Literary Agent Blogs: The Top 5 Blogs Writers Should Be Following

Literary agents are professionals in the publishing world, representing writers and their written works and negotiating sales on their behalf. A good literary agent is an indispensable asset to a writer.

In today's publishing world, most big-name publishing houses do not accept unagented submissions. And most professional writers don't want the added responsibilities of keeping up with the constant changes to trends, staffing, and legal contracts in the publishing world. All of which means, if you are an aspiring writer, you should look for a literary agent.

Unfortunately for writers, finding and signing with a literary agent can be the first of many challenges on the road to seeing their work published. Luckily, many literary agents take the time to post frequently on their blogs, giving valuable information to writers on overcoming such challenges. Not only do these agents offer advice on seeking representation, but they also share secrets about the publishing industry that can be useful to aspiring writers.

While most writers want to spend time writing, not researching the publishing industry, taking the time to follow these blogs will give the writer added insight to the business side of writing.

Janet Reid
http://queryshark.blogspot.com/
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

Blunt, and sometimes brutal, Janet Reid of FinePrint Literary Management in New York City nevertheless shares vital information on methods of querying agents. At Query Shark, she shreds the query letters (and egos) of aspiring writers-to their immense gratitude. Writers need to know what agents are looking for. Always quick to the point, Janet Reid tells writers what agents want to see in a query. She divulges information beyond queries at her other blog Janet Reid, Literary Agent.

Kristin Nelson
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

Slightly less brusque, but no less informative and straightforward is the "nice Midwesterner" Kristin Nelson who blogs at Pub Rants on queries, writers, publishing, and what is currently playing on her iPod. I personally have a quote of Kristin's at my desk which I read every morning: "Writers with 'ideas' for a great novel are a dime a dozen. It's that one-in-a-hundred writer who actually has the perseverance and stamina to sit down and write the entire thing (which is a huge achievement all in itself since the majority of aspiring writers never even make it that far)." Thank you, Kristin. That never fails to give me a kick in the butt when I want to give up on writing for the day.

Nathan Bransford
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

Curtis Brown Ltd. San Francisco agent Nathan Bransford is also the author of the middle-grade novel Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow, making him an agent who understands the writer's perspective first-hand. His series of posts This Week in Publishing is a chock-full collection of links to important publishing news writers need to know. Recently, he has been writing a lot about the future of digital publishing and e-books, which is a subject writers can't afford to ignore any longer.

Upstart Crow Literary
http://upstartcrowliterary.com/blog/

Having put up their shingle less than a year ago, agents Michael Stearns, Chris Richman, Danielle Chiotti, and Ted Malawer of Upstart Crow Literary in Brooklyn, New York represent primarily children and young adult fiction and take turns blogging on any number of topics related to books, publishing, movies, television, and...a little known use for the Kindle? My favorite part of this blog, however, is the Writer's Toolbox with "A Bookshelf for Writers and Editors" a listing of books that should be required reading for all aspiring writers.

Rachelle Gardner
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

Representing books in the Christian market, Rachelle Gardner of WordServe Literary based in Colorado calls her blog Rants and Ramblings On Life as a Literary Agent, and gives her perspective and insights on books, writing, and the publishing industry. She also invites comments from readers with her series of posts Q4U (Question for you) and her polls like "Where are you in your writing career?" (80% of her readers are unpublished.)

BONUS:

Chuck Sambuchino
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/

Okay, Chuck Sambuchino is not a literary agent. However, he is the editor of the Writer's Digest 2010 Guide to Literary Agents and is the author of the Guide to Literary Agents Blog, from which I learned of every single one of the aforementioned agents' blogs. Chuck Sambuchino is himself a writer as well as an indispensable wealth of information on agents, writing, and publishing. His popular series of posts are Seven Things I've Learned So Far (tips from writers), How I Got My Agent (personal stories of how writers and agents came together), Agent Advice (interviews with literary agents), and Successful Queries (examples of query letters that led to agents signing writers).