I've done lots of shopping and search in my lifetime, and I'm often bothered by questions about will I or did I find the right product, service, reference, date, job, theatrical agent, acting gigs, etc. Most of the time, search and shopping don't create much, if any, anxiety for me; I actually enjoy the process. Other times...
In the late 1960s when I was actively looking for a job as an economist for the first time, I just wrote cover letters to schools I thought I might be interested in, essentially saying "here's my curriculum vitae. Are you interested in someone like me?" Those schools that were interested set up interviews with me at massive conventions.
Later, with the introduction of JOE [Job Opportunities for Economists], schools advertised what fields of economics they were most interested in, and that cut down on my letter writing (i.e. made my search more efficient and less costly). It seems like a decently effective system. Let's hear it for intermediation and increased search efficiency!
Let me tell you, those searches were nothing like the search for literary agent.
Now that I have self-published three novels and written a fourth that is ready to go, and now that I've received some favourable reviews on Amazon and Goodreads (including many unsolicited reviews from people I don't know!), along with encouragement from some friends, I'm thinking perhaps I should try to find a literary agent to help get my novels published by a publishing house that will promote and distribute them. So I ordered the 2020 Guide to Literary Agents.
Hah!
- There are thousands of agents listed. Thousands. How do I choose which one(s) to write to?
- While the listings tell, roughly, what genres the agents are interested in, that information is pretty vague.
- The listings sometimes also say whether the agents are accepting new "queries", apparently the industry jargon for inquiries about representation. But that information is often out-of-date.
- There's a section of twenty agents seeking new clients, but most of them aren't anymore.
- The listings provide some guidance as to which agencies handle which types of fiction, but when you go an the agency's website, you get a much better idea, along with more nearly up-to-date information about which agents within a given agency might be looking for clients who write novels like the ones I write.
- So the guide is of some use, but I feel I'll have to visit tonnes of websites for accurate and up-to-date information. This looks like a daunting task.
Anyway, knowing what I know at this point, my search strategy now (subject to change as I learn more) is
- begin looking through the guide somewhat systematically; in my case from back to front.
- find agencies that might be interested in my novels. The problem is that I have two mystery novels and two novels that are more like contemporary, mainstream adult fiction, so I need to identify both types of agencies.
- Go to the websites of agencies that might be interested in my books.
- Look through their agent list to see if they have any agents listed who might be interested in any of my novels.The general rule seems to be that I can submit only one novel to any given agent. I can't submit all three or four novels to one agent.
- Enter the agent's name and info into a spreadsheet.
- Identify which novel is most likely to appeal to each agent.
- Look at their submission details and enter those in the spreadsheet as well. The submission guidelines are roughly similar but slightly different for every agency.
- Just keep looking and trying; be persistent.
This search process is SO time-consuming, scary, intimidating, iffy, low-probability, you name it. I know most authors' submissions are rejected at this stage, so I know I'll have to craft a good intro letter, synopsis, etc.
I also know I'll have to be prepared for rejection. I think I'll be okay with that. As I've said in the past, I've had tonnes of rejections when dating, applying for jobs, and submitting articles for publication in academic journals. Also my hit rate as a professional actor going to auditions was at best one-in-twenty. I'm used to rejection. I think.
So if any of you have bought and read any of my novels and happen to know an agent who might be interested in promoting it to a publisher, please let me know. Thanks!
Murder at the Office Christmas Party