Roundtable Discussion: Agents

Our topic for this roundtable discussion is: How did you find your agent?

Linda Joy Singleton

I’ve had more than one agent.  I got my first agent after selling several books on my own. I was reading through a writing publication and noticed one agent who listed making sales to two juvenile publishers that I respected, so I queried her. She liked one of my projects and signed me, selling my series MY SISTER THE GHOST to Avon Books (now Harper). She retired and I didn’t have an agent for many years, then while in Verla’s chatroom, I found out about a new agent with Andrea Brown Lit who was looking for clients, and after asking what she was looking for, I submitted a YA novel which she liked enough to offer me representation. I’ve been with Jennifer Laughran for 1 1/2 now and she’s negotiated a 2-book contract for me.

Joni Sensel

I went to a workshop that included a query review. I would never have queried her otherwise — her website said she didn’t represent what I write — but I figured the feedback on the query would be valuable anyway, and it was included in the cost. Long story short, she wanted to first read the full manuscript and another I had complete, and then to represent me. Sometimes gold can be found not where you’re looking, I guess!

Parker Peevyhouse

I first looked for an agent using Agent Query, a website that allows you to search a database of agents by entering information about genre, etc. I researched the results the search engine gave me and then sent out several query letters. Shortly thereafter, I signed with Michelle Andelman at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and she sold for my first novel, LAST MIDNIGHT. When she left the agency, I partnered up with ABLA’s Jennifer Mattson, who did a great interview for the Spectacle on magic(al) realism.

Join us for more on this topic tomorrow…

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