Know any sf agents?

T

Tramshed

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Hello. I'm a new, unpublished sf author (wannabe author, anyway) and I'm trying to find an agent to help get my book published. I've done the usual thing by sending a covering letter, synopsis and first 3 chapters to a bunch of mainstream agents from the Writers and Artists Yearbook, and so far have got nowhere. Is there a list somewhere of specialist sf agents? After many years reading Gene Wolfe, J. G. Ballard, M. John Harrison, Aldiss, Moorcock and so forth I'm inspired to have a go myself. It could be that my book isn't any good, of course, but before admitting that awful truth I'd like to try every avenue. Anyone got any ideas/advice/kind words?
 
There is a good list on the Absolutewrite.com forum - although I can't find the thread right now. Also, if you look at Literary Rejections website there is a good, up to date list of agents, including their preferences on there. Oh, and twitter is a goldmine of info on agents - start following #askagent and you'll start to see the active ones there.
That's the easy bit... Now for the hard bit

Have you had your book betaed by experienced critiquers, including people who read and write your genre? Friends and family, sadly, don't count so much - they're much too nice (even when they say they're being hard.)

Have you had your query read and torn apart by experienced people - preferably those up to date with what a query letter should be? Have you read all of the queryshark blog and maybe explored Query letter hell on Absolute Write.

Have you had your synopsis checked to make sure it absolutely makes sense and does what a synopsis should do?

The sad thing is, so many of us (me included) submit before we know the ropes and before we've had the feedback we really need, and then we can't submit to those agents again. The good thing is, if you hang around here, post 30 lovely posts and get to know us, you can pop your opening 1500 words up for a critique and find out if it's hitting the mark/needs work/does any of the things agents hate. :)
 
I found thirty + sci fi agents in "Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market", querying them now. You can check this market guide, too. It's hard to advice you on someone specific because I don't know whom you have tried to contact already. Anyway, good luck from another wannabe :)
 
Thanks for the info'. I belong to a writers group and they're all positive about my efforts, but the truth is they're not going to be as frank as they should be. I've not had my stuff looked at in the ways you've suggested - perhaps now's the time to get that done. Also, I've only written up four chapters with the rest of the book in draft form. Would it be better to write the whole book up before continuing with the hunt for representation?
 
I've moved this thread to publishing -- I think it makes most sense here.

In terms of answering the question, I don't have much to add to what Jo said. But on Twitter some agents have a #mswl tag (manuscript wishlist) that might give you an idea of what they're looking for specificially?

EDIT: just to add -- I think fiction is very difficult to sell without a completed manuscript. That's likely to be one of the reasons you haven't had any luck with agents so far. And of course your initial chapters are likely to change after you've written the end.
 
Andrew Sutherland said:
Thanks for the info'. I belong to a writers group and they're all positive about my efforts, but the truth is they're not going to be as frank as they should be. I've not had my stuff looked at in the ways you've suggested - perhaps now's the time to get that done. Also, I've only written up four chapters with the rest of the book in draft form. Would it be better to write the whole book up before continuing with the hunt for representation?
Click to expand...

Yes, get it all done before submitting. And, absolutely, get the book finished before submitting - things might happen as you go through it that might affect the start. Plus, finishing a novel is daunting, you - and the agent - will want to be sure you can do that. Stick around here, ask advice and help and feedback and you'll find the path is easier (I have no doubt I wouldn't still be writing, let alone published, without these guys.)
 
Andrew Sutherland said:
Thanks for the info'. I belong to a writers group and they're all positive about my efforts, but the truth is they're not going to be as frank as they should be. I've not had my stuff looked at in the ways you've suggested - perhaps now's the time to get that done. Also, I've only written up four chapters with the rest of the book in draft form. Would it be better to write the whole book up before continuing with the hunt for representation?
Click to expand...
You should absolutely have the whole book ready and polished before querying, many agents state so in their guidlines. It would be a pity to lose an interested agent because the rest of your stuff is not in best shape...
 
