5 Ways to Find a Literary Agent
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If you are on the hunt for a literary agent to help you publish your book, you may have found hundreds of agents and dozens of agencies. With the sheer number of options out there, you may not know where to begin with your search. How do you go about choosing which agents to reach out to? How do you determine who might be a perfect fit for your book project and who is going to potentially respond well to your query letter? How does one even find a literary agent?
I want to give some tactical tips to help you find agents you want to reach out to, so you can approach them in a thoughtful way. By being strategic, doing your research, and thinking through what agents would be the best fit for you, you will be much more successful in your querying process.
With that, I'm going to dive into the five legitimate ways you can go about finding names of literary agents you want to reach out to.
1. Your Own Bookshelf
The very first place you can go to in order to find the names of potential literary agents is your own bookshelf. I challenge you to go over there now, open up some of your favorite books or books that have a similar feel to your project, and turn to the acknowledgements page.
Usually the author will thank their literary agent on the acknowledgements page. If your project falls in line with that book or it's a book you really loved and enjoyed, that automatically gives you a connection to that agent. You can look them up online to see if they're accepting queries and, if they are, in your query letter mention that you loved this book they worked on.
The agent is immediately going to see you did your research and they're going to appreciate that you enjoyed the book as much as they did. Plus, if your book is similar to the book you’re mentioning, it is more likely you're going to be able to convince the agent that your project is also a great fit for their list.
If you have exhausted the books on your bookshelf, feel free to check out your friends’, your partner's, and your parents’. But also go to a brick and mortar bookstore and browse the section for whatever genre you are writing in. It’s good to look at both the new release titles and older titles you aren't as familiar with. You don't have to fully read those books, but skim a couple pages or read the blurb on the back. If you see a good comparable title, take note.
For instance, if you are writing a historical novel that takes place in World War II, check out other WWII historical novels. If there's one that seems like it would appeal to the same readers you are targeting, take note of that book’s agent. When contacting them, you can say something along the lines of, “I'm reaching out to you because you represented [BOOK] and I feel like my project appeals to that same group of readers.”
This is a perfectly legitimate way to approach an agent and, again, it shows you did your research. The agent will see that you understand the types of projects they like to work on and that you understand how your book fits in the market.
2. Industry Databases
The second place you can reference for literary agents is industry databases. The two I recommend are QueryTracker and Manuscript Wish List. These databases are full of information about agents who are currently accepting submissions. They also seem to be the most widely used by agents in the industry and the most frequently updated.
What you're going to see in those databases are the names of the agents, the agencies they work at, and a submissions email address, or maybe their direct personal email address. You’ll also see a list of genres they represent and a bio with more detailed information about them.
What is going to be most helpful for you is to look at the genre list. Obviously, you only want to reach out to agents who are actively seeking submissions within your genre. Some of these databases will allow you to search and filter by genre. Again, in the example of someone who is writing a WWII novel, they would go into that database and search for agents specifically looking for historical fiction.
But don't stop there. A big issue I see with writers when they are building their query lists and preparing to reach out to agents is that they email their query to every single agent that is looking for historical fiction. The reason you don't want to do that is because you should dive deeper into each agent's bio and the list of authors they represent to ensure your specific flavor of historical fiction matches what they're looking for.
If your book is a WWII historical fiction novel targeted towards women's book clubs, for instance, that is very different from a military historical fiction novel geared toward people who have an interest in aviation or military history. These are two different subgenres of historical fiction, and they have different readerships. An agent that represents one is not likely going to represent the other. However, on Query Tracker or Manuscript Wish List, these agents will both put historical fiction as something that they're interested in.
So that's why you should dive deeper into every agent's bio, either on their agency website, the database, or their social media. I'm not saying you need to recognize the authors they have worked with. However, you should at least get a sense of the types of projects they are representing.
Industry databases are a key component of your query search. But be careful and thoughtful about how you use them, and don't query every single agent that lists the genre you're working on.
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3. Attend Writing Conferences and Events
The next way to find a literary agent is to attend writing events and conferences. Many of these have moved to virtual events, allowing even more writers to connect with agents across the country and world.
