Going Solo

More and more agents are striking out on their own, fledglings leaving the nest to explore the big world. If you have what they are looking for, this is the time to send off your shiniest and most polished query, the envelope flap sealed with a drop of holy water.

Nadia Cornier left Creative Media when it was being folded into Folio, and she's been busy ever since with Firebrand Literary and her blog and the ever changing retinue of associates. Her last and final colleague in Firebrand has now gone off on her own, to start up another agency that handles a lot of romance. Think Harlequin and heaving bosoms on covers that you'd never let the children see.

If that fits your bill, take advantage of some grand opening specials at Caren Johnson's very own agency. She'd love to hear from you, don't you think? In need of new authors, to be sure. Assuming that she's taken along her clients from Firebrand, you might want to keep Nadia in mind as well. Looking for replacements to the stable, yes?

On a more literary front, Jonathan Lyons has left McIntosh & Otis, but the man's a lawyer and so he's no fool. He's looking for non-fiction, serious projects that are more likely to sell, what with the non-fiction market being the stronger. Maybe he'd consider your literary fiction manuscript, but the odds are very much against it. Won't know if you don't try, and what's a couple of thirty-nine cent stamps, a piece of paper and two envelopes?

Now, if your heart is set on querying one of the big dogs in the agent pound, you can write Jane Rotrosen's entire agency off your list. Unless you've been published, or you have some clout in the industry, that is. She's got enough to go around, all her associate agents are happy as can be, and she won't answer the door should you come knocking. According to her Publishers Marketplace site:

We regret that we can no longer accept queries from writers who have not been previously published or who have not been referred to us by a client or colleague. We will not respond to email queries. Solicited submissions by mail only unless otherwise requested by agent.

The fiction market gets tighter, or so the literary agents say, but still, new agencies spring up in search of authors and manuscripts. Have they learned any economics, about the law of supply and demand? Or is the demand greater than we have been led to believe?