OK, I was kind of getting the impression from the agents who did reply that a completed MS was the way to go, and your responses have confirmed it. It's back to the laptop and get the thing finished. Thanks folks.
 
Andrew Sutherland said:
Would it be better to write the whole book up before continuing with the hunt for representation?
Click to expand...

Yes, yes yes. Absolutely, But that doesn't mean you can't have parts of what you have already critiqued up here once you have the requisite posts. Sometimes it helps to get some early feedback and steer your writing accordingly. Or perhaps you prefer to splat it all down in a first draft and then tackle the critiquing - but if this is your first time you'll have to find out which approach works for you.
 
Congratulate me some more! (Doesn't happen often). I also read Philip K. Dick, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Hand, Alfred Bester and Robert Silverberg. If you want to find out where most good sf ideas originated, try Dick. If you want to find out what the best sf in the world looks like, try Wolfe - particularly The Fifth Head of Cerberus which is so good it gave me goosebumps.
 
Now you're just dropping names::
Andrew Sutherland said:
Congratulate me some more! (Doesn't happen often). I also read Philip K. Dick, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Hand, Alfred Bester and Robert Silverberg. If you want to find out where most good sf ideas originated, try Dick. If you want to find out what the best sf in the world looks like, try Wolfe - particularly The Fifth Head of Cerberus which is so good it gave me goosebumps.
Click to expand...
:: You need twenty five more post to start leaving some gems for crit so get to work. So we can see your work.
 
Hi,

Absolutely finish the book before you start on the agent-go-round. Grief I don't have an agent or want one, and for the most part I don't need one, but even I would have to say that submitting an incomplete book to them is rather unfair to them. Sorry to be so blunt but what were you thinking?

Consider the issue from an agent's perspective. They have to take a work from a writer, decide whether it's worthy of their time and effort before trying to hawk it to various publishers, something which is not easy to begin with. And to do it with an author who's never been published adds to their problems. Now you want to add to their woes by giving them a book which isn't even finished and which they can't be certain would ever be finished? Of course they aren't going to touch you. The only way you could really make your odds of getting an agent any worse would be to not have written anything at all and simply be submitting on "an idea"!

I mean would you go to a mortgage broker and ask them to liaise with a bank to get you a loan, but without any sort of an income, just the promise that if they got you a loan you'd go out and get a job?

Finish the book. Get it to the absolutely most polished stage you can get. Then start the agent-go-round.

Cheers, Greg.
 
And before you even think of approaching agents, ensure your story has been critiqued by people who will give you blunt but constructive criticism. Once you reach 30 posts, you can post the first 1500 words here. However, as first chapters tend to change whole the story is being written, it's best to wait until you feel that you've finished it first - then you can get in the mindset for rewriting drafts. :)
 
Thanks for the list, Tirellan, I'll get on it when I've finished the book. As Brian suggested might happen, I find I'm changing stuff in the early chapters as I write the later ones - nothing too serious, just inserting an entirely new chapter in between the original first and second. For relaxation, and when the story isn't flowing properly, I've been re-reading The Fifth Head of Cerberus (Wolfe) and The Crystal World (Ballard). Those guys are/were so effortlessly good it almost puts me off trying.
 
They weren't effortlessly good, it just reads like that. And we all have writers make us feel like that, don't worry. Keep plodding on and use them as your shining inspiration. :)
 
I know, I'm trying to be brave. The other two shiningly inspiring books on my reread list are Blood (Moorcock) and Light (M. John Harrison). If you haven't read Light yet, please do so immediately. It's one of those books you want to keep in your pocket so you can take it out and cuddle it whenever you want.
 
Also for your query to the prospective agent, when you put in your "comparable" writers to yourself and your project, remember to list people who have been **published** in the last 12 months. Not someone dead!

Wolfe and Ballard and Dick are excellent writers, but you need to allude to someone who went to acquisitions recently and was published.
 
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