How to Research Literary Agents Using QueryTracker, MSWL, and Publishers Marketplace

Start with agents who represent your book's age category and genre. Read their stated interests, investigate relevant publishing experience, then verify submission instructions on the current agency website and official submission form. Record what you find so you can explain why each agent belongs on your list.

For adult and YA fiction, these tools answer different parts of the research question:

You can build a researched list without paying for a database. Use paid tools when they answer a question you have, rather than treating a subscription as part of the admission price.

1. Write a research brief for your book

Before collecting names, note the age category, primary genre, current word count, intended readers, and a few defining qualities. Choose qualities that describe the reading experience, not every object or location in the plot.

Instructional example: an invented story premise, created for this guide.

Imagine a YA contemporary novel about a seventeen-year-old wheelchair tennis player who challenges the selection process for a national training squad, risking her partnership with the teammate whose place she contests. Its research brief is: YA contemporary; competitive sport; ambition; disability; a friendship under pressure.

Begin with YA contemporary. Then investigate the other qualities. Searching only for “tennis” would overlook agents interested in the book's central relationships and audience. Calling it a sports romance to fit a promising profile would create the wrong expectation if romance is not its central story.

2. Use QueryTracker to gather candidates

Use QueryTracker's genre search to find agents handling the relevant type of fiction. Read the profiles and follow the agency links. Add plausible candidates to your research list, including promising agents who are temporarily closed; keep their status clear.

If a search combines several genres, check whether it requires all selected genres or accepts any of them. An overly restrictive combination can hide suitable candidates.

For this manuscript, the first pass is agents representing YA contemporary. The next task is reading each candidate's interests and exclusions, not querying every returned name.

QueryTracker and QueryManager have different jobs. Writers use QueryTracker to research and track. QueryManager is a submission system used by participating agents and publishers; authors can submit through an agent's form without a QueryManager account. Use the route linked by the agency. QueryTracker's explanation

Reported response activity helps you understand patterns. It cannot tell you why one query was passed over or what an agent thinks of yours.

3. Use MSWL to investigate the fit

On Manuscript Wish List, search by age category, genre, and relevant keywords, then read the full profiles. Select agents when you are researching representation; the directory also includes editors.

For the example novel, look beyond a sport-specific request. An interest in intense friendships, ambitious protagonists, or contemporary teen experiences may warrant a closer look. Check the dates and any explicit exclusions before deciding.

A shared keyword is a lead. Ask whether the agent's description aligns with the actual book: its tone, audience, and central story. An interest in sports nonfiction would not establish a fit for this YA novel.

Save the source URL and the specific connection in your own words. You do not need an exact wish-list match to have a reasonable candidate. MSWL itself recommends checking each agency's latest guidelines after identifying possibilities. MSWL's getting-started guidance

4. Use Publishers Marketplace for deal context, if helpful

Publishers Marketplace's Writer's Guide explains category searches in Deals and Dealmakers and representation research. If you subscribe, record relevant agents, categories, publishers or imprints, and report dates. Lists reflect reported activity, not a quality ranking. PM does not record every deal.

For this manuscript, investigate adjacent YA readership rather than demanding a tennis match. Read what you find alongside public client lists and interviews. Leave unanswered questions open; do not turn missing records into conclusions.

Without a subscription, use public client lists, book acknowledgments, publisher announcements, and agent interviews. Record the evidence and what still needs checking.

5. Verify the current instructions

Before moving a candidate to “ready to query,” check:

• The agent still works at the named agency.
• They are open to this category of submission.
• The official page links to the email address or submission form you plan to use.
• You have the exact materials and formatting requested and have read the current submission policies.
• You understand the agency's rules about approaching colleagues.
• You have recorded its response and follow-up policy, if one is provided.

Agency rules differ. Check whether you may approach another agent at the same agency, whether you must wait for a response first, and which submission route to use.

If an old profile and the current agency page conflict, use the agency's current instructions. If current official instructions remain contradictory, use its designated question channel if one is provided; do not send duplicate submissions through several routes.

6. Make a decision you can explain

Give each candidate a status: research further, ready to query, currently closed, or exclude. Add one sentence explaining why.

For this manuscript, a useful research conclusion would answer: Does the agent represent YA contemporary? Which stated interest or relevant experience makes this worth pursuing? Are submissions open? What still needs checking?

Those are research questions for a real candidate, not claims that any particular agent has these interests. Do not fill gaps with a flattering guess.

When you query, record the date and the exact version of the materials. If you later change the pitch, you will know who received which version. QueryTracker supports query tracking; a spreadsheet can serve the same practical purpose.

Check the materials as well as the list

A researched list helps you choose whom to approach. Your query still needs to communicate the book clearly and make its appeal specific.

If you need feedback and do not have an available reader, Query Assessment provides AI-powered assessment notes on your query, with an optional pitch and first 5,000 words. It does not select agents, rewrite your letter, or predict an individual agent's response.