Getting a Literary Agent 101: The Basics
Getting a literary agent is one of the most difficult initial steps of the traditional publishing process, but it’s a necessary one. I signed with an agent in April 2024 after almost four years and multiple manuscripts. As a writer who has always known I wanted to enter into traditional publishing, I studied the basics like I was cramming for an exam. I did my very best to go into the experience in as informed a way as I could—but there was still a steep learning curve.
I was surprised by how few resources I could find about handling this part of the traditional publishing journey. Querying has changed so much just in the past decade—in the past five years, even—and a lot of advice about getting an agent was outdated or out of touch with what it looks like to be a querying author in today’s world.
With that said, I’d love to take the opportunity and outline the process here, along with what each part of the experience looked like for me as I was going through it.
Don’t worry, we’re going to start from the very beginning, so welcome to Getting a Literary Agent 101. This post will cover the basics, but if you’d like to skip ahead to one of the other posts in this series, you’re more than welcome to use the links below:
- Part One: The Basics – What is a literary agent and how the heck do I find one?
- Part Two: The Call – What should I ask a literary agent when they make an offer of representation? (And how am I supposed to make a decision afterward!?)
- Part Three: The Decision – How to field multiple offers of representation from literary agents, evaluate contracts, and make a decision that feels right to you as an author. (Post coming soon!)
And if you’d like to take a look at the query letter which got me four offers of representation and a 47% overall manuscript request rate, check it out here!
First thing’s first:
What Does a Literary Agent Do?
A literary agent’s job is to sell your book to a publisher, and getting one is a necessary step for most authors pursuing traditional publishing. Agents:
- Put you and your work in front of Big 5 publishers (Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette), or independent publishing houses (like Scholastic, Red Tower, SoundsTrue, Graywolf, etc.);
- Establish relationships with editors so they can send your work to them for consideration and navigate the submissions process for you;
- Negotiate book deals to get you that (hopefully) nice big advance;
- Negotiate screen rights, foreign rights, audiobook rights, and more;
- Serve as a liaison when necessary between you and your publisher;
- Help you advance your career by strategizing with you about your next projects and getting you better opportunities.
Basically, they’re a person who represents you and your work, and does their damndest to handle the business side of your author career for you.
Literary agents typically take 15–20% of your earnings as commission for this work, meaning they don’t get paid until you do, so they’re extra motivated to make you a success.
These days, many literary agents also work in an editorial capacity, helping their clients write and improve their work before it’s ready to go out on submission to publishers.
Why Do I Need a Literary Agent?
Most major publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscript submissions, meaning if you don’t have an agent, you’re going to have an extremely difficult time getting traditionally published by a big publisher. Even though there are larger publishers who do accept unsolicited manuscripts from time to time through contests, events, or specific calls for content, doing it without a literary agent means you’re the one responsible for negotiating your contract—and if you don’t have experience in that sort of thing, you’re liable to be caught unawares if you’re not careful. A literary agent is an experienced middleman between you and the publisher, and their deep understanding of the industry helps protect you, your work, and your career.
What this looked like for me: I’ve always known I wanted to be a traditionally published author, so deciding to find a literary agent was a no brainer.
The funny part about the book that got me my agent, though, is that it’s a book I originally intended to self-publish. I am surrounded by so many talented and amazing indie authors, and while I knew I wanted to publish traditionally, I also wanted to hold one of my books in my hands without having to wait. To self-publish independently, I wouldn’t have needed a literary agent at all, but one of my amazing critique partners read the manuscript and convinced me to send a few queries out just in case.
How Do I Find a Literary Agent?
A great place to start looking for agents who will be a good match for you is by searching the acknowledgements sections of books that are similar to yours. You can also use resources like
https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/
or
to search for specific tropes, genres, or comp titles that are a match for your book. If you’re familiar with some literary agencies, the agency website is also a great place to start looking.
A Word of Warning
Only query agents you really feel are a strong match for you, your book, and your career. It can be extremely tempting to reach out to an agent who has a high request rate or a fast response time just so you can start to get some answers, but if that agent isn’t the best match for you, then don’t.
They say it’s better to have no agent at all than a bad agent, and believe me, I know how hard it seems to follow that advice when you’re stuck in the query trenches and feel like you’re screaming into the void—but remember this person is someone who will become a representative for you and your career. Your agent could mean the difference between a good book deal and a crappy book deal—or no book deal at all. You owe it to yourself and your career to give this process the care and consideration you deserve every step of the way, no matter how frustrating it gets.
