Wanted: New Agents

Literary agents new to an agency are more likely to be interested in debut novelists and writers who haven't been able to crack more established agencies. Often the agents have previously worked in publishing in some capacity, either as an editor or writer and they are making a career change, as a promoted intern or junior agent, or as an established agent who is changing agencies.

So, for this post I'm going to highlight five agents who are relatively new (in the last few months) to the game and also some good resources for finding out more about new agents and general agent information. If you're a writer with a finished first novel or memoir you're proud of and which you think is ready to send out, then read on.

New Agents

Agent: Suzie Townsend
Agency: FinePrint Literary Management
Background: High school teacher, then intern at the agency before being promoted.
Looking for: Everything from children’s books (chapter books to YA, both fiction and nonfiction) to adult fiction (speculative, fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, and romance, especially paranormal). She gravitates toward strong female protagonists, complex plot lines with underlying political, moral, or philosophical issues.

Agent: Nicole Robson
Agency: Fischer-Harbage
Background: Assistant at Fischer-Harbage before being promoted to associate agent.
Looking for: Compelling fiction and nonfiction, specifically books with an international focus. In nonfiction, she loves narrative nonfiction and history.

Agent: Marissa Walsh
Agency: FinePrint Literary Management
Background: Worked previously at Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, the Ellen Levine Literary Agency, and Delacorte Press/Random House Children's Books. Also, author of two books: the comic memoir Girl with Glasses: My Optic History and the YA novel A Field Guide to High School.
Looking for: Children's picture books, middle-grade, and YA.

Agent: PJ Mark
Agency: Janklow & Nesbit Associates
Background: Formerly an agent and international rights director at McCormick & Williams.
Looking for: Fiction: graphic novels and literary fiction. Non-fiction: celebrity, pop culture, music, film & entertainment, current affairs & politics, humor & gift books, journalism, and multicultural.

Agent: Joyce Holland, associate
Agency: D4EO Literary Agency
Background: A former newspaper columnist for the Northwest Florida Daily News, she has been reading for the agency since last fall, and is also an author.

Looking for: Romance, science fiction, mystery, horror, YA, and nonfiction of all kinds.

Resources

• Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents website. He's always posting alerts regarding new agents (it's one of his categories). A great resource.
• Media Bistro covers the highlights what's new and exciting in the publishing biz.
• Get on the Publishers Weekly PW Daily emails list. In most emails there is a section called Job Moves where you can read all about who's going where in the industry. This is a great source of staying on top of not only agents that have recently joined agencies, but also agents who have left. Just as important when you're querying: you don't want to rely on out-of-date information. Even an agency website can contain old information.

Reading Males

Agent Nathan Bransford has a totally fascinating forum question going regarding Men and Fiction. Where are all the male writers? There are many, but not as many as there are female writers (or so it seems). Is that because fewer men read than women? I have to say, I read more male authors than female. Not sure why, I guess I just relate more to what male protagonists go through. Or maybe it's the male sentiment filtered through the writer. Plus I get more out of reading authors of my generation.

When you're done with that forum topic, check out the rest of Nathan's site: lots of great publishing advice for writers, such as how the publishing process works, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a synopsis.

On Rejection

Sending out queries and manuscripts to agents and publishers is like buying quick picks or scratching Big Money tickets. If I win the jackpot, that’s a bonus; an above and beyond that’s a wonderful surprise but which I’m not counting on.

I’m not counting on getting a novel published. It’s the way I’m wired. Because the minute I start counting on it happening, then I might as well start wasting all my money on scratch tickets. I can’t think that way because if it never happens then I’ve wasted a lot of time thinking. And this thinking would most likely get in the way of the writing; affecting my choices as I second guess myself in favor of a mercurial marketplace. Which means grand disappointment on an epic, Pearly Gates-sized scale where you look back on your life and wonder why you spent so much time obsessing over this one thing?

It’s the way I deal with rejection. This week I got two rejections. One for a short story sent to a Web literary magazine and the other from a literary agent. These are two very different rejections. The lit mag just sent a form email. Delete. Try again.

But the agent had requested a partial based on a query, my credentials, my publishing history (short, but existent), and on a sample of writing. After she read the first 50 pages and an outline of the novel, she passed. She explained that her list of fiction was tight at the moment and that it was a hard commercial market right now.

