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 the 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