Five places to help you find your perfect literary agent!

1. Do you need a literary agent?
2. What does a literary agent actually do?
3. Where to find a literary agent?
4. QueryTracker
5. Manuscript Wishlist
6. Market Guides
7. Social Media
8. Acknowledgment Pages
9. Read the Latest

So you wrote a book. Amazing! Kudos friend, because that is not an easy thing to do! But what’s next? For many writers, myself included, traditional publishing is the goal. You want to see you beautiful book baby in your hands, in bookstores, and enjoyed by hundreds and hundreds of readers. So you start researching how you can make that dream come true.

However, through your research, you learn that you need something—rather, someone—called an literary agent. What is this literary agent and what exactly do they do? Do you actually need one? And most importantly, HOW DO YOU FIND ONE?

Don’t sweat it, my dear writer friend. I’ve got all your questions answered.

Do you need a literary agent?

This depends on your goals. What exactly are you looking for in getting your books published? For some authors, the traditional route is the goal. They want to see their book in major book stores and have it picked up by one of the big (Top Five) publishers. If that is your goal, then yes, usually you need a literary agent. Some big publishers do have imprints that might take unagented manuscripts, but those are rare and quickly dwindling. To gain access to a major publishing house, you need an agent who will represent you to that publisher and get your manuscript into an editors hands.

What does a literary agent actually do?

Besides the aforementioned submitting ability, most agents are essentially career managers. Now, it depends on each individual agent and how they work, but that might look like editing and feedback, contract negotiations, publicity and marketing advice, or even guidance on future book ideas. But all of this varies from agent to agent, depending on how he or she works.

It also needs to be said that agents work on commission. The typical amount is 15% of whatever you make, meaning they only get paid if you’re getting paid. If an agent or agency is asking for money upfront, whether reading fees or other costs, that should be a red flag.

Where to find a literary agent?

This is probably one of the most frustrating parts of the process because finding legitimate agents who are going to be the perfect fit for you and your book is like trying to find a marriage partner.

Enormous amounts of research needs to be done to make sure your finding the exact agents who represent your type of work and are looking for books like yours. Luckily, I have a few places for you to check out.

QueryTracker

QueryTracker is probably the best well known and most accessible database for agents. Not every agent is listed on QueryTracker, but a HUGH number of agents are, and many accept queries through the query manager form on the site. There is a free version for anyone to use and a paid option that gives more information and data to its users. You can track queries, view response and request rates, even find out which agent represent which author. This is very helpful if you have comp titles and want to query agents who look for your type of work.

Manuscript Wishlist

Another site I use often is Manuscript Wishlist. This website is another huge database of agents and the materials they are interested in representing. You can search for a particular agent, genre, or author and find all kinds of information on an agent, from specific interests and wishlists, to titles that they love.

One thing to note, however, is that not every agent is going to consistently update their manuscript wishlist. Meaning, if they added their wishlists and interests in 2019, a lot could have changed and they might not be looking for those same things anymore.

Market Guides

You can also go old school and buy market guides. These books/guides/magazines will have lists of publishing houses, editors, and agents with guidelines and contact information. Places like Publisher Marketplace and Writer’s Digests put out these guides. It might be worth having some of these market guides on hand, just in case an agency isn’t listed online. Most agencies and agents are fully digital and everything is done via the internet, but one or two may still take paper submissions.

Social Media

Just go to Twitter/X and search the #mswl hashtag. Agents are often putting their wants on social media, places like Twitter or Instagram. Twitter/X also hosts many pitch events. While it might not be the best way to get your work in front of an agent, it is definitely a way for you to make a connection with an agent and possible be invited to submit.

However, if, like me, Twitter scares you with all it’s toxic nonsense, and can also search MSWL which collects the hashtags into one database that you can search.

Acknowledgment Pages

This might be my favorite place to find agents. Allow me to explain:

1. Go to library or bookstore, and find books that are similar to yours in themes, genres, age groups, etc.
2. Go to the acknowledgements page
3. Most authors with thank their agents. This gives you the name of an agent who reps YOUR TYPE OF WORK
4. Research that agent to make sure he or she is still looking for that type of work.

Go forth and query friends! Unless your wondering how to write a query and what exactly is a query, stay tuned. In the meantime, make sure that you give yourself the best possible chance and getting those manuscript requests and avoid common mistakes.

Ready to get started querying? I got you covered there too! Download my FREE Query Tracker Spreadsheet and never loose track of your queries again. This is the exact spreadsheet I use to keep track of all my query information.

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