Update on Agent Search

Well, I've revised my novel to death and decided that now is the time to find an agent. How did I go about choosing who to send it to? I work off the following criteria:

1. Submit first to agents who represent books I love that are similar to mine.

2. Submit to agents who represent books similar to mine as found on agentquery.com

Since July 3, 2012, I have submitted to 13 agents:

• Jodi Reamer
• Rosemary Stimola
• Laura Rennert
• Miriam Kriss
• Ginger Clark
• Laura Bradford
• Holly Root
• Jennifer Schober
• Brandi Bowles
• Suzie Townsend
• Victoria Marini
• Kristin Nelson
• Jenny Bent

So far, I have received two rejection emails (from Jodi Reamer and Laura Bradford). Though the rejections were more like form emails, I have to say I was impressed that the agencies took the time to send a response at all. I understand that agents are incredibly busy (I couldn't imagine getting several hundred queries a week-or day!) so I don't expect a rejection email at all (most agencies have gone to the "no reply by certain time limit = rejection"). Getting one from these prestigious agents impressed me - they are extremely professional.

I plan on submitting a few more queries today. When doing my research on an agent, I ran across an incredibly helpful site, Literary Rambles, that does Agent Spotlights. These are incredibly detailed posts on agents with links to interviews they have done on the web. Basically, these posts summarize everything found on the web about this agent and does a wonderful job cutting down on my research time. Definitely check this blog out.

Do you have helpful tips on researching/submitting to agents?