In this video, I tackle a crucial question for anyone seeking traditional publication and share practical advice to help you navigate the process of finding literary agents who are looking for an author like you.
From understanding why legitimate agents never charge reading fees to assessing whether an agent works in your genre and offers the services you need, I break down the key factors every writer should consider.
I also share a brilliant metric from the late literary agent Janet Reid of Query Shark fame. Her straightforward approach to evaluating your query success can help you identify whether your query letter or sample pages need improvement.
Jane Cleland here. “How do I know if a literary agent is right for me?” It’s a good question. First of all, never pay a reading fee. Literary agents don’t charge money. Literary agents only make money when you make money, and that’s important, so that wipes out a whole lot of agents from consideration—so-called agents.
The next variable is, do they work in your genre? Then, are they excited by your work? Do they offer the services you need? Agents offer a lot of editorial support, for example. Others don’t. Some offer a lot of promotional support. Others don’t.
Once you have an idea of the kind of agents that you should be querying, I want to pass along a metric on how to decide if you’re doing a good job in querying them. This comes from Janet Reid, who started the blog Query Shark. She was a wonderful woman, a wonderful literary agent. She died, alas, but here’s what she said: “If you send out 10 queries and get no nibbles, there’s something wrong with your query letter. If you get nibbles, but no requests to see the full manuscript, there’s something wrong with your sample pages.” I think that’s just so sensible, right?
You send out 10 queries, you get no nibbles. Why not? If you are querying agents who are accepting unsolicited submissions, and if they work in your genre, hmm, why are you not getting any nibbles? Something’s wrong with the letter. You get nibbles, they request 10 pages, 50 pages—each agent has different expectations, different requests. Well, then, why aren’t they following up? Why aren’t they requesting the full manuscript? There’s something wrong in the sample pages. So, that’s Janet’s simple metric, and I think it’s a good one.
Things to think about. Do you have any tips for how to decide when a literary agent is a good fit for you? I’d love to hear them. I read all the comments in the comment section, so please do leave your thoughts. And if this tip was useful for you, I’d love it if you would share it, like it, please subscribe to the channel—that opens up features that let us make these videos even more valuable for you. Thank you so much.
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