By the end of 2012, I had a respectable amount of trade and educational titles under my belt, and it was time to find an agent who represented what I wrote—picture books. Anyone who has ever tried finding an agent, much less a picture book agent, knows it can be a daunting task. Out of the hundreds of agencies out there, only a fraction represents children’s literature and out of those, a smaller fraction represents picture books. Although I’d sold some trade picture books myself, some doors were perpetually closed unless I attended a conference where the editor spoke. That worked to a point, but it wasn’t a good strategy in the long run.
So, I began my search. I started by studying SCBWI’s agent list and supplemented it with Casey McCormick’s and Natalie Aguirre’s blog www.literaryrambles.com that I’d read about on a listserv. Finding their blog was like finding a treasure trove of information that I didn’t even know existed. Links in the upper left hand corner separated agents based on genre, and even if a particular agent wasn’t a good fit, there was usually a link to the agency’s website where I could do further research on other agents. Query Tracker at http://www.querytracker.net/QueryTracker was another great source of agent information. As I delved into the research, I saw that no one list had all the information. So, after a couple of days of searching online, I cobbled my own list that I’ve included below with links to their websites. About half them represent only children’s literature. The other half has at least one agent that represents picture books and other children’s literature. A few of them were closed to picture book submissions currently, but I included them as agencies to watch in the future.
The good news? After a thorough evaluation, submission, and discussion process, . . . I'm delighted to be represented by Eden Street, LLC. I hope my search helps your own picture book agency quest.
17. Farber Literary (no website, but worth researching)
29. Laurens R. Schwartz (no website, worth researching)
33. Marie Brown Associates (no website, but worth researching)
35. McVeigh Agency (no website, but worth researching)
