How to find a literary agent for a nonfiction book

Do you need an agent at all?

It depends on where you want the book to go. If the goal is a large New York house, yes. Jane Friedman, a long-time publishing analyst, says probably 80 percent of books published by New York houses are sold by literary agents (Friedman, updated October 8, 2026). Writer Beware, the author advocacy group sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, says that for general nonfiction aimed at a Big Five house or a larger independent, the answer is yes, because many large imprints are closed to unagented work (Writer Beware, updated December 14, 2025).

If the book is for a niche market or an academic audience, you may not need one. Friedman notes that agents take on clients based on the size of the advance they think they can get, so a project that will not command a decent advance may have to be sold by you. Many small and university presses read authors directly; see how to get published without an agent.

What agents look for in nonfiction

Two things decide most nonfiction queries: the proposal and the platform behind it.

• A market for the book. Friedman says a New York publisher usually will not sign a nonfiction book unless it expects to sell at least 10,000 to 20,000 copies, and that nonfiction for a general bookstore needs a strong hook and an author platform.
• Platform as much as prose. For nonfiction, Friedman writes, the marketability of the idea and the author's platform often matter as much as the writing, if not more.
• A finished proposal. Agents expect a proposal, not a manuscript, for most nonfiction. The agency Dystel, Goderich & Bourret says nonfiction is usually sold before the book is written and asks for a proposal with at least one sample chapter (DG&B FAQ). Its proposal formula asks you to describe your audience "both demographically and statistically" and says "the more numbers you have here the better" (DG&B).

Friedman's advice is to finish and polish the proposal before you contact anyone, and not to expect an agent to carry an unfinished project to the line. If yours is not done, start with how to write a nonfiction book proposal.

Where to find agents

Use several of these; each answers a different question.

A few notes from the sources themselves. Friedman calls Publishers Marketplace "the best place to research literary agents" and suggests a month-long subscription to study announced deals. QueryTracker says it is not a query blasting service and does not send queries for you, and that when its listing and an agent's website disagree, you should usually trust the agent's website (QueryTracker FAQ).

Building your query list

1. Start from your comps. The five to ten comparable titles in your proposal are also your best agent leads. Note each book's agent and publisher.
2. Check the agent sells your kind of book now. Publishers Marketplace and the agent's own site show recent sales.
3. Read the submission page. Agencies differ on format, attachments and whether you can query more than one agent there. DG&B, for example, will not review queries sent to more than one of its agents at a time.
4. Send in batches. Friedman suggests batches of three to five queries, or more if you are confident in the query, so you can revise if the first round gets no requests (Friedman).

Never pay a service to blast your query to hundreds of agents. QueryTracker says most agents ignore queries they can tell came from blasting services, and DG&B says it does not consider submissions from query services. For what to put in the letter itself, see how to write a nonfiction query letter.

How to vet an agent

Writer Beware notes there are no licensing requirements for literary agents: anyone can set up an agency. The checking is on you.

• A track record of sales to advance-paying publishers. Writer Beware calls this the single best indication of an agent's competence, and says an agent's website should at minimum list books recently sold. Where an agent has sold is a good predictor of where they will sell.
• Relevant experience if they are new. A new agent can be a good fit for a new writer, Writer Beware says, if they have worked in publishing or trained at a reputable agency. As a rule of thumb, it says, a new agent should begin making regular sales within a year.
• Membership helps but proves little. The Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) requires members to follow its Canon of Ethics. Writer Beware notes that many good agents are not members and that membership is not a guarantee of quality.
• Two questions to ask. After the AALA's 2026 revisions let agents sell more paid services, Friedman recommends asking how many books the agent sold to traditional publishers in the last two years where they had no financial interest other than commission, and which publishers those were (Friedman, October 20, 2026).

Red flags

These come from the AALA canon and Writer Beware's agents page:

• A reading fee. The AALA canon, in effect from September 1, 2026, says members "may not charge any reading fees for evaluating work for possible representation."
• Any upfront fee. Writer Beware lists marketing, submission and administrative fees due on signing as signs of a dishonest agent. Reputable agents bill submission costs after they are incurred or deduct them from your income.
• Paid editing as a condition. Under the canon, an agent may not charge clients for editorial work in preparation for submission, and representation may not depend on buying any paid service. If you query for representation and get steered to a paid edit instead, Writer Beware calls that a bait-and-switch.
• An out-of-the-blue offer. Writer Beware says a real agent is unlikely to contact you first, and that a claim to have already pitched your book to publishers is almost always a scam.
• Referral to a fee-charging publisher. Good agents deal only with publishers that pay writers, according to Writer Beware.
• A lookalike email address. The AALA warns that impersonators use addresses off by one letter or number from a real agent's. Verify any contact through the agency's own website (AALA scam alerts).

Writer Beware says there are now large numbers of fake literary agencies that are fronts for selling editing, marketing and publishing services. For the wider list of warning signs, see vanity press and publishing scam warning signs.

Commission and the agency agreement

The standard is 15%. Friedman says agents get paid only when they sell your work and take 15 percent of everything you are paid for it. DG&B states its commission on a book sale is 15% and calls that industry standard. Writer Beware says domestic commissions should not be more than 15%, with 20% to 30% for co-agented or foreign sales.

What else to expect, per the AALA canon:

• Pass-through costs such as copies of books for rights sales, postage or bank fees only with your approval, with a written accounting.
• Your money held in an account separate from the agency's operating funds, and paid to you within ten business days after clearance and no later than 21 days, unless you agree otherwise in writing.
• Books of account open to you for your own transactions.

Friedman adds that a good agent improves your proposal before submission, discusses rejections frankly, and knows contracts well; an agent who passes you a publisher's boilerplate with no changes is a bad sign. Read the agency agreement for how either side can end it and what happens to deals made while you were a client. Who owns what covers the publishing contract that follows.

If you get an offer, tell the other agents still reading. DG&B says it appreciates at least a week or two to consider, and that a reputable offering agent will not rush your decision.

When an agent is not the answer

For many expert and business books, an agent is not the right first step. Agents decline projects they cannot sell for a meaningful advance, and DG&B says it takes on less than 1% of the queries it receives. That is a judgment about the market for a book, not its worth.

One example from Scribe Media, which makes this site and sells publishing and ghostwriting services: MyLinh Shattan's memoir Raising Athena was rejected by traditional publishers before she published it with Scribe. Her story on scribemedia.com sums up the agent stage as "6 Agents Couldn't Place It" (MyLinh Shattan's story). One author's path is one example, not a forecast. For how the agent route works end to end, read how traditional publishing works.