Why You Will Enjoy Looking For A Literary Agent
Posted by Goody on 01/15/08 in Writing and Speaking
If you write a book proposal but never show it to anyone, you’ve wasted your time. Of course J.D. Salinger wouldn’t agree with that since he’s reportedly written numerous books in the past forty years but never tried to publish them. But most writers want to be published, and when it comes to nonfiction, the first step in that publication process is the book proposal and sample chapters. The next step is to get a literary agent to read your book proposal. This, to some beginning writers, is the hard part — getting the literary agent.
“But where will I find a literary agent?” they ask. “How will I convince the agent to read my work? Will I have to pay the agent?” they wonder. Then they start calling up their friends, acquaintances, and even people they met at cocktail parties twenty years ago, and they beleaguer these people with questions, such as, “Can you please tell me who you know in the publishing world? Who can I talk to? Who is your agent? Do you know any agents I can send my stuff to?” I get these questions all the time — and not only from beginning writers. Even some established writers don’t have a clue about how this whole process works.
IT’S FUN TO LOOK FOR A LITERARY AGENT
It’s okay to ask your friends and other writers who their agent is, but it’s bad form to ask them to send a manuscript to their agent. You have to look for a literary agent yourself, and with my method it will actually be an enjoyable process. It won’t seem like work.
Here’s the secret.
The thing to do is keep in mind that the literary agent you get should be one who you’ll enjoy working with. I don’t want you to just get a bunch of names from a book or some online list and use that to send your query letter to them. No, that’s no fun. I want you to go out looking for a literary agent with three things in mind: first, that the agent will be someone who loves the kinds of books you write, second, that the agent will be someone who has a track record selling the kinds of books you write, and third, that the literary agent works in New York City.
THE RIGHT LITERARY AGENT
The right literary agent — for you — is the agent who will represent the kinds of books you write with glee. It’s an agent who just eats up your kind of book, sits down to lunch with your kind of book, and curls up at night with your kind of book. It’s an agent who writes on his Web site, “I love [your kind of book.]” Fill in the blank with the type of book you write, or hope to write. When you find this type of person to work with, it will actually inspire you. That’s why it should be fun to look for this literary agent. Because all through the process of looking you have hope that you’ll find the right agent and that he will sell you book for a big advance.
A NEW YORK AGENT
I recommend a New York City literary agent because agents in the Big Apple have more opportunity to have lunch with acquiring editors and make helpful connections than agents who live and work elsewhere. And it’s exciting to think your agent will be in New York, lunching with editors, and talking you up every chance he gets, isn’t it?
In the final analysis, I believe that if you don’t have fun looking for your literary agent, you’re not going about the process in the right way.
Copyright © 2007 William Cane
William Cane is the author of The Art of Kissing, translated into 19 languages. He taught English at Boston College for fourteen years and today is a widely sought-after speaker at colleges and universities nationwide. His Web site contains more insider writing advice for those wishing to get published: http://www.hiwrite.com/
Tags: book proposals, literary agents, publishing, writing
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