Finding a literary agent

[Irina Shapiro]

Does any one have any advice on how to find a reputable literary agent. 

www.irinashapiro.com

[Diane Burton]

Hi, Irina. Good luck on finding an agent. Bear in mind that a bad agent is worse than no agent. Before signing with an agent (who controls your money!) check that s/he is a member of the Associate of Author Representatives: http://aaronline.org/  AAR has a code of ethics that their members must follow. Also, check out Preditors & Editors: http://pred-ed.com/peala.htm They have a list of agents that have complaints against them. Again, good luck.

[Irina Shapiro]

Thank you, Diane.  That's very helpful. 

[Gareth Wilson]

You might be best looking at Writer Digest, they publish a book on agents that you might find helpful.  Other than that, look in books by authors similar to your work and see who they thank.  Usually you'll find an agent listed.  Get a list of them that way, see if mutliple book authors stay with the same agent, if so they're going to be pretty good, then find out contact details and write a letter to them.

[Irina Shapiro]

Thank you so much. 

[ellen J. green]

Agentquery.com is a great database and a good place to start. They have a ton of info.

[Diane Burton]

Cool, Ellen. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know about this one.

[Irina Shapiro]

Thank you.  I've never heard of that one.  I will definately look it up.

[Yolanda]

Hi,

I do alot of looking and reading on the internet about agents.

What is the genre of your book?

http://hillaryhermes.blogspot.com/

 

 

YParker

[Irina Shapiro]

My genre is historical romance with a touch of mystery. 

[Dream]

Hi Irina, 

Internet can help you find the literary agents as there is lot of information out there. But, how do you trust them? Or how can we know they are good? So once you approach/find a literary agent, email the authors they have represented and ask them for reference or opinion about them. In the article below, Michael Hyatt who himself was a literary agent for six years mentions a very good point " Frankly, I am amazed that so many authors hire agents without checking references. To be blunt, this is just stupid. You wouldn’t do this with an employee; why would you do it with an agent?" Here's the link to complete article, its worth while reading it.

http://michaelhyatt.com/before-you-hire-a-literary-agent.html

Thats all I got :)

Good luck!

Regards, Vish Chap

www.dreamonus.com

https://twitter.com/#!/dreamonus

[e-mail]

[Irina Shapiro]

Thank you.  Actually, I can completely understand people not checking references.  Most new authors are so thrilled that someone is willing to represent them that they are very eager to trust.  I will definately read the article.