by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel

Some people think of Jerry Maguire and his fast-acting athleticism as a sports agent and his exchanges with his client who is known to have said: “Show me the money!” Is a literary agent anything like a wheelin’ dealin’ sports agent?

We deal with a lot of dynamics and personalities, but we are our own breed.  

Recently someone asked me, “In one sentence, what is a literary agent?” My answer: “We are the go-between the author and publisher. We help a writer turn an idea into a book, going from writer to published author.”

With as much anticipation comes the next question: “What does a literary agent look for?”

What we are looking for are three things that seem easy enough, but can’t be simplified to a formula. In a nutshell, what we are looking for are:

• A sellable idea that portrays a new take on a perennial topic or felt need
• A stellar writing style and voice that captures our attention from the start
• A strengthened audience engagement that spans social media, subscribers, and other networking

Just as there are no guarantees in football with even highly ranked teams (college football is a favorite of mine..) there are no guarantees on authors who even have all three of these areas covered. But if you only have one of these, well, it just makes it more difficult for us to find the best team for your words. 

My best advice is to look at what is being published in your genre and seek to go higher than that in your concept and the amount of cultivating and honing your writing skills. 

The bar is being raised pretty high for writers these days and to be considered you need to be able to rise to a level that will be expected of you. How can an agent help you in this?

Agents spend their time interacting with publishers about authors. So an agent has the inside track on what’s expected of an author, what publishers are looking for, what they’re not accepting, what a typical offer looks like from each publisher we work with, what’s in your best interest (and not), and more. 

How do you know which agent is best for you:
 

• When you look at their website, you see that they represent the kind(s) of book you are writing. If you see a book on the same topic or similar approach you are taking, it’s not likely they will take on yours if they already have one (this is also true of publishers). You will need to do your research to show how yours is vastly different in content.
• See how many friends you have in common on social media. If you have a lot of friends in common, ask those friends what their experience is like working with that agent. 
• If you and your agent have similar beliefs as you get to know the agent and ways of interacting with people, then there can generally be good chemistry between you. You can email or arrange a meeting with that agent through an online or in-person conference or appointment. You can tell a lot about a person by what they post and how they respond in their email or phone call to you.
• Your agent should be the person who is, next to you, the biggest fan of your book idea. If you sense that is not the case, then that is probably not the best person for you to work with.

Next month in Part II, we’ll look at:

• How can an agent help me if I’ve already met with a publisher?
• What does an author/agent relationship typically look like?
• What does an agent receive in exchange for his or her work with an author? How long does the author/agent relationship last?
• If an agent says “not now” does that mean “not ever?”
• I know I need to face feedback with an open mind, but how?

If it seems like others have it “easy” when finding an agent or getting a contract with a publisher, it’s best not to compare what it took for someone else to get where he or she is. There are often reasons and elements that you don’t know about (that agents have a pretty good feel for) that make up this scenario.

Instead, offer your writing, desires, and abilities to God as you work on them (not striving, but having open hands as you work) and He will not disappoint you. Others may, but He will not. As you seek Him, He will show you what you need and when as you pursue publishing. 

Finally, encourage other writers. Be a champion of others’ dreams in the path to your own. The best authors are those who cheer on those behind them and put their hands on the backs of those in front of them. 

Blythe Daniel is a literary agent and marketer and has been in publishing for over 20 years. She has written for Proverbs 31 Ministries, Focus on the Family, Ann Voskamp, and Christian Retailing. She and her mother Dr. Helen McIntosh are the authors of Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters (Harvest House Publishers).

www.theblythedanielagency.com; www.ourmendedhearts.com