An Overview of the UK Literary Agent Marketplace

I’m submitting...

It’s fiction, a novel, but that’s not what I’m writing about. Today my blog is about trying to find a comprehensive list of UK literary agents. It’s a bit like sucking a real rock rather than a peppermint kind. But you expect this to be the case, and so in my own madness I sourced and brought together UK-listed literary agents from a number of sources.

I found it interesting. I’m like that; before I was touched by madness I worked in data intelligence. Says it all!

The sources I used are those oft-mentioned by the writing community, including literary agents themselves. They were as follows:

The Association of Authors Agents
Historical Writers Association
The Writers and Artist Yearbook (2017)
Writers Services (Online)

Is this a comprehensive list? I’m sure it isn’t, but many agencies were listed and duplicated across the sources, so I was satisfied that for my own submissions it was well catered for. Other sources were used to check on authenticity and activity of some of those listed. On this front I found Agent Hunter a most useful resource.

Anyway, the numbers were very interesting as a marketplace.

Here goes: UK Literary Agency Types

And so based on what work you’re writing, it seems the Literary Agent marketplace is far smaller than it might first appear. As a writer of adult fiction who isn’t going to submit by post, there are just 83 agencies I need to research.

It’s a much more manageable number and, as a spoonful of reality on a rainy day, I will take heart and see that perhaps the potential of self-publication is a very real option. Now though, I think I need to take a break from numbers.

You see...

I hate maths.

o.O

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