If You Can't Get An Agent

Finding literary agents are tough. When I signed my book deal for A Girl's Guide to Poker, I sent my queries directly to two small publishers in my niche, and they both gave me the green light. Now that I'm trying to pitch my second book concept to bigger presses, I'm looking for an agent, and MY GOSH IT IS HARD.


I had one big agent lady look pretty in-depth at my book proposal before ultimately passing. Another one says she'll pitch if I can get enough book sales from my first book (thus this blog).


Which brings us to (3) options:

  1. Email publishers directly. This worked for me -- and yes, I did receive a modest advance -- but probably will only be successful when pitching small presses.

  2. Self-publish. There are many pros and cons to this, although probably most pros. Good subject for another author blog post.

  3. Work harder/smarter to get an agent.

Right now I'm concentrating on #3, although I'm not totally opposed to self-publishing in the future. And while there are many literary agent blogs and Twitter feeds out there, I've been absolutely loving binge-reading Kate McKean's Agents and Books. It costs $5/month but is well worth it. Highly recommend not just for the advice but it also well-written. Plus she's into astrology, and I'm a Pisces sun/Aries Rising/Virgo moon which makes me biased.




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