Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
I posted this blog in the past, but it remains just as relevant today as when I first wrote it. Not to mention, I don’t know that I’ve seen this sort of information available anywhere else. So, read on!
Any writer who wants an agent knows how hard acquiring one can be. Online discussions at times suggest an agent acquires new clients only periodically, when he finds his list isn’t full. But that isn’t true.
Here’s the skinny:
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Most agents are always open to new clients. It’s a matter of being the right kind of client.
Who in Agent-ville would say no to an author whose books regularly appear in the top 10 on a best-selling list? Well, if that author wrote cookbooks, and the agent has never sold a cookbook, nor does he know any cookbook editors, the agent might not see himself as being able to serve that client well.
But if a best-selling author approached an agent who regularly represents 
that type of writing, the agent would be highly unlikely to say, “I’m sorry, my list is full.”
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Agents generally want a balance of types of writing they represent.
Yes, agents, especially in the general market, have specialties. The general market is so large that if an agent were open to representing any sort of writing, she would find it difficult to keep track of which editor is working at which publishing house, what each editor is looking for, and how to cast a net wide enough to establish and maintain relationships with all those editors.
In smaller markets, such as CBA, agents tend more toward representing both fiction and nonfiction, and often they have clients in many genres and categories. These agents often want a balance between genres and between fiction and nonfiction.
An agent’s list might be “full” in that he has as many historical novelists as he thinks he can place in the current market. Or his list might be “open” if he is aggressively looking for more memoirs.
Agents are clear on their websites as to what they represent and don’t represent, but within those confines, an agent can decide to ramp up the number of clients in a category that’s growing or to slim down clients in a genre that’s not getting much traction with publishing houses. But that does not constitute a full list, by any means. Only the agent is likely to know the ways in which she wants to shift her client base.
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Agents generally think in terms of a potential client’s career level and seek a certain balance of clients.
Each level in a career–debut, mid-list, building, established–requires a different sort of effort from the agent. For example, one of the hardest tasks an agent ever undertakes is placing a new writer with a publishing house. Lots of heavy lifting is involved, including working closely with the writer in preparing a proposal that will garner a yes from a publisher.
A mid-list author nowadays is being squeezed hard by the industry. Fewer publishers are willing to stay with a mid-lister if sales aren’t nicely trending up. That’s a very different kind of challenge from a debut writer, but the task of keeping a mid-list author contracted still is a time-consuming challenge.
A building author also needs a lot of attention because, with focused effort, this writer could move onto a much more significant career.
An established author has so many opportunities and so much that can be done with ancillary rights that great chunks of an agent’s time are soaked up with serious detail work. Even the task of coordinating efforts with the rest of this author’s team takes a lot of time.
For an agent, this way of categorizing clients leads to conclusions about whom the agent can effectively represent. If a newbie writer approaches the agent just as an agent’s current client moves from the building level to the established level, the agent might respond that his list is “full,” meaning he doesn’t want to distract his attention from a critical time in a client’s career. Or, if an agent has mostly debut and mid-list clients, she might not want to take on additional clients in those levels because her list isn’t balanced.
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An agent’s list should not remain stagnant.
Each publishing house must buy a certain number of new titles every year. Each editor is expected, on a regular basis, to bring money-making proposals to the publishing committee. Both of those truths add up to a wonderful equation: Agents need to consistently offer new, exciting projects. And that means agents almost always are open to that new client the agent can introduce to the publishing world. Not to mention, this is one of the most satisfying parts of being an agent. All of these needs cause an agent to be reluctant to ever declare her client list full.
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You should never assume an agent’s list is full until he tells you it is.
Sometimes, if a writer is connected to others in the publishing industry, she will put out feelers about an agent, asking writing friends if So-and-So is open to new clients. How would anyone but that agent know? Considering the delicate balance the agent is trying to achieve with varying types of clients, being “full” or “open” is an ever-shifting condition.
In what ways does this post shift your thoughts about agents being open to new clients? Have you ever held back from connecting with an agent because you assumed that person’s list was full?
TWEETABLES
Why a lit agent’s client list is never full. Click to tweet.
How does a lit agent decide if her list is full or open? Click to tweet.
Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.Net by Kittikun Atsawintaragkul.