What this looked like for me: I used a mixture of the above resources to find literary agents who were interested in the type of book I wrote. My book is a cozy fantasy romance that comps to titles like Legends & Lattes and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, so I searched for those titles and that genre on Manuscript Wish List as a good starting point. Then I looked deeper into those agents and tried to narrow down my list to people who
- had strong sales records and clients I’ve heard of
- come from a reputable agency
- had interests/experience that aligned with other books I plan to write.
I kept track of the agents I queried and wanted to query using a website called QueryTracker (though I know plenty of authors who prefer to use a spreadsheet) and went from there.
How Do I Query a Literary Agent?
And speaking of frustrating! The most common way to connect with a literary agent is through querying, otherwise known as sending agents a pitch package, otherwise known as hell on earth. I jest, but let’s be real, it’s notoriously difficult. You’re allowed to feel frustrated by it because you’re definitely not alone here.
Querying means throwing yourself into a large pool of other writers and hoping that your work stands out from the crowd enough to catch and hold an agent’s interest. Some agents receive hundreds of queries every week, and since they’re not getting paid until the book sells, they can really only afford to say yes to manuscripts they really believe in and have a strong vision for.
In my work with hundreds of writers preparing themselves for the querying process, I’ve found just how easy it is to believe you’re the exception. I call this The Unicorn Rule: Everyone wants to believe they are the unicorn. They are the special one who will get a request on their first query. They are the one who will query their dream agent and hear an emphatic and immediate YES.
Let go of the unicorn, my friends. It may very well be you—the law of probability says it does happen sometimes. But it usually doesn’t, so if it’s going to happen to you, let it be a surprise.
(But then again, maybe it’s one of those lessons we all need to learn for ourselves.)
Putting together your query package is slightly different depending on whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction.
Querying a Fiction Project
In fiction, you’ll need to finish and polish your manuscript (do not skip that second part—nobody wants to see your first draft!) first and foremost. Then, you’ll create a query package containing:
- 1-page query letter showcasing your book, meta data, comp titles, and who you are;
- a synopsis that describes everything that happens in your story;
- some sample content (generally the opening pages or chapters).
Every agent asks for something slightly different, but they will likely be some variation on the above. Once you have all of this you can send those materials to agents you’d like to represent you.
For more information on writing a kickass, highly effective query letter that agents will love, check out my blog post about the four questions every query letter should answer. And for a look at the query letter which landed me my agent as well as an analysis breaking down why it worked, click here!
Querying a Nonfiction Project
In nonfiction, querying sometimes looks exactly like the above, but often in nonfiction you don’t need to write the manuscript at all before you query. Instead, you’ll send them a query letter and a book proposal, which is a longer document that contains:
- an overview of your proposed book;
- an author bio;
- a market analysis that talks about your audience and the current market;
- a promotion plan that showcases your platform and how you plan to promote the book;
- a breakdown of relevant comp titles;
- a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book;
- some sample content.
How Long Does Querying Take?
Unless you’re extremely lucky, and few people are, querying can be a really long process.
I only queried the book that got me my agent for about three months, but bear in mind that this was the fourth manuscript I queried over the past four years.
It is not uncommon to send out hundreds of query letters—and receive back hundreds of rejections.
It’s not uncommon to wait weeks or months for an agent to respond to your query (My record is thirteen months!).
It’s not uncommon to receive impersonal form rejections. It’s not uncommon to shelve the book you’re working on and start a new project.
It’s not uncommon for this part of the process to take months or years.
The query process is often what weeds out writers who really want this from writers who don’t, so if traditional publishing is your goal, don’t give up.
What this looked like for me: Like I said above, the book that got me my agent was not my first. I’ve been writing books for most of my life, but I started querying in 2020.
The first book I queried, I sent out 75 queries and had a 12% request rate.
Book #2, I sent out 60 queries and had a 7% request rate.
Book #3 was a complete rehaul of Book #1 which I sent to 30 additional agents (no repeats) and had an 18% request rate.
Book #4 was queried to 21 agents and had a 47.6% request rate. Talk about an improvement! It was clear to me pretty early on that this one felt different, but after years of being in the trenches I was terrified to admit that to myself (and still kind of am??).
Are There Other Ways to Pitch My Work to an Agent?
