Finding an agent for your literary novel

(some very unhelpful advice)

I have several friends looking for agents right now. Sometimes they ask me for advice, and I don’t know if my advice is particularly helpful. Finding an agent is so difficult, because it’s a matter of being picked. You don’t choose—they choose. Basically, when you’re looking for agents, you ask your friends, “Who is good?” And they give you some names. You pick one name at each agency, and you send them an email. Generally my friends are querying for literary fiction, and I usually give them the following names: