A top literary agent will refine your manuscript to make it saleable, pitch it to the very best editors in top publishing houses, get you a deal quickly, and continue to support you after you are published.

2. How to find a Literary Agent
A step-by-step guide

4. Finding a literary agent who’s respected in the
industry is the best thing you can do for your writing
career. A top literary agent will refine your
manuscript to make it saleable, pitch it to the very
best editors in top publishing houses, get you a deal
quickly, and continue to support you after you are
published

5. For perspective, Mollie Glick, my wonderful agent
at Foundry got me an international deal for THE
YOGA OF MAX’S DISCONTENT with Penguin
Random House worldwide (Riverhead Imprint)
within weeks of signing me up. A few tips on how
to find a literary agent who’s excellent–also please
read the companion piece on 10 Top US literary
agents who will actually read your query and
manuscript:

6. 1. Write a book which means something
The best literary agents get more than 500
queries a month and pick just one or two
manuscripts to represent, if that. Make it worth
their while to read your book. Express an
inexpressible thought

7. share an idea that changes the world, shed new
light on the messy, glorious human condition—all
in an interesting, page-turning way of course. If
you can strike the perfect balance of
entertainment and meaning, you are bound to get
noticed.

8. 2. Draft a killer query letter
Getting a top agent in the US is tough yet it’s also
the most democratic process I’ve seen. Being
Indian, I didn’t know a soul in US publishing yet
my standard 1-page email query below
reproduced exactly as is had a 50-60% success
rate (request for a full manuscript), including from
such luminaries as Jodie Reamer, Suzanne Gluck,
Bill Clegg, Nicholas Ellison etc

9. Email Subject: Query from #1 Bestselling Indian
Novelist: THE YOGA OF MAX’S DISCONTENT
Dearest X,
I was a #1 bestselling novelist in India in 2008
(Keep off the Grass, HarperCollins India) and
2010 (Johnny Gone down, HarperCollins India)
with 150,000+ copies of my novels in print.

10. Both novels have been optioned into films,
currently in different stages of development. I seek
representation for my 3rd novel, THE YOGA OF
MAX’S DISCONTENT (70,000 words, mainstream
fiction), my first novel targeted for a US audience.
- See more at: http://www.karanbajaj.com/writing-
creativity/6-tips-to-get-a-top-us-literary-
agent/#sthash.YM8YIui6.dpuf

11. About the novel: A violent encounter forces Maximus
Pzoras, a Harvard economist and Wall Street
banker, to confront questions about suffering and
mortality that have dogged him since his
mother’s death. His search for a mentor takes him
from Manhattan to the dark underbelly of India to a
near-fatal hike up the Himalayas and finally, a small
drought

12. stricken village in South India where strange
things begin to happen to him: he remembers past
lives, he can levitate and walk on water, do
impossible Yoga poses and glimpse future
events. Max struggles to overcome his rational
skepticism and the love of his family pulling him
back home. In a final bid for answers

13. he embarks on dangerous solitary meditation in a
freezing Himalayan cave. Will Max, Wall Street
banker turned Himalayan sage, penetrate the truth
of human suffering? Is enlightenment just a new
age illusion or an accessible truth

14. The YOGA OF MAX’S DISCONTENT is a
pulsating, contemporary take on the classic
human quest for transcendence, a Siddhartha for
our generation. I could think of no better agent to
represent my US debut given your stated passion
for culture-defining books that make a

15. difference in the world-exactly what I strove for in
my story, which is both a page-turning journey
through India and a journey of tremendous inner
transformation. I would be deeply obliged if you
could consider my query.
Thank you,
-

16. The basic anatomy of every query letter is the
same
Email Subject: Clearly state the novel’s title and
that it’s a “query”.
1st Paragraph: Indicate the name/genre/word-
count of your novel and why you chose the
particular agent to query. The more specific the
better so read a little about the agent you are
querying.

17. 2nd Paragraph: A short, gripping pitch of your
novel.
3rd Paragraph: About you/your writing credits.

18. However you can play around with the format. For
instance, I flipped the 1st and 3rd paragraph since I
wanted to lead with my Indian writing success.
And of course, the X-Factor here is the blood and
passion you put in your words.

19. Send the query to the best literary agents in
batches of twenty.
I highly recommend getting a subscription
to Publisher’s Marketplace ($25/month). There,
you can search for literary agents in your genre or
by books that are similar to your books, or just a
general

20. ranking by deals made. Create a list of target
literary agents. Remember, the sky is the limit
here. If you feel you deserve the best, don’t
hesitate to query anyone from Jodi Reamer
(Stephanie Myer’s agent) to Heidi Lange (Dan
Brown’s agent). If your query is good, they’ll
respond

21. Be detached from rejection
You will be rejected—a lot. Sometimes the
rejection will come at a query stage, sometimes
after a partial manuscript request, sometimes after
a full request. Don’t be fazed. A Yogi operates with
vairagya, dispassion and lives by the principle of
nishkama karma, or work without attachment to
the fruits of the work. -

22. However, course correct as you go along.
Querying only twenty agents at a time is a good
strategy because it helps you identify what’s not
working and course correct accordingly. As a
general rule of thumb devised by my own
experimentation

23. Query success rate of 20%+ (4 or more requests
for full manuscripts for every 20 queries you send)
means your query is solid. Less than that, I would
re-work the query to make your pitch more
compelling and passionate.

24. Full success rate of 10%-20% means you have
written a good book. If you don’t get at-least one
offer of representation after ten agents have
requested a full manuscript, re-work the
manuscript. Can the beginning be tighter? Can
you get the main conflict started less than a

25. quarter of the way into the manuscript? I got only
one representation offer after 10 full requests and
it wasn’t with an A-list agent so I took a few
months to re-work my manuscript, then began the
whole query process again. The next time, I
received multiple offers of representation

26. Timing: Although the Internet is full of well-
meaning advice to wait three weeks to three
months for an agent to respond to a query, I’d
venture to say that a solid query will get quick
responses, typically in less than a week. If you
aren’t getting any responses in two weeks, I would
fine-tune the query.

27. Have infinite confidence in what you’ve written
The reality is that the publishing industry is very
conservative. If you aren’t writing about vampires
and dystopian futures, it will take some to find the
right agent who both loves your bold, visionary -

28. story and believes he or she can sell it. Sooner or
later, you will find one though. Until then, just
believe in the power of karma. You set out to do
the right thing. The universe will definitely do right
by you.

29. For more details
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