What this entails is agents agreeing to participate in the conference and hosting pitch sessions with authors. Sometimes the pitch sessions may be included in your conference fees, other times you need to pay extra to reserve a slot. The sessions are like speed dating. If the event is in person, the room is set up with tables where you sit face to face with an agent. You would get 5-10 minutes to pitch your book project to them and potentially get some interesting feedback.
It's important to know that just because you attended a writing conference and you signed up for a pitch session, it does not guarantee the agent is going to be interested in your book project. It definitely doesn't guarantee they are going to offer you representation or even want to look at your full manuscript.
However, it still offers a possibility of agent engagement. That's why I always encourage writers to take advantage of those opportunities, if they can. Even if the agent doesn't end up responding well to your pitch or your book, it's still helpful to learn how to pitch your project. That agent may be able to give you constructive feedback.
Going to writing events and conferences is helpful in a more broader networking perspective as well. At these events, you're going to meet other authors and publishing professionals, even outside of that official pitching session, who could potentially connect you to an agent. So take it as an opportunity to mingle. I know some writers probably would prefer not to go out of their comfort zone, but by meeting new people, you might meet someone who knows an agent or an agent themself who will get your foot in the door.
4. Twitter
The next place you can go to find a literary agent, love it or hate it, is Twitter. Many agents are active on Twitter. In fact, many publishing professionals in general are, from editors to agents to authors. The whole spectrum of the publishing industry is very active on social media.
If the agent is active on Twitter, you can get a good sense of their taste and the types of books they like to work on. The agent might be retweeting things from publishers about book releases they're excited about. They could be explicitly calling out the types of submissions they want to see from authors with #MSWL–which is the manuscript wish list hashtag. They might even announce when their submissions are open through their tweets.
And in general Twitter is a place to really connect more personally with agents. If you’re struggling to find a reason to connect with an agent on an individual level, you can see if you have a shared hobby or background. Then, naturally the two of you will have a connection. Obviously don't force it if it feels awkward, but still it's a good idea to get a sense of who they are, what they are interested in, and the types of books they take onto their list.
Now, what I don't recommend is directly DM-ing your queries to agents on Twitter. It is highly unlikely they're going to respond to you, unless they have asked you to DM them. It will come off as unprofessional, so go through their direct submissions line.
5. Let Them Find You
The last way to find a literary agent is actually for the agent to find you! As an author, you probably think about an agent only being acquired through a query letter submission, with the author initiating that connection. But agents actually do recruit new writers on their own. They are talent acquisition professionals, and as such they are like recruiters always looking out for new and up-and-coming writers who are interested in a book project.
In particular, agents who are earlier in their career will be actively seeking out writers whose work they are interested in. So what this might look like is an agent finding a short story you published in a literary magazine, being intrigued by your writing style, and then reaching out to you and seeing if you might be seeking representation for a book-length work. They could also find you in other types of publication, such as online magazines.
Agents read widely across all these types of publications to reach out to writers who intrigue them, especially if that writer has written a bunch of articles on a certain topic of interest. With that, an agent might reach out to the writer and say, “Have you ever thought about writing a book on this? I'd love to work with you on that.”
I know this tip doesn't offer any immediate action you can take, but it is still good to know. If you are someone who is publishing shorter works in literary journals or in online magazines, keep doing that if it’s something you enjoy. Although it isn’t a guarantee, getting published on a smaller scale is still a way for an agent to potentially find you.
These are the top five legit ways to go about finding a list of literary agents. As you go through the searching process, I recommend making a spreadsheet to keep track of the agents you find, their personal details, and the date at which you queried them. That way you can keep track of who you have reached out to and if you got a response or not.
Remember, querying can be a long and tedious process. So I encourage you to keep your head up if you're in the midst of querying or if you're beginning the journey. Don't get discouraged, even if you do get rejections—there are hundreds of agents out there and there's pretty much always someone else you can reach out to.
Thanks for reading, and happy querying!
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