185. How to Find a Literary Agent

“ It's essentially a marketplace. You want to shop around. You want to make sure that this person has a good reputation and you want to talk off the record in confidence with other writers.”

— Beth Barany

Finished your novel and ready to land a literary agent? In this How To Write the Future episode, Beth Barany shares how to research reputable agents, start smart conversations with fellow writers, evaluate fit, and communicate professionally—so your submissions stand out and your interests align.

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Transcript

185. How to Find a Literary Agent

Introduction and Topic Overview

BETH BARANY: A writer recently asked me how do I find a good agent? Great question. Hi everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. Today I'd like to talk about how do you find a good agent. 

[00:14] Defining a Good Agent

So first off, let's define what is a good agent. The writer didn't throw me any more information, so I am going to say what I think a good agent is. For one thing, they are members of the Association of American Literary Agents. If we're talking about American authors looking for American agents because they have a code of ethics.

If you're outside the United States, I would also recommend that the literary agent be a part of their uh, association that has a code of ethics because another thing about a good agent is they will never, ever take money from you.

They will only earn money if they sell your book to a publisher. And that is part of the code of ethics. 

[00:59] Researching Agents and Their Credentials

Another ingredient for a good agent is their requirements, or I should say their submission requirements are listed clearly on their website. They have a website, they have clients already, or they have the ability to verify that they are real. And the kind of writers they work with and the kind of books they sell is a hundred percent clear on their website.

And so some of the things that you can determine, evaluate whether or not an agent, a literary agent is a good one, is they are open about the deals that they have made, the books that they have sold, so be sure to do your homework and go to the website. 

Another way to determine whether or not an agent is good or not is to ask other writers.

It's essentially, it's a marketplace. You wanna shop around. You wanna make sure that this person has a good reputation and you wanna talk off the record in confidence with other writers who might have worked with this person. Or maybe they've been around in the industry and they have a reputation that even though people haven't worked with them directly, they might've met them at a conference. 

[02:11] Using Publisher's Marketplace

Now there's another place to verify whether or not an agent is reputable and you can actually look up and see if they have made sales. People who are selling to traditional publishers they are listed in the Publisher's Marketplace. And it's also known as Publisher's Lunch. 

So Publisher's Marketplace has a directory, and I believe you do have to subscribe and pay money to it. You can research agents in the US and in and internationally.

And there are directories, lots of directories online that you can use to research agents, and I'm looking at one right here, literary (hyphen) agents.com.

[02:58] Publishers Lunch

Alright, so Publishers Lunch. I wanna just talk briefly about Publishers Lunch because when I was researching agents,and editors and publishers, this is where I went.

All right, so Publisher Lunch is lunch DOT publishers marketplace.com, and they have a, a lot of literary news, in Publisher's lunch, and then in, I believe it might even be free to get like a weekly update.

If you wanna use their database, it is a paid database, but you can find and vet literary agents and agencies as well as editors and imprints because you get to see their deal history and how well they're doing in the marketplace.

And it also offers lots of industry news and analysis as well as tracking sales. So if you're serious about investing in finding a good agent, I do recommend this resource.

[03:53] Criteria for Selecting an Agent

You may have specific criteria for working with a literary agent, obviously, they need to represent what you have written, so be careful about evaluating that. Please don't send off queries to people who are not representing what you've written. 

[04:08] Communication Policies of Agents

Another aspect about a literary agent is they will be, I think a good one will be upfront about their communication policy, saying things like, if you haven't heard from us in X amount of time, uh, you are welcome to to connect with us. But, please, otherwise, please don't bother us. Or they might say, uh, if you don't hear from us, please don't contact us. You know, they're gonna tell you, they're gonna give you their submission policy as well as their communication policy. They're gonna give you their guidelines and also tell you the best way to connect with them.

[04:42] Conclusion and Final Thoughts

So that is what I think on how to find a good literary agent. That's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper.