Finding The Right Agent
What are literary agents looking for?
Most literary agents are looking for a voice. We accept that most stories have already been told, but if someone tells it in a unique way that only that writer could have, suddenly you feel you're part of their intimate creative world. How does that communicate? It communicates through quaint sentences, good storytelling, good structure - a lot of things that are indistinguishable, intangible. If a writer gets it right, it flies, but if a writer gets it wrong, then it's just rejected by literary agents.
Do different agents specialise in different things?
Lots of different literary agents specialise in different areas. Very few are generalists. Some are experts at thrillers and crime, some are experts in what used to be called chick-lit but is now called women's commercial fiction, and some are expert in literary novels only. There's no point in sending a historical romance or a saga to someone who only does very literary novels, because a rejection from them doesn't mean anything as it's the wrong thing. That's why a bit of research, finding out who you're talking to, is very important.
Should I go for a well established agent or a smaller one?
I think that the bigger literary agencies have more agents in them, so there's more chance of the manuscript landing on the wrong desk and being passed to someone. A sole operator has very little chance to respond to all the material. The idea of a big agency is not that it's big, because each individual agent looks after their authors. The idea of a big literary agency is simply that there are better resources.
When is the right time to approach an agent?
There is a right time to approach literary agents. I find that if you approach them around September or October, when it's just before the Frankfurt Book Fair, it'll be madness. September is always our busiest month and yet that's the time I get most unsolicited submissions. It's almost like back to term. I would advise authors to approach an agent at the beginning of the summer because everyone goes away, but it's quieter so there's probably time to read, and people are sorting out their desks.
How can I tell a good agent from a bad one?
Finding out who is a good literary agent has to be done through the way they deal with you, and the speed in which they deal with you. When you meet them, decide whether you see eye to eye. It is a bit like dating, to be honest. You have to look at the literary agent and think, 'Do I want to go on a second date with you? Or am I so desperate, and I've been out of the game for so long, that you'll do?'
Do agents talk to competitors about new authors?
Literary agents don't really talk to each other. That's why I belong to a rather large agency, because I enjoy talking to other literary agents. I do see my competitors - there's an Agents' Association -at publishing dos, but it's not a collegiate business in that way.