A.K.A. “Querying sucks, can I do something else?” And the answer is… sort of!
You can network the old fashioned way and try to get face time in front of an agent if querying isn’t your jam. This typically involves going to an in-person pitch event at a conference or convention. Often, you’ll be able to sign up for a slot where you can verbally pitch your book to an agent, and if they’re interested, they will ask to see some or all of the manuscript. Networking like this is not nearly as accessible as querying—it costs money to travel to and from events and sometimes costs extra to book a private slot with agents—and just like everything else in this industry, there are no guarantees.
You can also take part in pitch events online. Twitter/X hosts them fairly often, as do author-specific communities like SavvyAuthors. Here, you’ll post your pitch in a forum or on your account with a specific hashtag, and agents who are interested in seeing more will like your pitch and ask you to send them some or all the manuscript.
Never ever ever try to get “creative” with how you approach a literary agent. Don’t try and find out where they live or hang out, mail them anything, or seek them out through social media. Use the literary agency website to figure out the best way to contact them, and go through that channel only.
What this looked like for me: I joined pitch events on Twitter and did not have much luck catching agent interest, partly because I didn’t have a big following and partly because I wasn’t super great at writing pitches (we’ll talk pitch writing in an upcoming newsletter!). I DID, however, end up meeting some amazing authors through these events, many of whom have gone on to become my very good friends.
Holy Crap This Sounds Like a Nightmare, How Do I Stop Myself from Burning Out?
My best piece of advice, other than KEEP GOING, is to start working on something new. Get as much distance between yourself and the project you’re querying as you can.
What I have always done is start outlining or drafting a new book. Throwing myself into a brand new story and a brand new world with brand new characters makes the rejections hurt a lot less.
The other recommendation I have for you is to celebrate every win. You got a manuscript request? Hell yes! Go celebrate! You got personalized feedback in that rejection? Get yourself a little treat! And for the rejections that hurt a lot? Go ahead and treat yourself anyway. Honestly, this process is a Really Hard Thing that deserves so many treats. Don’t hesitate. You’ve earned it. Take an emphatic role in your very own Little Treat Economy.
As for continuing to send queries out into the void, it can get really hard when all you’re hearing is no. I personally like to engage in what I call “revenge querying,” or sending out a new query for every one that comes back. That way I have a set number of queries out at any given time (generally 10-15, but I know writers who like to have more out at once), and I get to feel like there’s actual action within my control when bad news comes back my way.
What this looked like for me: All of the above. Querying sucks if you let it, and sometimes I did. But I grew up riding horses and one of the biggest lessons I ever learned is that falling doesn’t matter, it’s whether you get back in the saddle that makes the most difference. I kept getting back in the saddle. Eventually, it paid off.
What Happens if an Agent Is Interested?
When you’re querying, a literary agent who is interested in your query letter will ask to see your manuscript. They’ll either ask for a partial manuscript or a full manuscript, sometimes with a full synopsis. Can confirm, this feels so good when that email comes rolling into your inbox.
After the agent has time to read, they’ll either send you a polite no (hopefully with personalized feedback but not always!), ask you to revise and resubmit if they’re interested but think it needs work, or offer representation.
What this looked like for me: First of all, another reminder that this part of the game came almost FOUR YEARS after I sent my very first query letter. The first agent who offered on my manuscript did so after having the full manuscript for just under two weeks. He sent me an email first thing in the morning to let me know he loved my book and wanted to hop on the phone. We scheduled our call for the following day and he offered representation there on the spot.
And it’s there, pals, that life started to get Capital-W Wild for me.
Interested in Hearing More?
Once again, these are just the basics. Check out Part Two of this series for answers to questions like:
- What happens on The Call with a literary agent?
- What questions should/shouldn’t you ask on The Call?
- How do you know if an agent is the right one for you?
- What to do if none of the agents you talk to feel right?
- How to notify other literary agents that you’ve received an offer
- What questions to ask the offering agent’s other authors as references
- What kind of homework you need to do after The Call
And Part Three for topics including:
- What to do if you get multiple offers
- What the decision-making period looks like and how to manage your stress
- What to look for in an agency agreement
- How to accept an offer and let the other agents know
- When to tell people you signed with an agent
- What the publishing process looks like after you sign with an agent
And if you’re interested in seeing the query letter that got me four offers from agents, as well as a breakdown of exactly how I structured it, check out this post right here!