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Why do you want an agent?

  • Capital
  • Credibility
  • Contacts and Contracts

Do you need one?

  • When you do
  • When you don’t

What a good agent can do for you

  • How agenting has changed over the past 10 years
  • Career counsel
  • Contacts
  • Projects you’d never hear about without them
  • What an agent can’t do for you

Who is working for who

  • Shift your attitude
  • Not every agent is right for you (or you for them)
    • What books have they repped?
    • Are they heavy into non-fiction, light on fiction?
    • When you talk to them, is it about them, or about you?
    • The harder they are to get, the more likly they’re a good agent
    • But … there are always good ones just starting out
  • Research before you approach
  • The fee thing …
  • Blogs, interviews, ask other authors, ask their authors
  • If you know any editors, ask them what’s it like to work with that agent
  • AgentQuery.com. About 1,000 agent listings and an excellent community/resource for any writer going through the query process.
  • QueryTracker.net. About 200 publisher listings and 1,000 agent listings.
  • WritersMarket.com. About 400 to 600 agent listings. $5.99/month subscription fee.

How to get an agent

  • Create great writing
  • Create a great platform
  • Have a great idea
  • Learn how to write a killer
    • Bio
    • Query letter
    • Log line
  • Be present on their blogs
  • And remember you’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you
  • Blind reading conference example
  • They’re watching you, trust us
  • You’re marketing yourself as well as your writing
  • Go to conferences

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