A complete list of all Literary Agents in the US

Just want a list of all US literary agents?

Then keep scrolling, buddy. You’ll find everything you want a little further down.

If you want a list of agents active in the United Kingdom, you’re on the wrong page. Hum God Save The Queen, throw a Union Jack round your shoulders, and teleport over here instead.

Want a quick reminder of how to get an agent?

Finding a literary agent to take on, edit, sell and champion your work is a career-defining moment for any traditionally oriented writer. But it’s career-defining partly because it’s hard to achieve.

So let’s try to keep this simple. Here’s what you need to do to attract a literary agent:

Step 1: Write a wonderful book.
That’s hard, admittedly, but you’re on this page because you’re serious.

Step 2: Compile a longlist of qualified literary agents.
A qualified literary agent is one who is (A) in the right country, (B) open to your genre, and (C) reasonably open to taking on new work and new clients. Once you have that longlist – which could easily run to 100+ names – you can start to filter it.

Our AgentMatch tool allows you to select agents by genre at the click of a button. You can search by literary fiction, women’s fiction, crime thriller, romance, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, and pretty much every other genre you can think of – including all major non-fiction genres. Learn more about AgentMatch.

Step 3: Narrow down to a shortlist of 10-12 names
Once you have your longlist, you need to work to find the ones who jump out at you – normally because you find a point of contact. You’re looking for something that seems to connect the kind of reader that agent is with the kind of writer you are.

A shared favourite author. A passion for steampunk. Book set in your agent’s childhood state. Shared passion for the ocean. The point of contact doesn’t matter. Just find agents who sing to you.

Step 4: Write a brilliant query letter

Sounds hard, but it’s really easy. All you need to do is read our amazing query letter advice – and follow it.

Step 5: Write a sizzling synopsis

Sounds very hard, but it’s also very easy. There are two big tricks to writing a successful synopsis fast and easily. We tell you what they are (and with some bonus tips included) on our synopsis page.

Step 6: Give your manuscript and opening chapters a last check

Look: I’m not about to tell you how to write a book. But you probably want to check your opening chapters meet the basic requirements for professional manuscript format. You will probably also be interested to learn what we think are the most common mistakes made in the kind of manuscripts that go out to literary agents. More on that here.

If you want a properly complete guide to getting an agent, you can get here. Phew!