How to Get a Book Agent

Book agents are very important to any writer's career. Finding the right agent for your work is the best way to become a successful writer. Spending time doing research for an agent and composing a query letter are key to landing the right agent to represent you and your work. An agent negotiates contracts, keeps up with your royalties, and takes care of public relations and marketing for you.

Instructions

1. Research agents to fit your needs. Start with the helpful book, "The Writer's Market," which lists agents and their genre focus. Read the introduction about the agents, which explains what they represent, how they prefer submissions, the fees they charge and a list of existing clients. Pay more attention to agents whose clients have books that are similar in topic or type to yours. Do not send work to an agent that someone refers to you until you know that agent represents your particular genre. Sending an agent work he does not represent is a waste of your time and theirs.

2. Look for agents who are members of the Association of Authors Representatives (AAR). Members of this group do not charge reading fees and only get paid when they sell your work. Any agent that asks for a reading fee is not a member, so research them thoroughly to decide whether it's worth paying a reading fee. Agents get 15 percent of your advance and 15 percent of royalties from the book. In addition to reading fees, some agents charge office expenses, so find out upfront and try to avoid as many costs as possible.

3. Compose a query letter. A query is a mini proposal and marketing tool that describes your book and why you are qualified to write it. Your query letter should have five basic components: the hook, the pitch, the body, your credentials and the closing. It should be written on plain white paper and should be one-page long. Do not try to convince the agent how great your book is or compare it to any other book.

4. Come up with a list of 20 to 30 agents to query. Organize them by how well you think they match your work and send out to the first 10 agents on your list. Verify an agent's name, address and phone number before sending a query. Also enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for the agent's response back to you. Set up some type of file, whether on your computer or paper, to keep track of the agents that you query. Include the agent information, the date you mailed the query and the response from the agents, including the date you received it. Do not call any agent before or after you mail out query letters. Just be patient: It usually takes three to six months to hear from an agent.

5. If you receive 10 rejection letters, send queries to the next 10 agents on your list. Send this next batch of queries out the same day you receive the 10th rejection. Then do it again with the next 10, if necessary. Just keep sending out query letters until you get a yes. If you go through your list and get all rejections, start researching again to add agents to your initial list and send out more queries. Keeping a flow of queries will give you a better chance of finding an agent. Agents reject book ideas for all sorts of reasons, so don't stop sending out query letters based on rejections.

6. Keep writing. Finding a book agent can be a long tedious process. It can take a lot of dedication, persistence and discipline to find someone interested in your book. While you're sending out queries, the best thing to do is to keep writing. Start on your next book. Try doing some freelance work for magazines, using ideas or excerpts from your book. Then, when you send query letters, you can add that you've been published in XYZ magazine. Sometimes this will sway an agent to look at your book idea a little bit closer.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to purchase a current copy of "The Writer's Market," because agents and editors change jobs all the time, and you want to send your query letter to the correct agent at the correct publishing house.

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