18 Magazines That Will Make Agents Notice You
Confirmed literary magazines that agents read when looking for writers to represent.
Not everyone wants an agent. Not everyone published in top-tier magazines will attract an agent. And this is not a comprehensive list of all magazines that agents read. Since it is such a word-of-mouth, unpublicized aspect of the industry, I only included those where writers who have been published in them, or the editors of the magazines confirmed that agents do in fact read them (since those writers were contacted after being published in them — and I’m taking the editors at their word).
“Selling” your work sucks. An agent’s job is to do that for you. I know it’s more complicated than that but, well, it isn’t really. Agents have networks. Agents have panache. Agents are what allow writers to be hermits with petty tempers if they want to be. And isn’t that the dream?
There are many magazines that could probably be added to this list. Ploughshares, for example. Or The Sun. Also, some places, like Hinterland Journal say in their guidelines that agents read them. All great places. But, like I said, I’m sticking to ones I’ve verified with some much appreciated help from Shannan Mann at ONLY POEMS. In total, I’ve gathered 18. If you have experience with this, or know for certain of others, please comment below. I nixed places like Paris Review and The New Yorker because…obviously. I’ll make another list in the future if people like this sort of thing.
Today, will also be the first example of our new format for short paid lists going forward. Loads more info like tags, competitive rankings, genre breakdowns, socials tags and followers, and more. More info def leaves more room for error so don’t be shy about emailing or commenting if I missed something. I’ll be working from a coded spreadsheet from now on so any changes will be updated for any listings.
I made another list in this vein a while ago based on a post by an accomplished writer, though I have not confirmed whether agents read them. They are just the stepping stones from a writer who found success that I thought were solid.
And if you’re curious for more behind the scenes content about agents, we had a guest post a month or so ago from Carly Watters who broke down all the reasons agents reject a writer’s work:
This is one of our paid subscriber lists this month. Our paid subscriptions are what give us the ability to gather all of this information and maintain our database. If you have the means, you can upgrade here.
Of course, we are always happy to comp those in need, just let us know.