A Conversation: How to Find an Agent for MG Graphic Novel

Kamille

@gina ****thank you so much for sharing all of this it's very inspiring! I do want to pick your brain a bit more if that's ok!

How did you find your agent? Were you looking for certain qualities and how long did it take? What was the process like?

Did they guide you on how to build a pitch deck for publishers? Would you be open to sharing more of that pitch process and what you've learned so far? Are you speaking to more than one publisher while shopping around?

I'm so sorry not sorry I'm really seriously interested!!!!

Gina

Of course!! Feel free to ask me anything. I’ll do my best to answer whatever I can. (-:

I looked around twitter to find my agent, actually. I noticed certain names that often showed up in other artists’ bios & kinda researched them based on that. Basically I cyberstalked them a bit lol. I mostly wanted to get a feel for their personality & what kind of books/artists they tended to represent. When I decided on one, I looked through her website at her submissions page where you can inquire to be represented by her, & I sent her an email with whatever she asked for. The submission process varies from agent to agent, but mine wanted a basic bio of ourselves & what we are interested in working with (illustration, GN, writing) & then also examples of our work.

I was prepared to ask other agents as well if this one didn’t work out, but it turns out she liked my work a lot & wanted to see examples of sequential art for comic illustrating. Btw, full disclosure (which I also gave her): I had no prior experience or examples of drawing comics so I had to basically draw one for the firs time, but she was super cool with it & gave me much more time than I originally asked for. (This was such a green flag for me bc she made me feel very comfortable without ever rushing me or pressuring me to finish by a certain deadline bc she wanted the best of what I could offer.)

Kamille

(This is amazing)

Gina

She asked for a couple pages of sequential art, but I drew 4 because I’m an overachiever, lol. I brainstormed some ideas but ultimately settled on a plot I had saved up for a while now. I studied other graphic novels with a similar style to what I was going for & banged it out in maybe 2 weeks? When I showed her, she loved it so much she wanted to call me to talk about it. So we chatted on the phone about my comic sample, when she asked me if I was interested in potentially publishing it as a full graphic novel. From there, she told me she wanted to represent me, & we started the process. She explained to me the contractual logistics of everything while being very transparent about it all, which I super appreciated. After signing the contract, it basically took a couple months to finalize things on her end before we started talking more about setting up a pitch for my graphic novel. (Oh yeah, btw, literary agents usually get a 15% commission of your earnings. My agent was very upfront about this, & she also wanted me to know that the commission only applies to work that she finds me. If I get work myself, I keep everything.)

Actually rather than guide, she basically made the pitch deck for me, LOL! She sent me examples of pitches from her other artists & told me what she needed from me — story outline, character illustrations, sample pages, etc. & she basically put it all together for me. I think she started repping me in maybe July of last year? I didn’t start working on the pitch til maybe October, & then I had to work at it slowly because of my full time job & other things. But there was no pressure or rush to get it done. I drew some character art for the pitch & since my style changed since the original sample pages, I redid them & even added 2 more pages.

Let me know if I covered everything you asked! If not, feel free to hit me with them 🤗

Kamille

You are amazing and this answered everything and more!! very quick side question that occurred to me just now - Do you have contractual limitations on work that you can make/sell/pitch without her?

Gina

I think as per her contract, I can technically do all that, find my own work, publish my own stuff without her if I was able to do it on my own. The only thing the contract limits is having her exclusively as my agent, but that is also something that can be voided/made exception if we both sign a waiver. She mentioned some of her artists in other countries might have multiple agents bc of local laws & whatever else, so she’s totally cool with it if everyone signs off on it. Basically, the contract is a framework of the legal necessities but can be adjusted on an individual basis if need be Also for my agent specifically, the contract and therefore her representation can be terminated at any time without penalty. She wanted to make sure I knew I wasn’t essentially trapped with her once I signed her on, lol

Kamille

Wow!!! I really appreciate all of this Gina 🙌🏼🥰✨

Karlen

Amazing! Congrats Gina!! And thanks for sharing all that info! It's really helpful for me too!

Michelle

Omgosh yes all of this is amazing info thanks so much for sharing!! And to Kamille for asking such good questions🙌🏼

Gina

Glad I could help, guys!! Lemme know if you have any other questions