When did literary agents become a must-have to get through the door of traditional publishers? Many of the authors we celebrate on this site, if not most, didn’t have one. They did it the old-fashioned way, by submitting directly to editors, or getting a referral through a fellow writer. But things have changed since the days when the Brontë sisters were rejected by many of London’s top publishers, and even well into the twentieth century, when an agent just wasn’t a necessity.

But things have changed. The big publishers have consolidated and the mid-sized and smaller ones have proliferated. There’s more opportunity, but the competition is much stiffer. Everyone and their cousin wants to be an author. If you’re a writer determined to go the traditional publishing route, agents can be extremely helpful, and sometimes completely necessary, to achieve that goal. Here we’ll explore how to find a literary agent. Read More→