She also had problems with the novel, including some of my syntax choices and that I present the protagonist in two points of view: 1st person as an adult, and 3rd as a teenager (the novel’s chapters alternate these times and voices). The agent said this was distracting and thought it would be a hard sell to editors.

I’ve been told this by anyone who cared what other people would think about the novel, including Ms. X. Ms. X is afraid that readers will have too many questions about why I told the story this way, and that I won’t be there to answer their questions. Ultimately, she wants to see this novel bisected, forming two books; one YA, the other literary/contemporary/narrative fiction. (Note: I’ve considered this, but don’t think the halves stand on their own.) One editor I met with at the Muse and the Marketplace writer’s conference told me the novel verged on experimental.

These critiques and rejections of the core structure of my novel would resonate more if my readers also had problems with this. I can’t think of one who wasn’t able to trust me and follow the journey I set them on, in the way I chose (at least with the POV change—or maybe I’m looking back to my critiques through smudged sunglasses).

Of course I’m disappointed about the agent’s rejection. But not surprised. I was upset for about a day, thinking that the novel was a big fail, and that the result of my years of work had been constricted by a fickle publishing industry. Maybe I’m foolish; a madcap. A loony bird flying into the jet engine of the contemporary fiction marketplace. But I trust that my novel works. The agent recommended I try small presses and enter contests. Her point: I might find a home for this orphan of a story at a house where they don’t mind a little experimentation (is it really so extreme?) and where they don’t expect their books to be bestsellers (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

On the plus side, I have already approached some small presses. And the agent requested I show him/her future material. Meanwhile I work on my next novel and continue to send out short stories. Rejection doesn’t mean the end; it means the continuation of the beginning. Of trying again.

Chasing Agents

Do you, struggling novelist, need an agent to get a novel published? Will a publisher bother to read your novel if you’re not represented by an agent? It’s the chicken/egg catch 22 that so many writers are just crazy about. Sure, there are stories about how some lucky writers sent their unsolicited manuscripts to unsuspecting publishers who, on a slow day with nothing better to do, started reading the unsolicited novels and found chunks of gold ‘over the transom.’

How often does this happen? Not often. The publishing landscape gets direr by the day. Layoffs. Acquisition freezes. Bookstore closings. How can an unpublished novelist break through this awful environment and get noticed? You really do need an agent. Case in point: One of my fellow novelists from Ms. X's class found out on the last day of our summer session that one of the novels she workshopped with us got picked up for publication. She has an agent. This didn’t just help my classmate get the book noticed, but assured that her novel sold for six figures to a major publisher.

What did an agent do for my classmate? Sent her manuscript to the right publisher at the right moment, generating enough buzz for the publisher to make a preemptive offer. Heat still continues as the agent is selling foreign rights close to a dozen countries. Without an agent, would my classmate have landed all these foreign rights? Or tasty advance? Doubtful.

I’ve been sending out queries for my novel A Little Disappeared for over a year. Intermittently. Certainly I could be pushing myself more to land a big agent fish. But I’m doing other things as well. Such as writing and sending out stories. Thinking of how to proceed with my current novel. And possibly doing some revision to A Little Disappeared. Contacting agents is a separate job, beyond writing (and your day job). It takes a different mindset. It also takes research. You have match up your type of book (novel/genre, non-fiction/memoir/whatever) with the right agency. Which means you have to know what kind of work agents want to see. And strictly follow their guidelines when you do find some to approach.

There are a limited number of agents. What do you do after reach the end of the list? Start over? You can hit the writing conference circuit and sign up for critiques where an agent or editor will read the first 20 pages of your manuscript. Then sit down with you during the conference and tell you what she thinks. You can contact friends and family, scour your BFFs to see if anybody knows an agent that might be interested in entertaining out a referral.
If you can’t find an agent, try sending your manuscript directly to mid and small-size publishers. Many smaller presses don’t deal with agents. Or necessarily need to. But, you won’t get the hefty advances, press run, or advertising budget that one of the big houses can land you you. So. Anyway. If I can’t land an agent with A Little Disappeared, I will probably query smaller publishers. And if that doesn’t work, then I move on to the next novel.

Are you a writer seeking representation? What are your experiences with agents? Good. Bad. Let me know. Do you have an agent? Do tell: what’s it like?