Comments on: How I Found a Literary Agent – the Irene Goodman Agency

By: Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:08:49 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Sammie…I really appreciate them! Sometimes I get discouraged, because so few readers give me feedback – much less a compliment.

You made my day

By: Sammie

Sammie — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:20:42 +0000

Laurie, Hello! :O) Thank you for responding. And yes, a hand written letter from a publisher. I will always save it. You are so right. That was not the kind of agent I would want to work with so it turned out as it was suppose to, each of us going our different paths. I will keep you posted on my publishing efforts. I have spent the morning on your website and have enjoyed it. It has a lot of great information. Keep up the important work.

By: Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:38:43 +0000

Sammie,

A handwritten letter from a publisher? Wow. And it sounds like the agent you queried wasn’t someone you want to work with anyway.

I gotta say that finding a literary agent isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. One day, I’ll write a post about what happened with my agent at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

Good luck with your publishing efforts – keep me posted! I’d love to hear how it goes.

Happy writing,
Laurie

By: Sammie

Sammie — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 13:30:41 +0000

Pause. Sigh. I send out submission query letters to agents and publishers. One time I erred and sent an agent a letter that I normally send to publishers. The agent’s ’tone’ suggested that I was stupid, my letter was mindless, and to the point she could not understand what I was communicating, and no publisher would want what I had written. I apologized to her for the correspondence. A major publisher who received the same letter rejected my novel but based on my letter was interested in anything else I had written, and I have never published a novel before. I actually get more encouraging letters from publishers than agents. One time a publisher wrote me a hand written full page letter. I have some letters already sent out to more agents, but I will not try to go through an agent beyond this last effort. They are making me tired. I will focus my efforts on publishers.

By: Laurie PK

Laurie PK — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:31:39 +0000

Thanks for this tip, Brad!

Good luck with finding the right literary agent — keep us posted on your progress.
.-= Laurie PK´s last blog post ..10 Tips for Interviewing Sources for Articles =-.

By: Brad Kenyon

Brad Kenyon — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:41:33 +0000

I found a website that helped me find a potential agent: litmatch.net

Much info, a submission tracker and my first search yielded 98 possible agents to query.

By: Alexander Field

Alexander Field — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 06:13:09 +0000

Great post on nabbing an agent. I'm going to check this out when it comes time to use you advice! : ) Alexander Field’s last blog post..The Rejection Goal!

By: Laurie PK

Laurie PK — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:45:26 +0000

The Irene Goodman Agency sent me the most wonderful e-newsletter today! No, Jon hasn’t sold my book but the email was full of hope, encouragement, and faith.

They said that book publishers need authors, so keep writing. They said don’t despair because of the economoy, because they’re still negotiating good contracts. They said don’t worry about recent cutbacks in the publishing industry, because editors are still buying books.

One of their agents sold 32 books in 2008; her goal was to sell 30. Wow, that’s about 3 a month!

It was a positive, optimistic email – and it made me proud to be part of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

And, my fingers are crossed that a publisher picks up my book in 2009…..or even sooner!