7.26.2011

It's Tuesday already?

Yeah, we um, missed Monday. It was Sunday. And now it's Tuesday. Whoops. (no, drugs were not involved. just families and kids and movies and sunshine)

July and December are heavily rumored to be the slowest months in agenting/publishing. Neither of us are actively querying right now - we both have completed mss that we enter in the occasional contest or query with the occasional agent/editor, but we're concentrating on completing our WIPs by the end of the summer for now. (yeah, we know - we said we'd be done by the end of June. it's nice to have goals...making them happen is a whole different story sometimes! but if you're an agent, don't worry - we'd totally make any deadlines you give us!)

How about you guys? Any July progress on querying or submitting? Are you planning on it yet this summer? We love success stories! Here are some of my (erica's) favorite places to research agents - share yours in the comments and I'll add them:

Query Tracker is an absolute must for any writer. Their database is full of agents you can sort by genre if you're generating a list of potentials, but also more specific information (including a comments section) on specific agents. I do all my, well, query tracking right from their site so I know who I've queried and what their response was. They also have a forums area and their own blog (shout-out to Stina, who contributes to their blog).

Agent Query is another helpful database that includes a little more detail for each agent than Query Tracker does, like their special interests/wants and recent deals from Publisher's Marketplace.

Preditors and Editors is your go-to source for finding out if an agent/publisher is legit. Have someone who contacted you about your work. Check here first!!

Absolute Write water cooler has a lot of topics - you could seriously get lost in there. I like the "Bewares and Recommendations" thread - lots of reader-supplied information on agents and publishers, including turnaround time and examples of responses/form/non-form letters.

Krista V.  has done quite a few agent interviews. Check out her "interview with an agent" tab for a list.

Literary Rambles does the research for you - tons of information on tons of agents (primarily for YA/MG)

Middle Grade Ninja interviews agents for MG authors (most of which will also take YA/children's). The list is on his sidebar (and beneath that is a list of author interviews).

Guide to Literary Agents is chock-full of information helpful to any writer. I especially like his new-agent interviews, which you can find on his sidebar as New Agent alert, although you'll find many other helpful labels there, too.

Happy Monday Tuesday! And Good Luck!

14 comments:

  1. Now that is an awesome list. So helpful. Thank you!

    It sounds like you are both spending your summer like myself. I should have finished the first draft of current WIP by the end of this week, and then I'll be spending the summer preparing for my 12-week work break WIP.

    Have a fun summer!

    Ellie Garratt

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  2. Great list! Thanks for sharing.

    I was meant to query this month (I had no idea it was one of the slow months - but I guess that makes perfect sense!). Luckily, it's a busy time for me and I probably won't be ready until August.

    Happy writing!

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  3. I'm so excited to use these links, erica! It's a great one. Thank you! (The post was worth the wait!) #amwriting christy

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  4. Fab links. I must get back to my WIP so that I can use them. :O)

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  5. I'm still editing BG, and I hope to query in a few weeks.... Thanks for the links, there are a few I didn't know about.

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  6. Having been both on the agent hunt during the summer, and had an agent on the editor hunt for me during the summer, I can say yes, things definitely slow down when the weather heats up! It's one of the unfortunate realities of publishing. I can't blame them though, I know I like to slow down in the summer too! :)

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  7. This is fantastic ladies. Right now I'm pulling my query list together.

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  8. Great resources, ladies. All in one place...nice. Er, not actively doing things...but LA is coming up!

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  9. Thanks for putting this list together. I've only been using half of them regularly. It's nice to be reminded of the others.

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  10. I just finished editing Sophie, now letting it steep before the next read-through. I plan to query in September.

    I love QT for query/agent research!

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  11. WHAT an awesome resource! This summer I'm concentrated mostly on writing, but perhaps this time next year I'll be needing this list...which means I ought to book mark it, huh?

    So, Erica, are you ready to confess to watching the Bachelorette like your pal Christi? Because I've GOT to talk to someone about what Constantine did last night. It was awesome!

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  12. Well, you know what they say... "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make when they go by."

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  13. I started querying last week. I've already received 4 rejections. Ugh.

    Absolute Write is a great resource.

    Su, you made me laugh! I know the sound well.

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  14. Hey girls, I'm glad you're having a laid-back summer. So am I. (Though I'm officially also trying to finish polishing/revising my WIP. ;))

    Totally unrelated but I love this new design and fonts. Much cleaner.

    Since you all are mentioning agents here, I thought I'd let you know I posted an interview with agent Elizabeth Kracht of Kimberley Cameron & Associates. Q&A on Friday, July 29th. Please stoy by if you get a chance!

    Cheers!
    Lorena

    http://divinesecretsofthewritingsisterhood.blogspot.com/2011/07/interview-with-agent-elizabeth-kracht.html

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