Now that I’ve completed my middle-grade novel, Gold Rush Girl, under my pen name SariAnne Miller, I’ve begun researching agents. Here are six tips that I’ve gleaned from my sleuthing.

1. Agents prefer to be addressed by name. Hmmm. Don”t we all? I’m much more likely to respond to Suzanne than to “Hey, you!” or “Hey, teach!” How many of us will open junk mail addressed to “Resident?” That’s what I thought. So give your prospective agents the same respect and make an effort to find out their names.

2. Agents prefer you to read their submission requirements. Not only do they want you to read them, they want you to follow them. As in “follow directions.” As in what your teacher taught you to do in kindergarten. Read the submission requirements carefully, and do the agents a favor. Follow directions.

3. Agents love it when you find out if your novel matches books they actually represent. I know it must break an agent’s heart to send a form rejection out to the person who submits a science fiction story to him when he only handles non-fiction. It probably breaks his heart because he has to waste his time sending you a rejection note. (Legal note: For the protection of all agents and their assistants everywhere, the he in the aforementioned scenario, could just as easily have been a she. If you prefer, you may substitute she wherever you see the word he in such scenario.)

4. While we’re talking about finding out if your book matches the agent’s representation, think about whether you respect the authors of these books. If you see authors on their list that you know, have read, or have undying admiration for, then the agent might be someone you want to research further. Otherwise, my advice is to keep looking.

5. I love it when agents embrace technology. (Translated, that means they accept queries by email.) It saves you money, and saves the planet’s trees. However, not all agents are there yet, because viruses are scary. This is a factor that I take into account when doing my research, but it’s not the most important thing I consider.

6. Have you read or been told that a synopsis should be about one page long per every 10,000 words of your manuscript? A well known writer says this in his book. That would mean that a 100,000 page novel would need a ten page synopsis. Now, call me crazy, but if I were an agent reading 100 queries a day, I don’t think I would want them to have ten page synopses with them. That would be 1,000 pages a day of possibly mediocre, possibly horrid writing. I have yet to see any agent ask for more than a one or two page synopsis.
Keep it short and concise. You should be able to state the high concept of your book in one sentence. I hear you wailing, “That’s impossible!” No, it’s not. If you can’t condense the story’s pitch, main idea, and theme to less than 500 words, then try again. And again. Until you do.

So there you have it. Hopefully I’ve covered the salient points and left out the unimportant ones. May your own sleuthing find you the perfect agent.