How Does a New Agent Find Wonderful Writers?

An encouragement to those who are still trying to find their agent. Keep going!!

For those of you who don’t know me, I started my publishing career back in the Stone Age as an editorial assistant at Silhouette Books.  I loved my job and was strongly encouraged to stay in the field, but life and children intervened and I wound up taking a hiatus from the business that lasted several years.

When I decided it was time to get back to doing what I loved, I started off with some freelance reading for Karen Solem at Spencerhill Associates.  I had come full-circle.  Karen was my first boss in publishing years earlier at Silhouette.  It didn’t take long for me to decide that I wanted to learn the agenting side of the business and get back to the industry that I love.

Authors frequently want to know how to find an agent–wanting to be an agent meant I had to find some authors!

Queries, client recommendations, conference pitches – these are all excellent ways to find great writers to represent.  Ultimately I think finding the right authors is 25% good instinct and 75% good luck.  So far my instincts have been pretty darn good, but my luck has been even better.  Signing each new client requires a mix of artistic, business, and personal compatibility—each author and situation is as unique as the writing that drew me to them in the first place.

Here are just three examples of some ways it’s all come together:

Read the rest here.