The electronic age makes it so much easier for an author. Click, I read the agent’s status. Click, I send my query. Compare that to the olden-days stress of deciding where to send the one and only copy of your thick typed manuscript.
*Perhaps not so much easier for an agent, bombarded with electronic messages screaming, “Read me! Represent me!”
*Here is my hope: that one day I will send off my story with the prayer, “Lord, connect me with the right agent.” And that there will be an agent who starts his or her day with, “Lord, send me the right author.” And I’m it.
*Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
What a beautiful hope, Shirlee!
Amen, Shirlee. Amen.
Shirlee, agents lives were vastly improved when they could turn off their copy machines and stop sending massive heaps of proposals to editors via the postal system.
May your prayer re. an agent be answered “yes”–soon.
Janet, if you received a pitch for a historical, and you felt like you were full of historicals, would you suggest the author contact one of the other agents in your company? Or would you make room for this author?
If I was really taken by the manuscript, I might rep the writer anyway. But I’m ever mindful that other agents in our agency don’t have lists as full as mine.
Janet, great information and quite relevant in the current situation. Considering what’s happening in publishing nowadays, with companies more hesitant than usual to take on debut and even mid-list authors, do agents ever reach the point of trimming their list by saying, “I give up” to an author?
Richard, if I’ve tried everything I can think of but just can’t get any traction for a client, I might well give up. But I’m stubborn; it can take me a long time (years) to make that decision. Meanwhile, publishing continues to fluctuate, and an opening that’s just right for that client might appear.
I would only hold back if the agent website clearly said they were not accepting query letters. Otherwise, why not try?
Exactly. If the agent doesn’t want to be queried, it’s up to him/her to say so.
I always love insights into the things an agent deals with in his/her job. Your post helps me see an agent’s list is fluid, to a degree. As a writer still working toward representation, I’m seeing that agents have to be really intentional about who they represent, because publishers aren’t taking on as many debut authors as perhaps they have in the past. So an agent is probably going to be selective who they choose to “take a chance on” or invest in.
*What this equates to in my mind is crafting a story that is excellently written and unique (as unique as a story can be . . . 🙂 ).
*Your post gives hope, Janet. Because when an agent sees something they can get behind, they’ll take on that project . . . right?
Jeanne, you’re exactly right about working on the writing craft and telling a story that’s unique but not odd. Odd tends to scare publishers.
If an agent is enthusiastic about a project, she usually can do some shifting to find a good space for that author. Or suggest another agent in the agency consider repping the writer if the agent knows she can’t do justice by the project/author at that time.
I’ve only held back from an agent for one reason … thinking I wasn’t good enough. Thank you for the hope that you continually pour into us.
God made you plenty good enough for anything, Shelli. Don’t hold back.
Thank you, Carol. I love this blog community. So uplifting on this journey.
I second Carol!!!
Aww!
Shelli, and that takes us back to my post from last week about the importance of taking risks, right?
Definitely, Janet. 🙂
Janet, it is always fascinating to learn more about your job. Thank you for sharing these details.
You’re welcome, Meghan.
Off topic, but I’m sure the blog community will want to be praying. Andrew and I are working on getting his novel, “Emerald Isle,” ready for Kindle. (FYI, it is a very powerful piece of writing, but what else would you expect from Andrew?) He was feeling terrible when I sent him the line-edited file midday Saturday, and he planned to get it back to me Sunday to start final formatting. I haven’t had any response from him since early Saturday evening. He isn’t here today, and he always shows up by 10 for this community, even when he’s having a horrible day. I’m deeply concerned. I’m sure he really needs our prayers right now.
I’m praying, Carol.
I’m praying too, Carol.
Praying here too.
His blog just had a brief message that he was too sick to write anything today. I know we all pray for him.
Thank you, Carol, for alerting us to the need to pray for Andrew. We’re all concerned.
I took the liberty of texting Barbara, and she said this : “Hey there, life has been tough going. He is cognitive and has full memory. I suspect that he’s made some choice of when to write and where, although he had not stated that to me. We both had the horrible flu bug for over a month. First me, then him. It took a toll on his body…many of you have been very kind to us when we’ve really needed it.”
Jennifer, thanks for the report.
Oh I hate to hear this news. ?Praying for Andrew.
Lord Father, those of us gathered in this little corner of the world lift our friend and brother, Andrew to You.
