So you've written your book, you’ve revised and edited until you’re crossed-eyed, and your gut is telling you that you’re ready to send your book out into the world! If you’re looking to publish your book traditionally, you’ll need to first query agents and find representation.
Here are five great websites you should be familiar with as you dive into the query trenches:
QueryTracker.com
If you’re asking yourself who you should query and how, it’s time to stop stress-googling and create a free account on QueryTracker.com. You’ll be able to compile of list of available agents from agencies across the world. You’ll also find details about how these agents preferred to be queried and, if you pay for the upgraded account, you’ll see statistics and details on their pending queries. But even without a paid account, this will be an invaluable resource for you.
ManuscriptWishlist.com
Once you’ve found a list of agents you may want to query, you’ll need to figure out what exactly they want to see. An agent’s wishlist can be as simple as “Looking for great Young Adult Fantasy novels” or as complex as “Looking for a Gothic Fantasy novel involving horse owners.” Manuscript Wishlist is a great place to figure out what the agents on your list want and how to sell your book to them.
PublishersMarketplace.com
So you have your “top tier” list of agents, you know exactly what they’re looking for and maybe you already know that they’re interested in your book. How can you find out more about their current clients and sales? Publisher’s Marketplace has that data ready for you. You will have to pay to access it, but it’s a monthly subscription so you can easily cancel when you’re done. You won’t be able to find the data on this site anywhere else (at least not without a LOT of time and research).
SavvyAuthors.com
Don’t be discouraged if your first batch of queries don’t go the way you planned. You may just need to reevaluate your query letter, summary or first pages. Websites like Savvy Authors offer lots of workshops to refine and get second eyes on your query materials. Plus, they offer their “Sweetheart Pitchfest” multiple times during the year, where you can directly pitch agents and get a leg up on the “slush pile”.
Pitchwars.org
If you’ve done much research about querying you probably already know about the #PitMad events on Twitter and maybe even the annual Pitch Wars competition. Even if you’re not interested in these events, though, the Pitch Wars website is a great resource. They frequently host author and agent interviews and offer querying tips and tricks. You can learn more about a potential agent you want to query or see if a previous Pitch Wars winner has a project similar to yours coming out soon.
