How to chose which agents to approach

[Foggyfroggy]

Hello. Book finished in May, since then I’ve revised it and made changes following feedback from several beta readers and trusted friends. Reworked it again and I think I’m there, so looking at agents.

Would appreciate some advice on how to approach them - I have an old version of the Writers and Artists Yearbook, so could use that? And I assume everyone wants email submissions? And how long does this usually take - if I don’t get any bites I want to self publish, so I would like some idea of timeframe.

Thank you.

Usually the agent's website will tell you how and what to submit and how long to expect to hear from them (or not).

Only pitch to agents that clearly state that they handle your genre. You can direct pitch to some publishers, too, and it can be worth doing. When I worked in academic publishing someone pitched their historical fiction once and when I worked in romance publishing, we got quite a few memoirs submitted from people who didn’t bother checking what we published.

Thanks for the advice - do you submit to 5/10 agents at a time?

Get an up to date version of the Writer's and Artists Yearbook as the information changes every year. When you've narrowed it down, you can submit to as many agents as you like, as long as you follow the rules for each individual agent and don't send a mass email. You will find these rules/specifics on the agency website. Be careful to read them as they vary and if you don't meet the format, they will likely reject you.

Many agents will take between 8 and 12 weeks to reply. Keep a spreadsheet. good luck!

I’d check every agent’s page at every agency (laborious but worth doing) and make a spreadsheet. You can also check Manuscript Wishlist and check them out on social media as they often say what they’re looking for there.

I’ve actually never owned a copy of Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. I looked up the agents of writers whose work I thought bore some resemblance to mine, and checked their websites to see if their list was open.