This is part 1/11 in our series about How to Land a Literary Agent:
- Your Fishing Guide: What I Know About These Waters
- The Prey: What Exactly Is An Agent?
- The Why: Who Actually Needs an Agent?
- Dawn or Dusk: When to Start Fishing
- The Fish Finder: Locating Agents
- The Bait: Writing a Pitch
- Casting Your Line: Query Letters
- The Nibble: When an Agent Expresses Interest
- The Bite: Getting an Offer
- The Play: Interviewing Agents
- The Keeper: Final Decisions and Next Steps
One of the first things you learn in writing is that all metaphors are both true and false: they all make a kind of sense—but only until they don’t. That’s true of the fishing theme in this series of articles, where we’ll quickly see that the hunt for an agent is both like and unlike a fishing expedition. But, well, metaphors are what we’re mostly stuck with in life, so let’s follow this one as long as its useful, stepping back when we get to topics like cleaning and eating your catch. (After all, most of us aren’t psychopaths, right? Right?)
Anyhoo. Just a few words about why I might be well positioned to help you figure out your agent search. I’m a writer who has had decent success, but mostly with small presses. I write short stories, novels, and memoirs, and a couple of them have done pretty well. But I haven’t written a New York Times best-seller, which means that I’m like many of you: someone who has had to struggle to get the attention of editors and agents.
I’ve gone through two rounds of the agent hunt. The first was nearly 20 years ago. But no agent lasts forever, so this year I found myself engaged in a new search. What struck me most was how little the practice has changed over the course of two decades. Yeah, there have been a few technical advances (discussed later), but it’s the same, darned grueling process now that it always was — perhaps worsened by a marketplace that seems to shrink by the year.
So, I have worked closely with two literary agents and have corresponded with scores of them. I’ve also helped several colleagues with their own agent hunts. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way:
- Finding an agent is hard. (Maybe even harder than writing a book.)
- Much of the process is mind-numbingly dull.
- The hunt for an agent is unlike anything else you’ve ever done, and it won’t help you (much) in any other aspect of your life.
- Who you sign up with matters. (Not all agents are suited to all writers).
- For many of us, finding an agent — the right agent — may be the most important step in our career.
Kind of scary, isn’t it? That’s why it’s nice to lapse back into the metaphor of a fishing trip — a fun little outing where you spend a lovely time casting a line from a boat, barely worrying about if you’re going to catch anything.
Unfortunately, it’s less like watching your bobber next to Grandpa, and more like Moby Dick. Sharpen those harpoons, me hearties!
(I know, know: whales aren’t fish. See above about how annoying metaphors are. Sue me.)
Next up: The Prey: What Exactly Is An Agent?