Notes from an Agent Hunter

It astounds me that in this, the twenty-first century, there are still those hold-out folks who don't have a website. For this post, you can assume that I'm referring particularly to the elusive, contact-by-snail-mail-only literary agencies. I can't quite understand the lack of an online presence. Even if an agency is not accepting online queries (a whole other topic...), doesn't it seem like a savvy business decision to have website to introduce yourself, to specify submission requirements, to spotlight author clients, to provide contact information?? Certainly there are other ways for a curious person to obtain all this information, but they're not nearly as efficient, nor as likely to be as up-to-the-minute accurate as an agency's own website.

And I've got to admit, I like to see a photo of the agent I'm querying. Some agency websites keep things very mysterious and never show anyone's face, and I don't really get this either. I think it's easier to make a connection if you've seen a picture, but maybe that's just me. This may be crazy, but I view agent compatibility in kind of the same way that I view book compatibility. If a book cover 'talks' to me and the book's gotten good reviews, or I've heard about it, then I go for it. Similarly, if the agent looks to be someone with whom I could get along or with whom I might have a good rapport, and I'm familar with her clients or have heard good things, (and of course, if she's looking to represent the type of book I'm trying to sell), I figure why not go for it. But without that photo, I'm going in blind. I've even been known to use Google Images to try to pinpoint what an agent might look like. Some of them keep a veerrry low profile, and that, my friends, is extraordinarily frustrating.

And so goes my agent hunt...