggest hurdles. That’s what we’re here to help with.

Literary Agency Websites

A simple Google search is never a bad place to start looking for an agent or agency. Though it is hardly the end-all-be-all of your searches, it can help to introduce you to a few of the largest literary agencies.

Once you’ve landed on an agency website, they’ll likely have a place where you can see each of their agents. At this point in the process, you’re looking for a few main things:

  • Which of their agents is currently open to submissions? This can vary tremendously. Some agents accept queries year-round, and some are only open for short windows. The most successful agents don’t accept queries at all anymore and only look into authors based on personal recommendations from their own network of professionals.
  • Of those open to submissions, who represents your genre? Once you’ve narrowed things down to who you can query, it’s time to drill down further. Do they represent your genre? Have they represented other books similar to yours? What exactly are they looking for right now and does your book fit the bill?
  • What do they require? You’ll want to go even deeper with your research to write down specifics about how they like to receive queries. Do they request you put something specific in the subject line? Do they have a word count limit? Does this agency share queries with their entire company or should you query agents individually even if they work at the same agency?

You’ll be looking at A LOT of literary agency websites throughout this process. So learning how to navigate them and starting a spreadsheet (or some other organizational document) to keep track of all the varying details you find there will be crucial.

Agent Directories

There are lots of websites to find literary agents who are actively accepting queries. A glance at any of these websites will tell you all you need to know about an agent before sending a query letter:

  • AgentQuery: With hundreds of listed agents, every writer is bound to find an agent they connect with. The website also has helpful articles for writers to learn how to write effective query letters, an agent tracker where you can follow an agent’s recent deals, and a lot of other resources to make the publishing process smooth.
  • Literary Agents Database from Poets & Writers: This database includes the agent’s name, company, genres they work with, and authors they represent. The author representation feature is great for aspiring writers whose style was influenced by a specific author. Now you can find an agent who is knowledgeable and successful in that writing style based on the authors they worked with, and you may even be lucky enough to have the same agent as one of your favorite authors.
  • QueryTracker: In addition to basic information like name and the agency the agent works for, QueryTracker reports the agents’ preferred submission form for queries. Whether in an online submission or an email, it tells you where and how to send your query for the best results. To learn more about the genres the agent publishes and the authors they work with, simply click on their name to go to a page full of the agent’s information and success stories from other authors who have used QureyTracker. This page also includes a comments and reviews section where other writers who queried the agent wrote about the agent’s response time, their suggestions, and the writer’s experience with the agent. The agents with the most positive feedback are typically the ones with the most submission forms listed. For example, if an agent only accepts one form of a query letter (let’s say they only accept queries via email), they are likely to have more limited acceptances and many do not even send rejections, they will just not respond. However, agents with several query submission options (emails, online forms, and the QueryManger by QueryTracker), respond sooner to writers about accepting or passing on their work. The website also has a query tracking feature so writers can keep track of who they sent queries to, when the response came in, whether the response was positive or negative, and which responses asked for manuscripts. This helps writers avoid sending multiple queries to the same agent or agency, as some agencies do not accept queries that have already been rejected by one agent.
  • Publisher’s Marketplace: While authorship is an art, publishing is a business, and knowing what is trending can make a world of difference for your book. Following what is popular can help you see where you fit in the book landscape, which will help narrow down options for agents to find the right one. With a membership, you can even search for specific agents and find their deal history and marketplace performance. This means you can see what types of books they accept, the other authors they have worked with, review deal contracts, and look at how well their published books have sold.

Conferences and Workshops

There are DOZENS of writer’s workshops, conferences, and events every year. Joining in and becoming active within a writers’ community can point you toward an agent. At these events, sometimes agents and editors will hold tablings for writers to pitch their story and will work with the writer to improve it, even if they do not accept the pitch. But if they like your pitch, you could have an agent by the end of the day.

Austin, Texas, holds a writing conference every year, the Agents and Editors Conference, that is full of writers to bounce ideas off of and agents waiting to hear them. These conferences and events are a way to connect in the book world and find the perfect agent or agency.

ThrillerFest in New York City offers both a pitch event and a query event. The pitch event is a speed-dating style set up; authors will present their completed manuscript to an agent and get their first reactions and feedback, and a few minutes later, they switch to the next agent. This rapid-fire pitching is a great way to get a wide range of feedback on your manuscript before it gets into the hands of a publisher. The query event is calmer, with fifteen-minute sessions for an author and agent to go over the manuscript and querying process. This will give writers a clear review and introduce them to an agent. To attend the Pitchfest or QueryFest, you must register for ThrillerFest and select these extra events.

The Rocky Mountian Writer’s Convention has many insightful panel events and workshops for authors to expand their craft and improve their pieces. There is also an additional event, PolishYourr Pitch Sessions, where authors get to work with industry professionals and agents to clean up with pitches and queries before sending them in.

