4 Things I Learned from a Literary Agent

Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing a guest speaker at the Norwalk Library. Her name was Jan Kardys, and she was amazing. She talked for 30 minutes, and if I didn't have to leave at that point, I could have easily listened to her for another hour.

She is president of Unicorn for Writers, an organization that helps writers get their books published; she also produces the annual Unicorn Writers Conference; and she has been a literary agent for about 20 years. She knows everything you need to know about polishing your book to make it saleable.

I will share with you now 4 critical things she taught us in those 30 minutes:

1) Reach out to 25 writers and ask them to reach 25 pages of your book and give you their honest feedback. In exchange, tell them you'll write them a glowing recommendation.

2) Copyright your book with the Library of Congress. Having an ISBN number assigned to your book does not automatically copyright your material. Go to to the Library of Congress website, download the TX form, write a check for $35 and follow the instructions for mailing your material to the LoB. In the case of an already published book, they request 2 copies.

3) You must get a review in three places: Publishers Weekly magazine, Kirkus and Library Journal.

4) And finally, you must be on social media. Join groups online, follow other writers, get to know other writers, and then go back to point #1.

I soaked up this information like a sponge. I think everyone there did. I was grateful to learn that I am doing some things right. I also was not surprised to learn that I have a long way to go.

For instance, to get your book represented by an agent, you need to have a marketing plan. So I suggest, if you are looking for an agent, you research book marketing plans online.

Also, there are specific dos and don't about how to write a query letter as well, so research query letters online before you sit down to write one.

I recommend that you take some time to check out the website for Unicorn for Writers. Review every service they offer, how much it costs, and consider attending their conference. There are a lot of opportunities available to us writers if we can find them. and Unicorn for Writers is one of them.

Good luck!


Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.