Where are literary agents?

-I've scourged the web for literary agents in the SF section, and I have only found about 20-30 possible ones. Agent Query had a small amount, and I heard Publisher's Marketplace has a lot. (but costs money, also might be wrong name. Something Marketplace)



This has been my search for several weeks, and I'm not sure what to do as I can't resend queries to the same people. Is Science Fiction a dead genre or something, literary agent wise? Where are the SF literary agents? What do I do once I use them up?



I really need help with this, there aren't many non-email agents either. (I prefer email query as easier for both, and so do most agencies.)



And making it clear, I'm talking about serious Science Fiction. Like Star War's setting Sci-fi, not some aliens crashing on Earth.You think Star Wars is serious science fiction? Just a minute, the phone's ringing...



I have the merged uploaded consciousness of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and Robert Heinlein on the line. They/it would like a word with you...



A quick trip to your local bookshop should confirm that science fiction isn't dead, but it's not nearly as popular as it was in those guys' heyday. 20-30 agents is probably your lot. Publisher's Marketplace isn't going to list any agents who aren't on agentquery.com, because the fact that somebody is a literary agent who reps a particular genre isn't secret or especially valuable. As I understand it, Publisher's Marketplace is valuable because it tells you that a particular editor has just bought a particular type of manuscript (which won't be in the shops for about two years), or is currently looking for a particular type of manuscript. If that matches yours, it's an opportunity to send it to an agent and tell him "so-and-so might like to see this".



To improve your chances of landing an agent, send your queries out a few at a time - maybe 5, no more than 10. If the first batch all come back rejected, with no requests for a partial, then your query letter needs work. Because you haven't queried everybody, you still have some agents left to try a better version on.



To be honest, if you accumulate 30 rejections for the same book, it's probably unpublishable anyway. If every agent in the country who represents that genre rejects it, it's unpublishable pretty much by definition, at least in its current form. If this happens, you have three options:



- Stop writing.

- Write a novel in a genre that's represented by more agents (but more agents means more authors, which means stiffer competition).

- Write a better science fiction novel. Most of the writers you've heard of wrote several novels before the first one that they got published. Another way I've heard it expressed is that you need to write about a million words for practice before you're capable of writing something that people might pay to read.



Good luck!If you do not know who to submit to and how to find them then you should not be sending out any query letters yet. Generally speaking, once an agent rejects you they do not want you to submit the same query/manuscript at a later time. Writing a query letter and selecting the proper agents is a major task.You need to research the industry before you submit to as many agents as possible.



Writer's Market is a book that lists agents and publishers across the country. There is even an educational section for beginners. The book is only about $20 and can be found at just about any bookstore.



If you want to learn about the publishing industry read my short take on it here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;鈥?/a>
First of all 20 to 30 agents is an extreme number. If you manage to get rejected by all of them then you need to consider revamping and editing your work based on some of their responses. If you feel that strongly about your work then you go directly to the publishers of Science Fiction. Begin submitting queries to SF publishers with slush piles. They say it isn't ideal but if you go through 30 rejections then what could it hurt. And I thought it was writers marketplace or writers digest and if you can find a library to sort of sit and read them you might be better off, at least saving yourself some money. I believe writers digest you can even join on-line for a small fee.



If you aren't a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy writers website you may very well consider that as well. They have interviews and contests with some of the most popular authors, editors and often literary agents in the genre. It is a great way to find out what is happening and how to best submit even before you submit. Some offer contests where an agent or an editor even read a partial of your work and give advice. Same is true for writer conferences. So you may very well want to join a group and soon. Have pitch meetings and listen at the agent workshops as well as the editors. These things can cost some money other times they will post a talk or notes from a talk on the website.
Sci-fi is a niche genre and it's true that there are fewer agents that rep sci-fi than say fantasy. Them are the breaks.



Other ways you can find possible agents:



1) find sci-fi books and see who the author's literary agent is. THe name will be in the Acknowledgements section, but it won't be obvious that it's the literary agent - you'll have to research each name in that section.



2) Leads. You can run into a lot of leads if you know how to spot them and where to look. By leads, I mean, when you come across articles or literary agents or writers who mention a literary agency on passing. Visit some publishing sites like Publisher's Weekly and read those articles. You'll come across articles where a literary agent is mention and you can look up the agency to see what they represent. Also, many literary agency hail from other literary agency; they move between agencies. So, read each literary agent's bio and see at which lit. agency they worked previously. Look up those agency to see what they rep. These are just two ways I"ve come across many agencies and publishers to add to my growing list. Of course, visit writer's forums and see who they're submitting to and get recommendations from them.



3) aaronline.org is another place to find agents.



Nothing wrong with Aliens crashing into Earth. I've just read a novel similar to it and the author just signed a deal for a 4th book in the series, so her alien's "crashing into earth" books are selling quite well. And they're fun to read as long as you can give a new twist to it.