Agents for Historical YA

Eldrey

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Hi all,
I'm in the process of looking for an agent for my historical YA (late 1960s Iowa) and am interested in feedback about solid agents in this area.
Thanks!
 

Sage

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Cheering you all on!
Your best bet is to use the standard search engines for which agents take YA and historicals. Query Tracker, Agent Query, and #MSWL are great places to start. If you have access to Publishers Marketplace, you can also see which YA agents have been selling historicals too. Make sure you check on any agent here in BR&BC, where you can find out info about whether the agent should be avoided or not and submission news. Check with the agent's or the agency's website for submission guidelines
 

Wilde_at_heart

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You might also want to watch with calling the late sixties 'historical' since there are likely people working in the field who were born then, or might even be old enough to have been already in their careers at that point. Some of them might take umbrage with it, or at best assume you are very, very young and not all that well-versed in HF as a genre, or in the sixties as an era. Best off with 'YA set in ...'.
 

wampuscat

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Your best bet is to use the standard search engines for which agents take YA and historicals. Query Tracker, Agent Query, and #MSWL are great places to start. If you have access to Publishers Marketplace, you can also see which YA agents have been selling historicals too. Make sure you check on any agent here in BR&BC, where you can find out info about whether the agent should be avoided or not and submission news. Check with the agent's or the agency's website for submission guidelines

Sage is so wise. :)

The agent profiles on Literary Rambles are also amazing: http://www.literaryrambles.com/2009/03/introducingagent-spotlight.html

Once you have a list of potential agents to query, make sure you check the individual agents' websites, because sometimes they have updated query guidelines and/or wish lists, etc. They also sometimes give interviews or do guest posts on other websites or blogs. I followed agents on Twitter, too. (You don't actually have to "follow" them. You can set up a list with the agents you want to keep an eye on.) Seeing how agents interact on their websites/blogs/Twitter, etc. can be really helpful in deciding if you think a particular agent might be a good fit with your personality and work style.

Another good place to find agent names is to find books you love and look in the acknowledgements for those authors' agents.

My advice would be to take your time and really find an agent who is a good fit for you and a good advocate for your work. Good luck!
 

Becca C.

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