Posts tagged ‘literary agents’
THE BEST WRITER’S WEBSITE: DUOTROPE
WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
Every year WRITER’S DIGEST published 100 best websites for writers. I took the list published in 2025 and selected what I thought were some of the best for this year and not repeated from last year. Here is one of them.
Duotrope
Duotrope.com
If you follow my blog you have heard about Duotrope. I have used this website for years to find publishers. It is a powerful tool. Once free, it now costs $50 a year, but if you are a serious writer or artist or in need of an agent, this website is a must.
They list over 7,600 active agents and publishers. They also offer a submission tracker.
To find a publisher, agent or outlet for your work you fill out a form detailing what type of outlet you are looking for. Then you run a search and a list of places which could use your work is produced. With each site listed is a link to that site. This list is also constantly updated.
If you are serious about your craft this website is a must.
I might also add, from an article in Poets & Writers, there are 4000 literary journals in this country.
So many opportunities to get your work published.
LITERARY AGENCY QUERY REQUEST FORM
LITERARY AGENCY QUERY REQUEST FORM
Here is a query form from a literary agency. The information required is typical of forms found from other agencies.
Top of Form
Step 1. Tell us about the author
Fill in these author-related fields.
First Name: (required)
Last Name: (required)
E-Mail Address: (required)
Biography:Tell us a little about yourself and any writing credentials you may have.
Website Address: (if you have one)
Have you previously published other books? Yes No
Have you ever been represented by a literary agent before? Yes No
If you previously self-published a book, about how many copies were sold in the first year?
If this query is a referral, who referred you?
Step 2. Tell us about the book
Fill in these book-related fields.
Title: (required)
Genre: (required) select your book’s genre Action/Adventure Chick Lit Childrens Commercial Contemporary Crime/Detective/Police Erotica Family Saga Fantasy Fantasy: Magical Realism Fantasy: Urban Graphic Novel Historical Horror Humor/Satire Inspirational LGBTQ+ Literary Multicultural Mystery New Adult Offbeat/Quirky Romance Romance: Category Romance: Contemporary Romance: Historical Romance: Paranormal Romance: Thriller/Suspense Romantasy / Romantic Fantasy Science Fiction Short Stories Suspense Thriller Upmarket Western Women’s Fiction Young Adult Young Adult: Contemporary Young Adult: Fantasy Young Adult: Historical Young Adult: Literary Young Adult: Mystery Young Adult: Paranormal Young Adult: Paranormal Romance Young Adult: Romance Art Cookbook Cultural/Social Issues Finance Food Gardening Health & Fitness History Home Decorating & Design LGBTQ+ Lifestyle Memoir Narrative Parenting Politics Psychology Relationship & Dating Religion Self-Help Spirituality Travel True Crime Women’s Issues This agent only represents the genres shown in this list. Selecting an inaccurate genre will result in a rejection. If your book’s genre is not shown here, please go to QueryTracker for a list of agents who do represent your genre.
Word Count: (required)Enter the approximate WORD count of your book. Enter numbers only. Do not include any letters or special characters.
Is this book currently published or has it ever been published before? Yes No
Query Letter:Tips for formatting and pasting text
BoldItalicUnderlineAlign
- Align Left
- Align Center
- Align Right
- Align Justify
Clear FormattingUndoRedo
Ctrl+V or Right Click to Paste (Pasting large blocks of text can take several minutes. Please be patient.)
Enter your query letter for this book. (Tips for formatting and pasting text) Do NOT paste images into this field. Pasting large blocks of text can take several minutes. Please be patient.
Pro Tip: Make your query letter shine, get it critiqued for free at qtCritique.com
The First 10 Pages of Your Book (or full book proposal if non-fiction):
(If your book is shorter than this (such as a picture book) please include the entire text.)Tips for formatting and pasting text
BoldItalicUnderlineAlign
- Align Left
- Align Center
- Align Right
- Align Justify
Clear FormattingUndoRedo
Ctrl+V or Right Click to Paste (Pasting large blocks of text can take several minutes. Please be patient.)
Paste in the first 10 pages of your book, or your full book proposal if your book is non-fiction. (Tips for formatting and pasting text) Do NOT paste images into this field. Pasting large blocks of text can take several minutes. Please be patient.
Optional: Sign into QueryTracker
A QueryTracker account is NOT required to send a query. If you are not a member of QueryTracker, you can skip this section.
Or join QueryTracker, a free service that helps authors find agents and keep track of queries.
Signing into QueryTracker will link this query to your QueryTracker account, allowing it to be automatically tracked and displayed in QueryTracker.
Your QueryTracker Username or Email Address:Your QueryTracker Password:Sign In
Forget your credentials? Recover them at QueryTracker.
Not a QueryTracker member? Join here (Free)
Learn more about auto-tracking queries.
Final Step: Submit Your Query
Submit Query
Important: After submitting your query, you will receive a personalized link to a special page that you can visit any time to check your query’s status.
If the recipient of your query would like to read more, they will contact you through that page as well as through email.
Bottom of Form
This form is powered by Query Manager, a service of Query Tracker. If you have any questions about this service, please Contact Us.
QueryTracker is a free service for authors to help them find literary agents and organize query letters. Learn more.
Having the information on the above form should help you in quite a few queries.
LITERAY AGENCY QUERY REQUIREMENTS
LITERAY AGENCY QUERY REQUIREMENTS
As mentioned in a previous post, when searching for a literary agent you will discover that many agencies use an online form you must use to make your query. This makes the search much easier than it was in the past for most of the information required is, more or less, the same for all forms.
