Numerous singers have asked the same questions: “How do you know?” But I’m not talking about being in love, or lust, or like; I’m talking about agents.
For my current project, a nonfiction book on depression in pregnancy, I am currently shopping my proposal around to agents. My theory was to shop agents first, and if that didn’t work, move on to editors/publishers. I’ve sent the proposal to 10 agents so far. I got requests for more info from two (and an ultimate rejection from one), two flat-out rejections, and then nothing from the other six.
But how do I know which ones are legit? It seems that some “agents” are really just book doctors in disguise, and they want to charge you to “critique” or “revise” your book or proposal. Is any agent that asks for money upfront not legit?
A search on the internet came up with a few links (well, of course it did). First, I found this article from an actual agent about “Bad Agents,” which was more about incompetent agents than evil, predatory ones. I found this article through the Absolute Write Water Cooler, listing 20 active “bad” agents (I’m happy none of the agents I sent to seem to be on here).
It looks like it’s a little hard to figure out which agents are questionable, but there’s no question that some of them are bad. Of course, I probably won’t get replies from any of them, so I won’t need to worry….
Amy Krisko Krug 