The agent hunt

So today I spent some time on the 'Net trying to find an agent for my novels. Thing of it is, every instinct shouted that I should go to Borders to check out Jeff Herman's book or the latest guide to literary agents. But, I wasn't really feeling up to going out that much today. I'll go there tomorrow, sure, but for now, I turned to the Internet.

One site I visited, which was an agency listing, had the following results (and, no, this wasn't the AAR site):

One agency screamed "hack" with their promise of a release form leading to Hollywood exposure for their client's books. Yeah, right.

Another agency looked good, but there was a problem: I could find NO WAY to contact them. No Web site, email address or even a phone number. Their profile looked pretty good, with PEN/Hemingway award-winning clients, but what I didn't get was why they didn't have a Web site so I could check their company out some more. I want to SEE these books, read more about the company, read about what kind of agents they have, etc.

Well, there's Google...

Another agency DID have a Web site...or, at least, a URL. Their site was your standard "parked site" until they got it up and running. Once again, no way to contact them or chack them out.

One agency labeled itself a "boutique agency" based in Florida. They gave no credentials, no titles, no authors, zip. Just a name and email address. Ugh.

Another agent looked good, but she doesn't represent horror. I have two horror titles planned for future books, and I REALLY want to have an agent I'll stick with for a loooong time. No agent-hopping for me, so I passed.

One agent had a name I recognized: I have him on my Friends List on MySpace. 'Hey, cool,' I thought. But what I read wasn't so cool: "(Agent) is accepting submissions of poetry for consideration of publication. Accepted works will be published in his own books of poetry, which are distributed in traditional book stores around the country." Um...say what?! I don't think THAT one is an agent....

I left the site with more questions than answers. I DID manage to find that one agent on Google, though (with his PHONE NUMBER! Woo-hoo!), and what I read was still looking good. He's a member of AAR, I checked his blog out and saw he REALLY knows his stuff, he's on P&E with "verified sales to legitimate royalty-paying publishers on record," etc. I'm thinking of sending him my query. Stay tuned.