Here is a list of the information required on many of the forms,
Information on previously published books
Title
Publisher
Release date
If you have self-published a book
Query letter
Synopsis
Sample pages or sample chapters
The number of pages or chapters varies by agency.
Pitch
Target audience
Books similar to your book
Bio
Most agencies using an online form also require that you are a member of Query Tracker, a free website.
In a future post I will supply a form used by an agency so that you may see what they look like.
LITERARY AGENT QUERYS: WHAT THEY WANT
LITERARY AGENT QUERYS: WHAT THEY WANT
In my current search for a literary agent for my novel, The Beast Awaits, I have come across a phenomenon which greatly assists in querying agents. Many literary agent agencies are using online forms to submit queries. And all the forms require, to a great degree, the same information. This makes querying agencies a s process where once you have the information required for one agency you have most of the information required by the rest.
Another common denominator is the requirement to be a member of Query Tracker. The membership for this website is free.
In a future post I will list the information which is required to query these agencies so you will be prepared, with the information needed in hand, to make the querying process for your work easier.
A LITERARY AGENT SEARCH
In a recent post concerning my novel, The Beast Awaits, I reported how a query in Duotrope for a literary agent resulted in 124 hits. I was able, using another website to reduce this number to sixteen. I accomplished this by using the website Association of Authors Representatives (AAR, literary-agents.com).
AAR is an excellent free website to use when seeking a reputable literary agent. Their agents agree, to become a member, to in no way abuse the writer in their quest for an agent. The only profit AAR agents make is if they sell your work to a publisher.
More on AAR and other important websites in obtaining an agent in future posts.
I used AAR to research all 124 agents identified on Duotrope. The means by which I did this was first to eliminate any agents who were not members of AAR. This in no way means that these agents were not honest, but with AAR agents you can be sure they are beyond reproach. There is another website for agents which I may explore in the future, but I have enough results to keep me busy for now. I also eliminated some of the 124 agents because they were members of AAR but were not currently accepted queries. AAR can provide a wealth of information in an agent search.
Therefore, using the list of 124 agents identified by Duotrope I was able to reduce that number to sixteen agents I wanted pursue to represent my novel.
LITERARY AGENTS
MY QUEST FOR A LITERARY AGENT
I have a novel, The Beast Awaits, for which I am seeking a publisher. I have used Duotrope to compile a list of publishers but so far I have found none that I deem satisfactory. Therefore, I am now looking for a literary agent for which Duotrope also provides a listing.
For many publishers having an agent is the only way your work can be reviewed. The fact that you have an agent encourages publishers to look at your work for they know that the only way a REPUTIBLE agent makes a penny is if they sell your work.
I filled out a Duotrope questionnaire for agents and received a list of 124 agents. Daunting. But through my use of another website, I was able to reduce this to a list of seventeen agents I feel secure in pursuing.
In a future post will describe how I accomplished this.
LITERARY AGENT SEARCH
UNWANTED INTERUPTIONS OF SEARCHES CONTINUED
As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been bombarded with unwanted ads resulting from my search for publishers and agents.
I get ads from companies saying that they want to read my book. I have little doubt that after reading my book they would want to publish my book. Okay, they don’t know whether my book is fiction or nonfiction. For fiction they don’t know the genre. For nonfiction they don’t know the subject. They have no idea of the quality of my craft, but they want to read my book.
This company wants to spend time reading my book and may decide not to publish my book. Right! I have little doubt that after reading my book, if they read it at all, they will like to publish it.
I feel one of the major reasons these companies exit is to stroke the fragile egos of those who would like to say they have published a book and have money to burn.
Now it is possible to find success in self-publishing a book. Ever hear of the novel The Martian which became a bestseller and subsequently made into a movie? Self-published. So success can occur but you must have an exceptional manuscript and be willing to work you ass off, and the asses of close friends.
I’m posting this as a warning. Stay away from companies whose ads state that they want to publish your book.
And as far as agents are concerned, I can’t imagine a reputable agency of agents seeking clients with an ad.
LITERARY AGENT SEARCH
UNWANTED INTERUPTIONS OF SEARCHES
I am in the process of looking for a publisher for my novel, The Beast Awaits.
As I’m sure you know I am fan of the website Duotrope for locating publishers. The site also provides information for literary agents. I have used Duotrope to explore publishers with little luck for my novel, so I am now using it to seek an agent. My search for an agent on Duotrope resulted in a list of 124. I then used another website and reduced the number to 16. The method I used will be described in a later post.
Since beginning my search, I have been inundated with ads for publishers wanting to read my novel and agents wanting me to contact them for representation.
I’m fairly certain that Duotrope or the other site I used would not sell my name and email address, so this intrusion must be the result of my searches. In this day and age someone is constantly looking over your shoulder.
Companies now involved with self-publishing were once called vanity presses. Also, I have never seen ad for agents before.
More to follow.
WRITER’S FORUM
WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS
This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers.
But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites.
Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have no interest in.
I hope you find the information offered in this post helpful.
Anyone familiar with my blog is aware of the area, Writer’s Forum, which already offers a host of websites important for writers.
Query Tracker
QueryTracker.net
Source of literary agents looking for manuscripts.
Contains lists of agents, publishers and helpful resources.
This website is also important when sending queries to some literary agencies.
WRITER’S FORUM
WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS
This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers.
But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.
Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have no interest in.
By the same token, I feel that once you call a business for information you are also put on a list, for sale, of similar companies to the one you have called.
That’s just how it is in today’s society.
I hope you find the information offered in these posts helpful.
Anyone familiar with my blog is aware of the area, Writer’s Forum, which already offers a host of websites important for writers.
Association of American Literary Agents
AALitAgents.org
A list of reputable agents.
Search by name, genre or category.
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