The holidays have passed. 2011 is here and has no intention of going anywhere for awhile. It's time to jump back into writing, editing and all that other fun stuff. Although I'm not ready to query, I should work on my query and synopsis. Plus, I need to write more blog posts that are actually interesting instead of lists of things I need to do.
But it’s hard, isn’t it? Getting an agent, I mean. Yes, you can go it alone or self-publish, but I don’t know about those things and I’m not interested, either. There are some people who have nothing but negative things to say about agents, but I think having someone in your corner to vouch for you and give publishing-backed feedback is beneficial. And honestly, if I tried to negotiate a contract for myself, I’d end up selling my soul into an eternity of servitude.
Checking out agents is one of the reasons I like to visit AgentQuery.com. They have almost a thousand agents in their database, and while you shouldn't trust their information to be up to date (sometimes they have agents down as not accepting queries or e-queries when they do), it's a great place to start. It's how I discovered the agents in my blog roll. There's also Preditors and Editors, which I'm sure I've mentioned before as a great background check on agents. If you ever scroll through their pages, you'll find agents who've been arrested for fraud, charge reading fees (a no-no in the AAR canon of ethics), and those who are in the top twenty worst agents according to Writer Beware.
So, that's what I'm up to today! And you?
I agree. I want someone that has my back in this business, that will look out for me! Self publishing is fine and all, I just want that "I have an agent" moment. lol GREAT websites too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the resources.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at first I thought I didn't need an agent but it seems like who you know is one of the most important tools toward getting published, and agents know the industry. Althought I do hope there's more to my someday agent relationship than that. :)