What is a literary agent and how do I get one?
Do I have to make my own or is store bought fine?
The subheading is a joke. Please don’t pull a Victor Frankenstein and/or attempt to purchase an agent. Consider that my first piece of advice.
If you’re interested in publishing your book the traditional way (i.e. selling it to a publishing house like Penguin or what have you), you’ve probably come across a couple of terms that make little sense unless you are In The Know.
For example: unsolicited submissions. An unsolicited submission is when an author sends a publishing house their manuscript directly. Some smaller publishers or imprints are happy to do so, but many publishing houses are not. That’s where a literary agent comes in!
Literary agents represent writers and their work. Every agent is different, and agencies have varying policies and specialties, but in general their roles include submitting your manuscript to publishers, negotiating book deals, handling contracts, managing audio/TV/etc rights, and championing your work.
Are you struggling with a deadline? Confused about an aspect of a proposed contract? Feel too shy about bringing something up with an editor? Your agent is there to help out!
But Kel, I hear you scoff, how am I supposed to pay an agent if I haven’t sold a book yet? Short answer: you don’t! Agents and authors make money at the same time — when you sell your book to a publisher, an agent takes a percentage of that. Every agent has a slightly different rate, and it can vary depending on if your currencies differ (for example, you get paid in Euro, but your agent is in a country that uses dollars or pounds).
Okay, cool. Sounds great. So where do I get one?
Ah, querying.
This part requires a lot of energy, tenacity, and attention to detail. It’s tough. It can take a long time. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But stick with me.
The basics, firstly.
You need a completed manuscript, if you’re publishing a work of fiction. (If it’s non-fiction, or poetry, it can vary, but you’re going to need words on a page. I am going to stick to fiction in this how-to, because that’s what I have first-hand experience of).
There is no point in seeking out representation if you have not finished writing and redrafting your book until it is as polished as you can manage. Give yourself a fighting chance! Go all out! Channel your writing heroes! Share it with someone whose feedback you value! Lock it in a drawer for six weeks, then come back and look at it and see if you can find anything else to tweak!
Once you have polished it to a gleaming quartz shine, it is time to sit and think.
What authors write in a similar genre to you? What books have similar themes or motifs to yours? Would readers of Maggie Stiefvater also like your book?
Make a list of those authors. Even if it feels weird to put yourself next to your faves. Chances are, each of these authors has a literary agent. Here is your first list of potential candidates.
But there are other places agents dwell! Social media, like Twitter or Bluesky, are popular and easy-to-navigate places to start looking for names. Book festivals, blogs, vlogs, local literary events or competitions, are all great resources to expand your search, too.
There have been moments where someone has pitched their book on TikTok and gone viral, drawing attention from agents and publishers like moths to a flashbang. I’m not knocking that, but I think trying to go viral in order to secure an agent is like trying to get struck by lightning twice. If you’re anything like me, and don’t have the capacity to make endless videos to feed a fickle algorithm, it can be more effort than it’s likely worth. But I did try it, just in case. You never know.
I met my superstar agent, Laura Bennett, via a pitch event on Twitter. The basic premise is that you pitch your book in a single tweet, using relevant hashtags, and if a literary agent likes your tweet, it’s an invitation to query them!
Getting some interest doesn’t guarantee an offer of representation, but I still think it’s worth casting as wide a net as you can. There are so many factors at play when it comes to being traditionally published; you have to work hard, and consistently, for a long time, and then also get lucky. You can be a little strategic about putting yourself in the way of luck – you won’t get struck by lightning if you’re hiding in a cave, you’ve gotta go out on that mountain top with a metal rod in your hand (FIGURATIVELY).
Some people get lucky quickly, other times it takes years upon years. Sometimes you need to shelve a manuscript, write a new one, and query that instead. There are moments when it feels soul-crushingly hopeless, when the flame you’ve been tending to is guttering dangerously close to being extinguished. I have had so many moments over the years where I thought, maybe I am not as good at this as I thought I was. Maybe no one will ever want this. Maybe it’s time to give up.
I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad the people around me told me to keep trying. But it wasn’t easy to hold onto that hope. It hurt.
I’ll make another post specifically about querying literary agents, the dos and don’ts, what you need to be ready for, the tiers of rejections, etc. For now, though, I hope this was helpful as a bit of a demystifier. I’ll do my best to answer any questions that you have in the comments.
Tog go bog é.