Lament About Literary Agents

This post is (another) lament about literary agents. I received some good advice once from a New York agent: focus on forward motion. Therefore, I do not let an agent waste my time. Usually, I prepare a query for agents, which is a very short proposal. How then does one find an agent? One can google them. But here is a problem. Their websites are so idiosyncratic that, once one has them, it may be difficult to find the information one needs. Therefore, I use agents' wish lists, which have a standard format. But here there are some problems, too. Agents scatter their information like confetti on multiple wish lists -- often forgetting what they said on the last one -- changing their addresses or submission requirements -- without notification. In reality, this means: an agent may have solicited your proposal, but it may be wasted work -- no apology from them. And bear in mind that, if one uses more than one wish list, one needs to remember who one contacted before. Some agents make high demands. Say, they want a 30-page proposal. I don't waste time with them. Often, they ask that one use on-line forms. Sometimes, they ask one to register to use those forms! Using forms can be a problem, too. Apart from being cumbersome, they may vanish into the æther -- probably all the more so here in Africa. I just don't use them. If an agent says "QueryManager", for instance, I instantly reject them. OBSERVATION: So it is a matter of paging through agents. Reject this one, accept that one -- more or less in equal measure, assuming one has already weeded out incompatible wishes. There are some decent agents.