Approaching Top Literary Agents
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
When it comes to approaching top literary agents with your writing, it pays to research and be selective. Doing so can help ensure that the agents you submit a book to have an affinity for the type of project you are pitching, and are operating at the top of their respective fields. Keep in mind this advice when submitting to top literary agents.
Considering Top Literary Agents? Look At Their Lists
If you're only looking for top literary agents, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment if you don't take the right approach. A very big mistake that a lot of writers make is querying top literary agents with a project that’s too similar to something that’s already on their lists.
Publishers Marketplace is a great resource for researching agents. It’s a comprehensive deals database that lists many of the book sales that top literary agents have made. Often these are for books that aren't yet published, so you can read them and figure out whether or not they’re similar to your work.
The agent knows the book better than you do, and can judge whether your project is similar to their existing list or not. If you see that the top literary agents you’re interested in have represented something that sounds similar to your work, approach with caution. This could mean that they like your genre or category (which is great news), or it could mean that they already have enough of that particular type of project on their list (which could be bad news).
Subject matter shouldn’t be the only factor you look for when you’re researching top literary agents. You can also look for similarities in tone, writing voice, style, and characterization. This will allow you to decide whether your style might be something they will enjoy. For example, if you and someone else both have a mermaid project, although the subject matter may be similar, your project may be a frothy romp, while theirs could be a dark tragedy. You never know for sure until you dig deeper!
You might get in a pickle if the subject matter is too close to a top literary agent’s existing property, since it could be deemed competition. Here's why: An agent would prefer not to sell two books that could cannibalize one another if put on the same bookshelf. Top literary agents get ahead by looking out for their clients, so they won’t want to have too many similar clients or projects.
The Inner Workings of Top Literary Agents
Top literary agents may feel limited by the burden of being "known" for a particular type of book. This can leave them feeling frustrated, as taking on too much of that same type of work could be detrimental to the success of their existing clients' titles, as mentioned above.
As a result, agents often wish to expand their portfolios and explore new genres, but unfortunately, writers tend to keep sending them the type of book they have become known for representing. It can feel like a catch-22 for top literary agents.
When you want to work with top literary agents, you will need to read between the lines a little bit. Agents often declare what they’re interested in, but this isn’t necessarily the only way to figure out what they’re really looking for.
When all else fails, most top literary agents are looking for “good stuff done well” or books with “literary quality and commercial appeal.” Outside of that, category, book genre, and subject matter may not matter as much as resources like MSWL make it seem. Try your dream targets anyway–you might be surprised.
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