Literary Guides and Books on Writing and Publishing

If you prefer an old-school method to find an agent, there are books with thousands of literary agents listed.

Guide to Literary Agents by Robert Lee Brewer is full of publishing resources and common practices, including lists of agents.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents has hundreds of agents and editors organized by genre. Writers can swiftly find the best agent for them and their books.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Social Media Sleuthing

In the digital era of publishing, many literary agents can be found on social media (but certainly not all). While it is never suggested you pitch them in their DMs, you can follow and engage with these professionals to develop a relationship to get a better understanding of how they operate. Agents like Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra of P.S. Literary Agency and the popular The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast both share a ton of helpful information about the agent, publishing, and writing landscape. Just remember that what you’re seeking is a business relationship, so keep things at least casually professional and be respectful. Their comment sections are no place to start querying. Always follow up a social media interaction with some research that will lead you to their submissions guidelines.

You can also find new agents to follow by checking in on hashtags like #mswl (manuscript wishlist), #literaryagent and #literaryagentswanted.

Online communities and groups on social media are also good places to find other writers and agents, like Facebook and LinkedIn groups. If you prefer the pristine and professional communities on LinkedIn, be sure to check out the Looking for a Literary Agent group, a private group full of authors, writers, and other people interested in publishing who aim to help one another by providing resources like agency info and editorial support. If you want to be a part of a larger group of fellow writers and agents to work with, then you should check out Facebook Groups like Authors and Literary Agents.

Author Websites and Acknowledgments

Look back at the authors who inspired your work or whose books fall into the same genre. Once you have some in mind, there are a of couple places you may find information about their agent.

  • Their website: Look for the ‘About Me’ page to find the agent or agency they used to publish the book.
  • The acknowledgments page: Authors almost always list agents on the acknowledgments page because of all the hard work they spend on the novel.
  • The agent’s profile page/website: Most agents will list their previous clients so you can start with the book and work backwards or you can start with the agent and see if there are any authors on their client list you recognize.

Newsletters

Following major publishing news can help writers get a well-rounded understanding of what is popular and what imprints are releasing what type of content. A Publisher’s Weekly subscription or even a routine review of their website will give authors an idea of what readers are looking for, what genres are popular, and what literary agents may be looking for. You can also get notifications about new deals as well as authors who have recently signed with an agent.

Online Communities and Forums

Being involved in online communities is just as important as communities in person. Developing a discourse with other writers and agents, you may get recommendations from other writers about what agents to consider for your book, or you can talk directly with agents.

  • Reddit: Reddit is a more casual space for writers to talk with one another to develop ideas and share their love of writing. Reddit also has communities within communities. Depending on how specific you want to be, writers can find a particular niche their story fits in nicely. As communities gain traction and more people engage with one another, the more likely it is to find an agent or someone who can introduce you to one.
  • Writing associations: Writer’s associations are professional groups of writers, agents, and other publishing professionals that are dedicated to advancing a particular area of writing by holding conventions and workshops, sending newsletters, and providing an in-person and online community and resources for writers. No matter what genre you write, there is a writer’s association you can join with a focus on that genre. But if you prefer to step outside your favorite genre now and then, there are options for that too. The International Women’s Writing Guild is a community of women writers from all around the world who want to help other women showcase their writing talents and support one another. Being a part of these associations not only gives you great opportunities to meet other writers, agents, and publishers, but they also give you notoriety when pitching to an agent.

A literary agent’s role is to not only help you secure a book deal with a publishing house, but to guide you on your author career, as well as manage contracts and negotiations on your behalf. Your success is their success (as they are paid on commission), so you must be confident in this person’s ability to partner with you for success.

There are a few things to consider when researching agents you would like to work with, like their record of success. Your book’s best chance at being published is with an experienced agent, so check on their websites to see their experience and projects.

After submitting your query to an agent, there are a few possible outcomes, the ideal one being an acceptance and request for the manuscript. If this happens, make sure to have a call or meeting with the agent before sending over your manuscript. This will give you a better idea of your ability to work well with them and understand their methods. After you and your agent agree to work together, they take on the book submission, help with some editing, and negotiate contracts with publishers to get you a publishing deal.

The other possibility is a rejection or no response at all, which is why writers must have thick skin and persistence in the querying process. Getting rejected in any form is always hard, especially when it’s about something you have worked on for so long. Even the most talented writers are bound to hit this wall at some point, which is why we are so lucky to have Erika Robuck’s words of wisdom about overcoming rejection and pressing on until your book becomes a reality.

A literary agent is key to the success of a book and author, they become one of their closest coworkers and know the manuscript inside and out, ready to passionately share it with a world waiting to hear it.