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Blogs by Ronnie Ray Jenkins
Literary Agents, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. 7/27/2012 10:10:37 AM
Some things writers should know about literary agents. I remember back more than 12 years ago, when I began the daunting task of querying literary agents. I thought, I knew it all then. Boy, was I wrong. I soon found out that the writing world is filled with sharks who masquerade as literary agents. One in particular comes to mind. This woman claimed to be a literary agent, charged reading fees, and then offered her in-house editorial service. Being the hungry writer, I fell for it all. When I finally realized she was a scam, I vowed to educate anyone who sought out the services of literary agents. Here's a few quick lessons.
1. If they want any fees--RUN.
2. If they offer you editing at a cost, or if the editor they recommend is associated with them--RUN.
3. Learn from websites like, Preditors and Editors, or Writer Beware. They provide a great deal of information about fake literary agents who charge fees for representation. If an agent wants anything more than the standard 15-percent--RUN.
4. Expect rejections from legitimate agents. It's part of the game. What might not be good for them, may be good for someone else. If you are constantly rejected, re-think, and re-write. Obviously, something is wrong.
5. Be professional in your approach, and keep your query tight, and concise, and 250 words is usually the normal word count of a "knock-em-dead," query.
6. Finally, if it is too good to be true, guess what? It probably is.
