How can I get one?

1. Finish the thing they can sell

For a novel, that means a complete, revised manuscript, not a dazzling chapter and a promise. For narrative nonfiction, a proposal that would let an editor run the numbers. Agents are not in the business of waiting while you discover whether you can write a middle. There are exceptions for writers who already earn on the page. You can assume you are not the exception.

2. Build a list that is actually a list

Use this site’s directory, then leave it. Open each agency’s website. Note the individual agent, their genres, whether they are open, and the exact submission format. Add names from the acknowledgements pages of books that sit on the same shelf as yours. Subtract anyone who does not represent your category, your age group, or your territory.

A list of eighty names copied from a forum is not research. A list of twelve people who have sold a book like yours is a plan.

3. Write the approach as a professional

The next chapter is devoted to the query, the synopsis, and the manners of the transaction. The only point to make here is that the query is a business letter. It is not a memoir of how much the book means to you. Meaning is assumed. Competence is the surprise.

4. Submit in measured batches

Send to a handful of well-matched agents, not to everyone on the same morning. If the first batch produces the same objection — pacing, market, the first ten pages — you still have a chance to fix the pages before the rest of the list sees them. Simultaneous queries are normal in most markets unless an agent asks for an exclusive. If they ask, give a short, dated exclusive, not an open-ended one.

5. Survive the wait

Response times of weeks and months are ordinary. A polite nudge after the period stated on their site is ordinary. Daily follow-ups are how you become a story they tell at lunch. Use the time to start the next book. It is the only activity that improves both your odds and your mood.

6. When someone says yes

Ask who they would send the book to, and why. Ask how they communicate. Speak to a client if you can. Read the agency agreement: commission rates, termination, what happens to unfinished submissions. You are allowed to wait a few days if other agents still have the manuscript. Tell them you have an offer. That is not gamesmanship. That is how the industry prefers to hear it.

Getting an agent is a matching problem, not a talent contest with a single winner. Plenty of good books are turned down because the agent already has two of that sort, or because the market is stuffed, or because they read it on a bad day. Send the next one on the list. Then write something else. That is the whole method.