Thanks to the wonderful workings of the worldwide web, we writers have access to
numerous tools, services, and pieces of advice for everything from writing to
submitting to acquiring book agents. In the same respect, because of the
facility and accessibility of the web, we also must be guarded, educated on, and
protected from smarmy, conniving individuals attempting to pass themselves off
as book agents. I have been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil in
my teeth and try writing on the walls of my mother’s beautiful home. I have been
writing for a living for a lot less longer and have looked into the guiles and
guises and gifts of book agents for even less time than that (primarily because
I have a limited desire to publish a book that will make zillions and therefore
have limited need for all that much research into book agents, publishers, and
the like). But I have come across super-important, and clearly valuable
information that anyone in the writing life might want to peruse or study.
FINDING AND MOVING TOWARD LEGITIMATE BOOK AGENTS
The Burry Man Writer’s Center – This is a comprehensive site with thousands of
job leads as well as hundreds of links for writers seeking to find agents in
most genres…from mystery to romance to fiction and more.
Author Link.com – not just a place to find agents, but a venue for talking about
books, writing, and publishing.
Literary Agents Directory – As its name suggests, this site is devoted to
writers who want to find agents for every genre, from nonfiction, fiction, and
reference to poetry and children’s prose and in every country, from here to
Holland and back.
IDENTIFYING AND AVOIDING SCURVY BOOK AGENTS
These writers and writer
sites/pages include directories and/or forums defining, determining, and
discussing those con artists who have scammed writers in the past and who
are now caught or still out there lurking, sniffing, and hoping to pounce:
Editors Directory at Another Realm (a.k.a. Predators and Editors site).
Whispers and Warnings at Angela Hoy’s Writers Weekly
The Water Cooler at Absolute Write
The Warnings Forum at Brady Magazine
The Writer Beware Pages at SFWA’s site (http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html)
–SFWA also has a second reputation (besides protecting writers by
forewarning them): they suspected a literary agent/pod was a fraud, and
wrote a book of absolute crapola nonsense—so bad a grammarian would have
instant cardiac arrest. The book was “accepted”. Look for a link on the
site. You can buy the book. It is brilliant in its ulterior intent.
THE HOW-TO AND HOW NOT-TO APPROACH BOOK AGENTS SITES
The Randy Murray Literary Agency – This agency features a guide for “how to
impress a literary agency.” It speaks to the Murray Agency specifically, but
establishes sensible protocol for approaching book agents in general, as
well.
Everyone Who's Anyone in Adult Trade Publishing, Propagandaville and
Tinseltown, Too, is a Worthless, Superfluous, Giddy, Giggly, Chickenhearted,
Money-Grubbing, Nazi Moron [go to the U.S. Literary Agents section(s) at
everyonewhosanyone.com] – This is an absolutely hilarious approach, the
writer getting apoplectic about rejection, decides to not only query every
single agent in the United States but posts their responses and lists their
contact info. Lesson? You’ll figure it out.
