Our discussion continues about how we found our agents.
P. J. Hoover
When I finished my manuscript, I sent it off to see if I could get into the Big Sur Writing Conference held twice a year by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency in California. I headed out there in March of 2008. My agent-to-be, Laura Rennert, was the leader for one of my critique sessions there, and afterward she expressed interest in my story. Once I got back to Texas, I sent her the first three chapters. Later that night she responded requesting the full (yay!). It was a long two days before she sent an email saying she’d like to offer representation. Needless to say I accepted!
Jo Whittemore
I started by getting recommendations from friends and checking www.agentquery.com and the Writer’s Digest Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. Then, I started querying. I ended up with four offers and spoke to their clients and did a little research on my own to find out who would be the best fit for me. While the other three agents were outstanding and sweet as can be, I chose Michelle Andelman at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. When Michelle left to work with a scouting agency, I was blessed to get my current agent, Jennifer Laughran. I was very fortunate to go from one superstar to the next. 
)
It sounds simple, but these were my stats:
Submitted to 16 agents
Of those 16:
6 were rejections from the get-go
5 requested fulls
5 requested partials
Of the 5 who requested fulls:
2 made offers
1 was a rejection
1 I never sent because they wanted an exclusive
1 got lost somewhere along the way (agent said she never received)
Of the 5 who requested partials:
3 were rejections
2 made offers
So, the moral is…you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet. Actually, I don’t like omelets, so we’ll say…you have to add a lot of chocolate chips to make a cookie.
Thanks for joining us, and if you have a question you’d like us to answer for next month’s roundtable discussion, please leave it in the comments.
Great info that I hope to be able to use someday! Er, in which case I better tear myself away from blogs and finish my book.
Hopefully this info will help me! I have submitted to probably 30 or so agents by now, and I will keep going, because I’ve either gotten no response or rejections so far. However, I’ve also reworked my novel completely. Now I am thinking I might need to look into a writers conference!