Last year, BookBaby president Brian Felsen had the privilege to attend the London Book Fair where he interviewed many publishers, editors, and authors. Below are some of the highlights from his talk with literary agent Brian DeFiore on how an author should go about finding the right literary agent.
4 Tips on Finding the Right Literary Agent
1. Look for agents who take a traditional cut-
DeFiore suggests, in most cases, that you avoid agents who take fees unless it is part of a consultation. You want someone on your side that is paid a traditional commission on sales earned. It should be very clear that the only compensation an agent will receive is based on that agent’s performance on the author’s behalf.
When you lose, they lose; when you win, they win!
2. Query letters MUST sizzle-
According to Brian DeFiore, most query letters are dull, rote, and describe books that have been written a hundred times before. A single agent may receive hundreds of query letters a week, but they can’t possibly read that many manuscripts. So agents must perform triage and investigate the books that are described in the most attention-grabbing letters.
A query letter says a whole lot about an author’s ability to write. If you are a writer, you should be able to “persuade a reader through words.” An agent reading through query letters is now your reader, too! If you can’t persuade them in one page, why would they assume your manuscript is any good?
3. Make sure the agent knows the biz-
Literary agents do much more than just make phone calls and cut deals.
Agents must be knowledgeable about how to increase an author’s worth to publishers. In order to get publishers to respond to a pitch, good agents will work closely with an author over months or even years, editing the book into shape so it can sell, strategizing the pitch itself, and figuring out how to convince publishers that the book will sell on its own in a crowded media marketplace that doesn’t give a lot of attention to books.
4. Use common sense when contacting agents-
Target one agent at a time within a single agency. If you DO send a query letter to multiple agents within an agency, make sure to let everyone know you’ve done so, just to avoid any conflicts or awkwardness.
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Brian DeFiore is President of DeFiore and Company, a New York literary agency founded in 1999. Prior to founding the agency, he was the Senior VP and Publisher of the Villard Books division of Random House, and was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Hyperion, Disney’s book publishing division.
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