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The hardest part of your search for an agent begins: how to find the agents to write to. Seems easy, right? Just look up ‘literary agents’ on Google, make a list, and send your submission out to all of them? If you do that, you’re wasting your time and also your chances all in one go. Here’s everything you need to know about finding agents to submit to.

Setting Up Your Submissions Process

Research each agent you find. Start here at this agent database at P&W. Read their manuscript wishlists (#MSWL), and look at their social media. […]

Here is a detailed guide to preparing your book sample for a literary agent.

Your book sample is obviously the most important element of your agent submission to be read after the letter and synopsis.

For fiction submissions, which is what I am talking about in this series, you need to read each agent’s requirement on the submissions page of their website.

(Non-fiction is completely different, and you should refer to Jane Friedman’s series on Non-Fiction and Memoir for this)

The vast majority of agents will want a sample attached to the email, and this is usually either thirty or […]

Thousands of writers submit their books to literary agents every year, but only very few are chosen. Why is this, and how can you give yourself the best chance?

Part Two: The Synopsis

A synopsis is the second part of your submission to an agent in that if you nail your submission letter (discussed in Part One) they will next read the synopsis of the story of your book.

For this series, I am discussing fiction books, as there is a completely different type of synopsis for a non-fiction book, specified in detail on each agency website.

However, a fiction […]