Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts while spring cleaning. I enjoy the format so much (particularly a podcast called The Heart of Organizing) that I decided to start my own podcast. It’s now live, and the first episode is How to Find a Literary Agent. In this 8-minute podcast, I talk about 5 things you can do to find the right literary agent to represent your book (hint: it does not involve giant indexes listing thousands of names and addresses).

Why is it so important to work with a good literary agent?
Signing on with a literary agent is the first step toward publication with a major publisher. Most publishers won’t even glance at unagented submissions. Your agent will be your partner in all things publishing. She’ll get your book out to the right editors, negotiate your contracts, and sell your foreign rights, which can be a very important part of your income. She’ll go to bat for you. She’ll talk you out of doing stupid things, and insist on better terms in your contracts than you could ever get for yourself. She knows the business better way better than you do. Think of your agent as your most longterm partner in your writing career–a more serious, stable, and essential relationship than you’ll probably have with any one editor or publisher.

She’ll handle all sorts of rights for each book–audio, book club editions, reprints, and more. I’ve been with my own agent since 2004, and I feel so fortunate to have found her. Without her, I would have had a very different (and I imagine far less satisfying) writing career.
Go here to listen to the podcast. If you like what you hear, you can click “follow” on the podcast page, so you’ll know when new episodes are added.

As always, happy writing!

Michelle Richmond
http://bookdoctor.org