How to Find a Literary Agent If Your Write More Than One Type
of Book
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
One of our Good Story Learning members asked how to find a literary agent—or, actually, how to find more than one! This particular writer, as it happens, is interested in writing across genres and categories, and is wondering how to find a literary agent who might represent all of her interests. She wanted to find a literary agent for her YA fantasy novel, and wondered if she should find another agent for her picture books.
Most writers want to find a literary agent for one project … but some writers might need to find multiple agents! Juggling this process can be quite complicated. And whether or not you need more than one agent all depends on the agency. For example, when I worked at Andrea Brown, our policy was to handle all of our clients' work in the realm of children's literature. ABLA was a children’s only agency (for the most part), so anything outside the children’s book realm could be represented by an agent elsewhere. (Obviously, agencies want to keep as many projects by their authors in-house, but if there isn’t a specialist available, the client can query around.)
I also had a similar MO when I worked at Movable Type. As the sole children's book representative at the agency, I expected to be the only agent for my writers’ children’s book project. But if they also wrote adult or something I didn’t represent, they could work with one of my colleagues or find a literary agent elsewhere.
It’s Hard Enough to Find a Literary Agent When You Only Need One
Why don’t writers have individual agents for individual projects, instead of individual categories? Why not find a literary agent on a project-by-project basis? Well, it’s very easy for things to get muddy between writing agents and in the world of literary representation. Let me give you an example.
Let's suppose the impossible happens and you have multiple literary agents for a picture book, a chapter book, and a middle grade novel. (Remember, this is theoretical. It’s tough to find a literary agent, let alone three.)
You're working on a picture book property with Agent A, and they put lots of effort into offering writing notes and helping you revise it. You send it out, but every editor says "This is great, but it should be longer … maybe a chapter book." Or perhaps you wrote a middle grade novel, worked on it with Agent C, and all the publishers who saw the project said, "This is amazing, but your voice is too young. Can you age it down to a chapter book?"
Agents A and C helped you develop the picture book and middle grade projects, respectively. But now you’re being asked to revise the manuscript as a chapter book. And Agent B is your “chapter book agent.” Well, everyone has now worked with you on this book idea, technically, and Agent B might be the one who sells it. In this scenario, who rightfully gets the commission?
Your picture book or middle grade agent put lots of work into the project and so has some stake in selling it. But given that you also have a chapter book agent, they will be the accepted choice for selling that part of your portfolio. The example here is exaggerated, but you can see how quickly you could find yourself in a murky situation where your multiple literary agents compete against one another if you have different reps for each category.
Find a Literary Agent Who Represents Multiple Genres
This is when having multiple literary agents could be complicated. If you want to find a literary agent for multiple books, you might want to start sending query letters to agents who represent every category you want to write, and who, most importantly, love your work in each different arena. That option will certainly be easier than jugging multiple people, but finding one agent who will take all of your work can seem like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And if you find a literary agent who adores your YA novels but not your picture books, although you want to write both, think long and hard about whether you want to sign with that person. You might spend the rest of your career wishing you could be writing picture books, too.
Having more than one literary agent or manager is okay if, for example, you also write adult books, nonfiction, or screenplays. As long as all of the agents know about one another and the lines of communication are wide open. However, within the children’s books space—a tiny world where all editors usually acquire for multiple audiences—things could get complicated quickly. This advanced subset of how to find a literary agent needs to be treated with care and consideration.
Click here to purchase Irresistible Query Letters, my book on query letters, including over forty examples with comprehensive notes on each one. There’s a ton of submission advice, best practices, and insider information in these pages, and you’ll really enjoy seeing what other writers are doing in the slush.