Agent Friday: Janet Reid

Today's agent is not only known as a top-notch literary agent. Janet Reid's alter ego is The Query Shark. In her shark capacity, she posts and critiques authors' queries, giving each of us an inside look into what works and doesn't work in the mysterious world of query writing.

Janet Reid is an agent with Fine Print Literary Management. Her blog has an interesting subtitle: Getting my attention is easy: write a book I want to read; write it well enough I want to tell others about it.


Reid's blog contains a great deal of information for writers preparing to query agents. I don't know how authors handled the query process before the internet came along. There is no longer any excuse for an author not to write a competent query. Numerous agents spell out their specifications, and articles and books can be found on the internet and at the library.

Some of Reid's blog articles that are not to be missed:

What you need before you query (different lists for fiction, non-fiction, and memoir)

A query letter checklist

What's NOT a query letter

How to get an instant rejection.

A couple of Janet Reid's articles online:

20 Tips on Query Letters

How to Trim your Query to 250 Words

If you'd like to learn more about query letters, check out Janet Reid's Query Shark blog. Whether you post your own for review or not, you'll find out more by the trial and error of others that a whole stack of books would provide.

Want to see the other agents I've highlighted? Click on the "Agent Friday" label on the right.