Hey #amquerying writers, there have been a handful of agencies popping up (listed at end of thread) recently claiming to want to represent voices typically unheard in publishing.

While this is a great sentiment, experiences shared by founders and a lack of sales / client history make it difficult for this goal to be achieved.

Degrees and internships, while great, do not mean you can run an agency. I've addressed the why here: https://twitter.com/Megan_Manzano/status/1294654679687856128?s=19

And by not having applicable experience, even with the best intention of wanting to help underrepresented voices, it's hard to do so.

Gatekeeping and racism in publishing is a systemic issue. Getting books into editors hands often involves connections.

More importantly, you want to come ready to fight for your clients when on submission, when negotiating a contract, all through a book's publication and extended to their career.

You want to keep them from being exploited.

And even before the contract stage, you want to know how to edit / best provide direction for a client's work.

There are rules for going on sub. Often times, if an editor passes on a book, you can't submit it again.

If an author gets new rep later on, it has to be with a brand new book.

This is time and creative effort a writer has to put in.

Learning as you go, as the founder of an agency, can harm any writer's career - good intentions aside.

So with all of these points in mind, here are the agencies:

Weaver Literary
GP Literary

Always do your research, writers! If something feels off, it's okay to go with that feeling and dig deeper.

I also know publishing relies heavily on a network and info is not always out there, hence the reasoning of this thread.