Literary Agents Quotes

• The best source for finding an agent is called Literary Agents of North America. It's a complete list of agents, not only by name and address, but by type of book they represent and by what their submission criteria are.

  Sara Paretsky

  Book, Names, America

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• A literary agent is nothing but a cheap salesman (or woman); while a writer is a cheap salesman (or woman) who also has to actually write the books.

  John Hodgman

  Book, Writing, Agents

  "The Exchange: John Hodgman". Interview with Thessaly La Force, www.newyorker.com. November 11, 2008.

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• Hell hath no fury like a hustler with a literary agent.

  Frank Sinatra

  Hell Hath No Fury, Agents, No Revenge

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• In researching literary agents I did what the books tell you to do: I looked at the acknowledgments page of a book that was similar to mine. Happily, that author thanked his agent. I looked up the agent on the web and found out that he not only represented authors writing books similar to mine, but I knew some of his clients! So, I sent in the manuscript, and they decided to represent it.

  Debra Hamel

  Book, Writing, Agents

  Source: keeperofthesnails.blogspot.com

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• Even the worst job has its benefits and so does being a professional literary agent, and - I know I said this at the time but I still believe it - the worst job is the one that you know is wrong for you, but you still do it. You're afraid to quit.

  John Hodgman

  Jobs, Believe, Doe

  "Bewildered Maine resident John Hodgman takes another crack at our 11 Questions". Interview with Marah Eakin, www.avclub.com. September 3, 2015.

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• My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director.

  Daniel Radcliffe

  Mom, Dad, Actors

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• I would never do a printed memoir. I've been asked to publish a memoir from years by different publishers and literary agents. I think it wouldn't be great for me because all I'd really want to talk about it music and I'd rather just play it.

  Natalie Merchant

  Thinking, Years, Play

  "Paradise Is Here: An Interview With Natalie Merchant". Interview with Gregg Shapiro, livingoutli.org. April 19, 2016.

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• If I focused hard on getting a literary agent, and doing things like that, instead of designing my blog's header, I would have more money, I think. I think I don't view myself as an author. I view myself as a person. I view [anything] as part of being a person, so I feel okay with "marketing" or other things like that.

  Tao Lin

  Thinking, Views, Design

  "Tao Lin: They See Me Trolling". Interview with Peter Heyneman, brightestyoungthings.com. February 4, 2011.

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• The syndicates take the strip and sell it to newspapers and split the income with the cartoonists. Syndicates are essentially agents. Now, can you imagine a novelist giving his literary agent the ownership of his characters and all reprint, television, and movie rights before the agent takes the manuscript to a publisher? Obviously, an author would have to be a raving lunatic to agree to such a deal, but virtually every cartoonist does exactly that when a syndicate demands ownership before agreeing to sell the strip to newspapers.

  Bill Watterson

  Movie, Character, Rights

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• A year after I'd graduated college, I went to a weeklong conference intensive in Boston, and that's when things kicked into high gear. My workshop leader was a Harvard professor and editor. At the end of the week we met one-on-one over breakfast, and she said, in essence, "Look, you're ready to turn pro." She gave me a list of literary agents to query once I had something to show them. I came home and wrote my first real novel, and the agent that sold it to Tor Books was on that list.

  Brian Hodge

  Real, Book, Home

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• I call myself a literary agent simply to distinguish myself from actors' agents.

  Irving Paul Lazar

  Actors, Agents

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• I wrote a query letter to an editor - a friend of a friend. The editor called me an idiot, told me never to contact an editor directly, and then recommended three literary agents he had worked with before. Laurie Fox was one of them, and I've never looked back.

  Daniel H. Wilson

  Editors, Agents, Letters

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• Mr Howard Saxby, literary agent, was knitting a sock. He knitted a good deal, he would tell you if you asked him, to keep himself from smoking, adding that he also smoked a good deal to keep himself from knitting.

  P. G. Wodehouse

  Knitting, Smoking, Agents

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• My dad's got a brilliant eye for scripts 'cos he's a literary agent. He and my agent read a load of scripts and filter them.

  Daniel Radcliffe

  Dad, Eye, Scripts

  Interview with Dave Calhoun, www.timeout.com.

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