10 Agents Looking for Speculative Fiction

Where to Query This Week (11.20.24) | Plus an agent weighs in on whether or not you need representation

Nov 20, 2024

∙ Paid

Welcome to Sub Club’s Where to Query This Week!

This week, we welcome our first agent to the column! Maggie Cooper is a Boston-based literary agent for Aevitas and has worked with them since 2018. Today, she is sharing what agents can offer writers so that you can better decide whether you need an agent at all.

With so much information out there, it’s so easy to get bogged down with everyone else’s success stories or podcasts on process or TikTok tips that we forget to ask ourselves the important questions: What do I actually want? And what will help my specific project succeed?

For a lot of us, the latter includes querying literary agents. However, as Maggie points out below, an agent is not for everyone. I hope you enjoy Maggie’s piece as she addresses what agents can offer writers and the considerations writers should make before seeking representation.

PS: Maggie is open to queries!

» » If you want to ask a question in our Query Hotline, fill out the form here with any questions you might have about querying—whether that’s around agents, indie presses, book contests, formatting, genres, or if you just need someone to tell you you’re doing just fine. (Submit your question here) « «

Do You Need a Literary Agent?

As a literary agent, I work closely with authors to build creatively satisfying and financially sustainable careers—and while I’m biased, I believe my work is of great value to the writers who choose to work with me. That being said, I also believe that not every writer needs a literary agent to do the work they want to do, and I often encourage people to be thoughtful about what they are looking for in a writer-agent relationship before they start sending query letters.

Here are a few ways that I think about the agent’s role.

Agents are gate-openers.

We often talk about publishing gatekeepers: the professionals who stand between you, as a writer, and the rest of the publishing industry. And while that’s not inaccurate, I prefer to think of myself as someone who opens the gate to writers whose work the world needs to read. As an agent, I can provide writers with access to editors at trade publishers in the so-called Big 5 and beyond, who don’t typically accept submissions directly from writers. By fine-tuning my pitch and activating my knowledge of and relationships with editors, I can help the writers I represent break through the noise to find the best possible publishing home.

That being said, if you’re a poet or experimental writer, someone writing for a highly specialized audience, or a writer well suited to self-publishing, you may not need an agent to find the perfect home for your book. Small and independent presses, academic presses, and publishers that focus on books for specific sectors (doctors, teachers, etc.) often work directly with authors. And while I always recommend that writers do their due diligence before signing up with any press, there are many paths to publication that don’t require an agent to hold open the gate for you.

Agents are jewel-polishers.

We often tell writers that they should take their book as far as they can on their own before querying. I would amend that to say a writer should take their book as far as they can, not just on their own, but also with the help of an engaged and supportive writing community. Learn as much as you can, get second and third and fourth and fifth reads, and revise until you feel ready to throw your book out the window (and then probably revise some more).

The market is extremely competitive, which means it’s hard to sell even a very good book. As an agent, I love to work editorially with my clients to make their projects even stronger, but I need a book to already be a gem to begin that process. I can advise on cuts and angles, help polish rough edges, and buff the manuscript to a shine, but I can’t change cubic zirconia into a diamond or make an emerald into a ruby—which means I’m looking for writers to bring me beautifully realized projects with a clear sense of where they fit in the market.

Agents are dealmakers.

Many agents support their clients throughout the publication process. But arguably, our most crucial role is at the dealmaking stage, when we negotiate with the publisher for the most favorable terms, carefully review contracts, and help the author strategize around audio, foreign rights, and film/TV prospects.

While almost all agents are in the business for the love of the books, it’s also true that we need to support ourselves. For me to take on a book, I need to expect that I’m going to be able to sell that book in the kind of deal that will allow me to pay my internet bill and support my fancy pastry habit. That means that all the decisions I make about which manuscripts to read and which writers to take on have as much to do with commerce as with art. Your agent must be both a creative and business partner. And at the end of the day, we should be making money for you and ourselves.

A note: As you consider whether you need an agent, you might think about what an agent can and cannot do. We’re not therapists or publicists or copyeditors or social media consultants or magicians, and while we absolutely will be your fans and your cheerleaders, we should be more than that too. If you’re writing a book for a broad trade audience, have put in the work to create and polish a gem of a manuscript, and are prepared to approach publishing as a business proposition, you might be well suited to working with an agent. And in that case, let the querying begin!

Maggie Cooper is an agent with Aevitas Creative Management, representing adult fiction and select nonfiction projects, with an emphasis on queer and trans stories and books that make our world weirder, kinder, more joyful, or all three. She holds a degree in English from Yale University, attended the Clarion Writers Workshop, and earned her MFA in fiction from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she served as an editor for The Greensboro Review. Based in Boston, Maggie is seeking funny, sharp literary fiction; weird and/or cozy genre-pending and speculative fiction; capacious historical novels; beautifully told queer stories; and sharp and quirky feminist romance.

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