This reminds me of listening to the keynote speaker at an SCBWI regional conference in Seattle years ago. She was in a writing group led by an editor for 9 years. The editor told them that they probably would never get published and that the industry was very tight, but that she was willing to lead their writing group if they wanted to try. Nine years later that same editor actually bought two of their manuscripts and the author who was speaking to us went on to write “Ella Enchanted” which was a Newberry Honor book. The editor said her list of authors was pretty much full…but with time and a fabulous amount of effort, these ladies were able to write something that broke through those slim odds and found homes.
Kristen, thanks for sharing that incident. So a mere nine years later, two of the authors had honed their manuscripts sufficiently to win over the editor. Perseverance certainly is a big part of the journey, isn’t it?
This is a good reminder that agenting, along with most of the publishing process, is rather fluid. Things change, and what’s true in one season is not necessarily true in another. It’s always worth checking back now and then. As for me, I continue to await the day when historical fiction takes its star turn as the hot genre. Any day now… 🙂
Jenny, I console authors who are writing in genres that are “out” at the moment, that publishing trends are like an antique clock–the pendulum always swings back and forth. It *will* swing in your direction again.
If this is the case, is it okay to consider self-publishing while waiting, or does it tarnish your reputation with agents? I ask because of an article I received today in my inbox titled, “Why Rage Might Be Good For Your Writing Career.” I hope it’s okay to post this.
http://thestorybykindle.tumblr.com/post/137640632780/why-rage-might-be-good-for-your-writing-career?ref_=deveng_nl01_kc
And I hope Andrew is okay. My prayers go out to him.
Self-publishing certainly is an option. I read Ragen’s story (thanks for the link), but that type of success is less and less likely to occur because a self-pubbed author is like a grain of sand on a beach. What’s the likelihood that readers will find that one grain when there are so many to choose from?
Publishers are learning that writers might well venture off into self-publishing while they retain hopes of one day finding a traditional publisher. The only challenge is, if your book sells a handful of copies, you’ve demonstrated to an agent or a publisher that you have little or no capability to promote any book you write in the future.
Interesting point, Janet. It is the marketing analog of the old saying: better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. What kind of sales numbers for an indie fiction writer would not send a discouraging message to an agent or publisher?
Carol, there are so many variables when it comes to understanding how well a self-pubbed book sold: how many freebies were downloaded; what price point did the book sell for; how large is the potential audience, etc. But I would say if an author sold in the hundreds, that’s miniscule. In the thousands, that’s better. In the tens of thousands, you now have the agent or publishers attention.
What if a self published book didn’t sell well because the author had to deal with major personal problems and couldn’t do marketing when it came out?
Janet, publishers understand that life can interrupt the best of intentions, but still, those small sales still exist. Why, the publisher might ask, didn’t you just relaunch the book and put promo muscle behind it?
When told by an agent that she wasn’t taking any hist/fic clients, but who also greatly encouraged me in the same email, my predominant thought was, “I will hang in until you are.”
So glad I did.
And I am still humbled that she took me on.
If an agent says their list is full how long should someone wait before pitching to them again?
Janet, I don’t know that there’s a magic number. But I would wait at least a year.
Thanks, Janet. By the way, I’m asking questions today because the answers might help others, not necessarily because of my own experience.
Oh, your words echo my experience earlier this year with an agent, who I assumed didn’t represent my genre. It was embarrassing to admit to her, that I’d listened to the rumors and figured since my genre wasn’t on her list, I had no hope to even pitch. After bumbling my way through my pitch, she shocked my socks and asked me to submit. And though I know it isn’t a contract, it made me reevaluate my own short-sighted tendencies. Thank you for such a timely, revealing article.
Sarah, thanks for recounting your experience. It always strikes me as odd that others think they know if an agent is open to submissions. Really? It’s like telling a guy that you’re sure a gal he’s interested in wouldn’t want to date him.
Agreed. And eating humble pie just before you pitch is always an interesting experience. In hindsight, it’s allowed me to put myself out there just a bit more, to encourage others to at least try. Because you never know where the “yes” will happen.
Janet, I have nothing special to add to your post except to say that I love it when B&S shares a glimpse into the inner workings of being an agent. It’s so enlightening. Thank you.
I’m glad the post was helpful, Lara.