The Agent Search

So you've honed your craft. You've attended classes, webinars, SCBWI conferences, and you consider your critique group meeting the highlight of your month. Now you are on the search for a home for the stories you've poured over and written, and rewritten, and REWRITTEN AGAIN.

But how to sell your stories? Most people want and agent, right? It will be like having a Fairy Godmother who will make all your writerly dreams come true.

So the process begins. Query Tracker, spreadsheets, lists of every agent you've met at all those conferences and classes, checking #MSWL often. You polish you queries until you've realized you've spent nearly as much time on them as you did on writing the book. (Feels odd when your picture book is 300 words and you query is 250.)

Then it happens... No, not the automatic yes we all dream for.  The rejection. Big at first; No responses, form letters. Then you get a personal response. Oh, the joy you feel when someone not only writes your name but a specific factoid about your story. Personal rejections become a little more frequent and some agents ask for more work. You dance and spin because this could mean something. Or maybe not...

Sometimes those rejection feel like tripping at the finish line. So close but not close enough. Maybe you even want to...

Writers. Don't despair. If you are getting feedback, then you are on the write track. (yes, I did that on purpose.)

Maybe writers get caught up in the query and searching process. So caught up that we forget the most important thing.  We must keep writing. Always. We can't get better if we don't practice. Even if you are practicing, you may still be caught up in the whole MUST FIND AGENT thing.

So first and foremost, list what you want in an agent. You and your agent will be together for a long time.

Sticking to the Disney theme I think my dream agent is more Mushu than Fairy Godmother.
I believe you need to find an agent...

Who gets your creativity

 

 



Who will be honest with you about your writing.

 

 

Who will get your stories seen by the right people.

 

 

They lend a hand when needed.

 

 

Who supports you when you feel down.

 



 

But most importantly they push you so you can reach your goals.

 

 

 

So just for fun, who in the Disney world would you want as an agent? Think about it...