28 Agents Who Will Read Your Work

I can't believe it — Writers Digest has published an article that is truly useful to aspiring writers. They list 28 agents who are open to new submissions for representation. This seems to be a list of genuinely reputable and well-connected agents…at least judging from the three or four names that I recognize (one of them represents my brother).

9 thoughts on “28 Agents Who Will Read Your Work”

  1. Wow, this is great! Thanks, Lee! But I have a question. I don’t really know much about the business side of things, but is it usual for agents to receive 15% of domestic sales and a whopping 20% for foreign sales?
    And my second question is: Is there any room for negotiation?
    The percentages seem high to me. Does’t a Hollywood agent who places a script only receive 10%?
    (Anyway, thanks for pointing out this list!)

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  2. This is a great list. I’ve pitched a couple of these people in the past and found them to be open, approachable, and frank.
    I can well imagine what kind of impact the publication of a list like this has on an already overburdened office. My guess is that those interested should jump on this PDQ; otherwise, they are apt to a get ‘sorry, we’re swamped’ note in reply.

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  3. Dan,
    I don’t know about the foreign rights but yes, it is common for literary agents to get 15% of your income (advances and royalties). TV agents typically get 10% of your salary and scrip fees but they do not get a share of your royalties (also known as residuals).
    Lee

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  4. The agents who volunteered to be listed in that piece should be given a medal. Talk about taking one for the team.
    The premise of the whole thing is misleading, though. All agents are open to new submissions for representation.

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  5. Actually, they didn’t volunteer. The magazine just lifted a couple of two-year-old listings from the Writers Market and slapped’em together for the article. One agent in the list isn’t too happy about it.
    Lee

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  6. I’ve been going through the list to see if there’s anybody I want to send to and I can tell you the article is not up-to-date. The information printed in the article doesn’t necessarily match what’s listed on the web sites. The names listed cannot be found in some cases, making me wonder if they still work there; also, the material the article says agents are looking for isn’t backed up by their website guidlines. This particular author is confused as to whether or not to send to ANY of them, so he’ll probably send to NONE of them, and begs forgiveness for referring to himself in the third person.

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