Tell Me What I Want to Hear: Query Letter Essentials
An agent unpacks the intangibles a query letter needs to convey, including your own sense of your story, your professionalism, and your voice.
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From the Magazine
You Can’t Query Love: How and When to Stick With Agent Querying
Persistence is a virtue in landing an agent—but if you’re not connecting, when is it time to regroup? An agent offers professional wisdom on balancing tenacity and realism, and on assessing what to do next if your search has stalled.
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The Good-Enough Agent: Finding the Perfectly Imperfect Partner
Writers may dream of partnering with a literary agent who offers it all, from staunch advocacy from a sympathetic ear. But in practice, the best agent may be one who’s less fairy tale and more human.
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The Agent as Editor: Making the Most of a Key Collaboration
Between signing with an agent and bringing a book to editors, writers almost always take one more crucial step: receiving edits from their agent. Agents describe what authors can expect by way of notes at this stage and how these revision prepares a book for market.
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Where Should We Begin? How to Start Your Agent Search
Wondering where to look and what to look for as you research agents? An industry veteran offers guidance on best resources and best practices for finding possible fits.
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The Debut Phenomenon: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction
The author of Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction reveals how every debut author’s dream of landing an agent is matched by the hunger of every young agent to land a successful debut and establish themselves.
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Agents & Editors: Alia Hanna Habib
Alia Hanna Habib of the Gernert Company talks about taking the pressure off first conversations with writers, the similarities between agenting and dating, and knowledgeably breaking the unspoken rules of the book industry.
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An Agent’s Perspective on Literary Magazines
An agent at Trellis Literary Management offers nuanced advice to writers on approaching literary magazine publication, including how much these credits matter in a query letter and which writers benefit most from such exposure.
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Beyond Our Borders: Understanding Foreign Rights in Publishing
An agent with twenty years of experience selling foreign rights on both sides of the Atlantic unpacks what can appear to be a complicated and unfamiliar aspect of book publishing.
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Logging Off: An Agent’s Perspective on the Social Media Landscape
It’s a stranger time than ever to exist online. An experienced agent at Frances Goldin advises anxious writers to focus on craft and not let cultivating an online following get in the way of writing the strongest manuscript possible.
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