Exposing the Secret Tactic That Got Me 8 Literary Agent Offers

If you are searching for a literary agent for your book, this is the tactic that helped me get 8 offers from literary agents in one month — and it goes *against* the conventional advice given to writers.

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HOW TO LAND AN AGENT

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MORE WRITING TIPS!

[damalavanda]

This is the best advice I had for getting an agent

[arzabael]

It almost seems like the easiest way to get taken seriously is to say someone else is taking you seriously. Ya know? The way agents jump on a query if it’s for something that got an offer

[becca]

Such excellent advice! I wish I'd watched your video before I signed with my agent. I was so tired of querying, and so thrilled to have an agent actually want to represent me, I made the huge mistake of signing with her on the spot without giving other agents a chance to move me to the front of the line. As you've guessed, that agent didn't work out. (After rewriting the manuscript for her, I waited over seven more months, and she still had gotten around to reading it. I realized then that she probably never would.) So I'm back in the query trenches, a little sadder but wiser.

[JamesStoddah]

How do you know if they are a junior or new agent? It's often hard to research the agent's background from the agent's website.

[ccormore]

Dumb question: how do I know someone is a newer agent? Where is it written? I queried (unsuccessfully) over a year ago, and I remember struggling to actually find new agents. All I could find on literary agency websites were well-established ones.

[morfrikel]

I‘m from germany, so i have trouble finding agents by looking at my favorite authors (since most books are written my non-german authors). i try looking for german authors, but i rarely find, y see books of them in bookstores. and i don‘t want to buy a book online, without having the option to read the first page. any advice?

[rowan]

Always kept failing besides for the one who nearly accepted my work since it was the only personal one I have ever gotten. Interesting point about getting new agents. However, how can you tell? Sometimes there isn't anything written about them or have any kind of history or what authors they represent.

[TheEccentricRaven]

Good advice, thanks. I have my dream agents in mind, but I know they aren’t always open to queries. I hope someday to go to a conference and meet agents, a lot of whom are junior agents. I'll be sure to give them a chance.

[catcrazed]

This requires the writer get an offer in the first place. Then, most agents send a polite 'step aside" because they know the game. They dont like writers using, essentiallly, a low rung offer to get a better offer. The newer agents are being used essentially. Agents hate this.

Also. Getting an offer even from a newer agent is very difficult.

Yes. Writers do this. They put out a two week deadline to agents who already have their manuscripts or a query. The agent will take a quick look and either step aside, request and then decline. Its very rare to get a bunch of s tusl agent offers this way. You WILL get more manuscript requests but most to all turn into step asides. So youre left with an offer from an agent you may not want because you put a ticking clock under an agent who doesnt have the time to read an entire MS and decide in two weeks.

You end up burniing thru a list of hood ahents this way, imo.

[WhatDoesEvilMean]

This might sound weird…but why can’t your agent just be a friend? When I think of so many of the popular actors and musicians, oftentimes their agents are just their friends or family members.