Agents | Cathy C. Hall Writes

I know you’re probably wondering about the connection between the Georgia Guidestones and finding answers to query bio questions. I was kind of wondering myself until it suddenly came to me (because I wanted to use this neat picture): mysteries!

Those guidestones are one great big mystery plopped down in a field in the middle of nowhere (no offense to Elberton, Georgia). And if you’re a writer, working on finding an agent, you might feel as if you’ve plopped down right in the middle of a query mystery. We’re always looking for answers to our query questions, aren’t we? Well, friends, this post’s for you.

Um, technically, not this post. It’s this post over at Agent Courtney. Agent Courtney had a swell contest wherein she agreed to critique the winners’ query bios. Her critique of the first winner’s query bio was very interesting and informative, not to mention really detailed. And she very nicely posted it on her blog for all the world to see. Like you and me.

So I hope I remember to go back to her blog and see her next couple posts for more information on what makes a winning query bio and clear up at least one mystery in my life.

(Is it just me, or do you laugh when you read “query bio”? OH. I know what it is now…bio sorta sounds like BO. And now that I think about it, I’ve probably written my share of stinky queries. Suddenly I’m not laughing so much.)

It’s SO easy to go a little crazy while searching for an agent, whether you write for children, adults, or zombies (maybe especially, if you’re writing for zombies). But there are a ton of wonderful resources to help you keep your sanity.

If you’re the tactile type, you can try the very hefty Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents or the Guide to Literary Agents, 2011. But you’ll want to supplement your search with the latest information. And for that, you’ll need to do a little surfing on the net.

You can zip over to AgentQuery, or try Query Tracker, where you’ll find buckets of swell statistics. But if you want to skip right to the nitty gritty of children’s, middle grade or young adult agents, you’ll want to check out Literary Rambles, where Casey McCormick interviews agents, and includes interesting stuff from all kinds of resources. And it goes without saying that you should check over at SCBWI’s Market Surveys (you’ll need a membership to see the goodies).

You can’t count on one single resource in your agent search. But you can find just about anything if you know where to look. As for finding the time you need to get it all done, you’re on your own with that. I’ve got enough trouble, keeping these zombie agents from going crazy.