Preview - Premium Post - Industry Deep Dive #2 - Inside the Agent's Brain
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So, I’m not going to offer too much of a preamble to this issue of our Industry Deep Dive #2, as I’ve got a lot of information to share with you!
Within the next day or two, I’ll be sharing some of the best resources to tap into if you’re looking for an agent or even preparing a pitch (gotta get those comps ready!)
Now, keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list by any means. But these are the resources I’ve found to be the most educational and most helpful. Actually this edition turned out so well, I think I’ll put together something similar for screenwriters. Keep an eye out for that in the new year.
As far as this issue, I’ve organized the resources largely by medium, and occasionally, by function. I also cover why I think it’s a resource you need to know about and how it can help you on your agent hunt.
In this issue, you’ll get:
My super-secret source for truly getting inside an agent’s brain. This video series chronicles the efforts of two established agents to “virtually mentor” new and wannabe agents by getting very real and being surprisingly transparent. In this series, they discuss:
Where they found their clients and the criteria they used to decide to take them on.
Submission strategies they use that they don’t even want their clients to know about!
Agent pay (including salary numbers) and how agents are compensated.
Dealing with tricky situations such as publisher auctions, difficult editors, and going back to the publisher to get more support for their clients.
There are also two other great “insider” agent video series that offer useful insights.
Agent newsletters and blogs - Where they, as agents not their agencies, discuss the business of publishing and what you can do to make your submissions stand out to them. One agent offers a Q&A every Thursday and another answers submitted questions and edits query letters so you can learn what catches an agent’s eye.
Agent databases - I love databases! And I’ll point you to the best resources for agent research with regard to their most current wish lists, stats on reply rates, and their latest deals! I’ll even show you how you can have some of this critical information come to you instead of seeking it out, saving you precious time.
Podcasts - There are probably more, but I’ll point you to the two top podcasts to follow to learn more about how agents operate.
Doing agent research is hard. So, my goal for this Industry Deep Dive is to get you up to speed as soon as possible by providing you with some excellent tools and resources. I also want to make sure you’re getting the most up-to-date information and leveraging technology to the fullest.
So, are you getting ready to query or planning to query in 2021? Yes? Then make sure you’ve signed up as a Premium Supporter so you get access to exclusive content like this as well as access to the full archive.
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Until next time!
~ Paula
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