By Victoria Ying

When I was first starting out in publishing and looking for an agent, I was surprised how little information there is out there for graphic novelists. You can find lots of advice for picture book illustrators and prose novelists, but for those of us who combine the two, there is precious little out there to guide us. After talking to multiple people about the specific ins and outs of querying and finding an agent, I think it’s time to put it all down in one blog post. This way, anyone who’s interested can pass this information along and the world can find itself with more cartoonists who are represented and being paid fairly for their work. I’m currently on my third agent. I’ve had great experiences with everyone I’ve worked with, but for various reasons, things didn’t work out. I have had to search for an agent a few times, under a few different circumstances, so hopefully, what I say will be helpful and relevant to you and your journey. 

As with any advice post, I need to put a little disclaimer on this. I have shown this to a few other people in publishing to get their feedback and I’ve tried to make sure that this information is as accurate as possible.  That said, all of this advice is autobiographical and based on my own experience. If you speak to someone else, they will definitely have a different point of view and a different process, so please, take this with a massive chunk of salt. 

Gathering Information 

The first step for any project is research. There are a lot of good resources for finding agents who rep the work  you do. You can do this a lot of ways. Make a large document listing all of the agents you are interested in querying. 

1. You can look at artists you admire who are doing the work you want to do and see who represents them.
2. Check out Query tracker, Publisher’s Weekly Rights Reports and Publisher’s Marketplace to find information on agents. Publisher’s Marketplace costs money, so make your own choices about that. I sign up for a month or so while I’m on the hunt and cancel once I’ve found my agent.
3. Search on Twitter for #MSWL (Manuscript Wish Lists) and find agents searching for illustrators or graphic novelists and things that you may be working on.

Writing the Query

Most graphic novelists will query with a specific project. You should have a query ready that gives a synopsis and sample art for a specific book. Sometimes, if you are only an illustrator and wanting to illustrate other books, you can query as an illustrator and attach a portfolio. Some agents will be interested in repping illustrators, but some may only want author/illustrators. Read about who they represent and for what markets to find out. You can usually find this information on the agency’s website under the specific profile of the agent in question.

For a detailed look at what is expected from a graphic novel proposal, here is a link to my agent Jen Azantian’s guidelines. 

The most important thing when querying is to FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES. You can get automatically chucked out of the giant pile of submissions for simply not writing your email subject properly. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Every agency will have different guidelines, so take the time to thoroughly do your research and format everything correctly.

Agent Choice 

There are lots of cartoonists getting approached by agents now-a-days. Graphic novels are hot and most of us are un-agented, so it makes a lot of sense for agents to reach out. If one has reached out to you however, be sure to still find at LEAST two more people to talk to before making a decision. I’ve heard too many stories of people who just accept the first person who approached them and made choices that impacted their careers in ways they didn’t expect.

Make sure to query a decent number of agents. My first round is usually anywhere from 10-25. When JK Rowling was rejected twelve times, I laughed since I was rejected more times than that on a single first round agent query. Expect rejection. That doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough, you just aren’t the right match for the agent. 

And the right match is EXTREMELY important. It’s the one thing I look for when finding a new agent. I’m not as interested in how many sales they have as I am with how they are to talk to, how they are editorially, or how they communicate. Make your own list of things you want to find in an ideal agent. 

After you send out your first round, you may or may not get someone who wants to get on the phone with you. This conversation is super important! It will tell you a lot about the person and their tastes and how you and they will get along together. 

During this call, here are a few things to keep in mind and ask questions about:

1) How many clients do they have? Are you more comfortable with an agent with lots of clients who knows the ropes, or are you willing to go with someone with less experience but more time for you?

2) How “editorial” are they? Do you want input on your story? Are you a first time writer who wants help? Some agents do a lot of editorial work to help your submission be super strong, and some just let you tell your story the way that you want to tell it. 

3) What is their communication style? How quickly do they respond to emails? How fast can they get you notes on things? Are they cool with you DMing them on twitter? Me and my agent communicate this way, and it works great for us, but make sure that you guys are on the same page with that! 

4) Where do they see you and your book in terms of the marketplace? Do you see yourself in the same place?

5) Do their tastes align with yours? If your prospective agent has never heard of your favorite writer, that’s probably not a good sign. 

6) What is their fee? Normally, it’s fifteen percent, but I’ve seen some as high as forty if you are an illustrator. 

At the end of this phone conversation, the  agent may , or may not, offer to represent you. Once you get yourself an offer there will usually be a deadline attached. Seven to fourteen days is normal. During this time, you will reach back out to the other agents who either have not responded or have expressed an interest. You should write them all a follow up email letting them know that you have an offer. When you do this,  reattach your query letter to the email and let them know your deadline for the offering agent. This will motivate anyone who was on the fence, or convince any agents who were just starting to read your materials to pick up the pace. 

After this, you may get more phone calls and more offers. Or you may not. Think hard about who is offering and if you want them as your partner. Sometimes having no agent at all is better than a poor fit.

If possible, you should try to  reach out to the clients of all of your offering agents. Talk to them about their experiences and if they like working with the person in question. 

After that, you have the hard task of making a decision. It’s difficult with lots of factors going into it, but do your best to make the right choice for yourself. Even if you make a mistake, you can always do this process again. Every agent I’ve turned down has said that I am free to come back to them if things don’t work out with whoever I choose. 

And then, CONGRATS! You have representation! From this point forward, you and your agent will work together on a strategy for you and your project. 

Now, what if you have publisher interest but know you need an agent?

There’s a few ways you can do this. You can either reach out to someone who you know and ask to connect to their agent for this one deal if the project is time sensitive, and then revisit the idea of them representing you longer term afterwards. Or you can still email query a list of agents and find one  you like as detailed above. If you still choose to query, make sure to write something in the subject like, “PUBLISHER INTEREST, URGENT.”

This was a long post and It may seem very intimidating to find an agent. The world of publishing can be very opaque and the ins and outs are not often discussed in school. My dream is for all graphic novelists to be represented and to have our work be acknowledged as important and difficult. Good luck on your journey! It’s wild out there, but with the right partner, you’ll do fine. 

Special thanks to my agent Jen Azantian for corrections and notes about specific agent-y stuff 😉