Authors can find it difficult to get their book out there in the book world without a literary agent, unless they choose to self-publish. Authors don’t want to waste all of that time writing a book, which probably took months and maybe years to complete without anyone reading it. That’s where literary agents come into play. Literary agents are writers’ best friends. They will get your book out there to the right people, such as publishing houses and even producers of a movie. When you are looking for literary agents, it is important to do your homework. For one, authors need to make sure that their book is up to par, meaning it is what the literary agent is looking for.
Literary agents want to see books that are going to sell and are on the topic that they handle, such as if an author’s book is about zombies, he or she will want to look for a literary agent who is in the horror genre. An author wouldn’t want to pitch their book to a literary agent who handles romance novels. On the other hand if the book has romance theme to it, the author can pitch it to literary agent who handles romance themes.
Finding the right literary agent is important because you do not want a literary agent who has had poor sales in the past. Research each literary agent that you are interested in. It is important to see how many sales that literary agent has had in the past and if he or she is presently working with authors. It is a good idea to research literary agents who handle your genre and tone. Authors need to find out if their book is similar to other books that literary agents have handled in the past. It will be more than likely that the author will have luck in finding a literary agent. Authors need to make sure as well that their book is targeting the right audience.
After completing your research and you have a list of all the literary agents that fit the profile, you will need to do extra research and make sure that you are finding the right literary agents. This process takes a lot of time and patience is key, but if you want your book to sell, you have to make sure you have the perfect literary agent. Authors need to find out if each literary agent that they are researching accepts queries. Sometimes literary agents don’t accept them at a particular time. Even if you have your eye on a particular literary agent and he or she is not accepting queries, you have the choice to wait until he or she does accept queries or cross him or her off the list.
Begin writing your query letters to literary agents. Authors want to make sure that their query letters are perfect. As an author, he or she wants to make sure that the literary agent will promote the book. There is no rush when it comes to writing your query letter. Jot down things that you want to include in your query letter, such as why you think this book is better than the rest. The Internet has a world of resources on how to write a query letter, but if it still confuses you, you can always seek help from a freelancer. Now, you have to find a freelancer that has an A plus review of producing query letters. When authors begin sending out query letters, they have to make sure that each one has its own personal touch.