When it comes to finding a literary agent, should you:
- Wine and dine that health author you know until she agrees to get her agent to look at your historical novel
- Figure out who Seth Godin’s agent is — she must be good
- Send a query letter to every agent in the LMP within a 100 mile radius of where you live
- NONE OF THE ABOVE!
It happens so often I can’t even believe it
Authors wasting their time and energy trying to get in front of agents who have never and will never represent the genre the author is pitching.
Why does this matter?
For the same reason you wouldn’t hire a tourism PR agency to hype your tech startup: Connections.
Believe me when I tell you that an agent who represents young adult fiction will not do you any favors by taking on your well-researched guide to personal happiness.
Transform that passion of yours into a strategy
First find the agents who are already kicking ass in your genre. Then find the up and coming junior agents at the well-established agencies. And direct your pile of stamps to them.
Wow, I started to comment to say, Really? But then I thought about how many misdirected pitches I get [for my blogs, for work, etc.]. Seems like that kind of homework is so basic — but I guess we often need reminders about the basics. 🙂
It does seem overly basic, Laura. Yet every single week I get emails from intelligent people asking me to connect them with agents who make no sense for them. I’ve been on the other side of the agent slush pile and know that improperly targeted submissions go directly into the trash. Misdirected energy makes me crazy!