Monday, 6 October 2025
Why Professional Writer Organizations Are Mostly Worth the Dues When It Comes to Searching and Selecting a Literary Agent
Genre specific writing organizations offer different benefits to members. One of those benefits related to the literary agent search that is often overlooked is the pre-screened list of agents actively seeking submissions in a particular genre that some groups offer their members. For example, the dues to the Romance Writers of America national chapter includes access to a members only resource listing agents (there’s one for qualifying markets too) that RWA has already vetted as to their willingness to accept submissions from RWA members. Historical Novel Society also offers this to members in good standing.
The agent search can feel daunting because the system has evolved to where an agent is almost an absolute requirement for getting the attention of a traditional Big Five publishing house because BFs generally accept agented submissions only. This has increased the number of agents, but it has not increased the value of having an agent.
Another agent related value to membership is that the warehouse organizations (and some smaller regional groups) invite agents to their conferences where you can schedule a one-on-one meet with an agent and pitch your work. Sometimes they are group pitch sessions. They may also bring in editors from publishing houses. I’ve known writers who only attend in-person pitches at conferences and have never cold emailed an agent or editor. Many of them have secured agent representation this way.
These resources are workarounds that are worth the consideration because the organization has done some of the leg work for you. It’s a cut to the chase sort of process that might possibly reduce the amount of time and research you should do when selecting a literary agent. But it comes with the price of the annual membership dues or the conference fee. And you still have to do the advance research in order to choose the right potential agent to meet with.
I’ve had a singular bad experience with this process when an agent listed in the member’s only resource accepted me as a client then turned around and said I had to pay for his wife to edit my manuscript before he would offer it to publishers. That was a price I wasn’t willing to pay. The writer organization heard from me and the agent was eventually removed from the list. I had the emails to prove the demand.
Oh, and watch out for schmagents (amateur, marginal, and incompetent) as noted in this article from Writer Beware blog on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association!
https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/for-authors/writer-beware/agents/
Be well, write well!
~Joy
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My ideas are not ever meant as a substitute for consulting with a qualified health professional.
JOY E. HELD is an author, educator, editor, book coach, entrepreneur, and literary citizen responsible for this site and its contents. She is the author of
Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020)
Writer Wellness Workbook: A Guided Workbook and Journal to Accompany Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2023)
The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, 2024) Young Adult Historical Fantasy
She writes spicy historical fiction under a pen name.
She is the winner of multiple writing and book awards:
West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest, Honorable Mention, Novel, 1998.
New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention, Writer Wellness, 2020.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Writer Wellness, 2021.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, Member of the Year, 2020.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, First Book Award, 2020.
She is an adjunct faculty member in the Southern New Hampshire University Online MFA Creative Writing.
She is a proud graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction.
She is a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Joy is the founder and CEO of My WRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers and readers.
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