One of the most common questions aspiring writers have is: how do I get an agent?
There’s no one answer, of course. But here’s how Matthew and I got an agent for The Government Manual for New Superheroes.

After we finished the book, we revised it mercilessly. Then we gave it to fellow writers whose judgement we trusted, and listened to their advice, and then revised some more. We were keenly aware that we’d only get one shot with each agent we showed it to, and we wanted it to be as funny as humanly possible before we started sending it out.
Then Matthew sat down with Writer’s Market and started looking for agents who represent humor books. (Matthew ended up doing the bulk of the agent-hunting legwork. In theory, this was because he is in the US and I am in London, which makes it harder for me to contact US agents. In practice, it probably had more to do with the fact that Matthew is much more organized and persistent about these kinds of practical things than I am.)
Matthew and I wrote a query letter that we felt struck the proper balance between conveying the humor of the book and establishing that we were serious writers with a professional attitude. Here’s what it looked like:

Dear (AGENT NAME):
No doubt you have considered donning a costume, leaping through the night air of a major metropolis, and capturing evildoers. Indeed, probably the only thing holding you back has been your uncertainty regarding what insignia would look best on your sleek Agent-mobile and how best to keep your nemeses from infiltrating the Literary Agency of Justice to which you retire at dawn.
Fortunately–for you and for tens of thousands of other costumed crimefighting wannabes–my writing partner Matthew Brozik and I have written a book that gives all the information one needs to get started. It is called “The Government Manual for New Superheroes,” and we would like to send you a copy.
Although we are relative newcomers to comedy-book-writing in particular, Matthew and I both have experience with writing, comedy, and writing comedy. I have two Writers’ Guild of America award nominations and one win; I am a former staff writer for HBO’s Dennis Miller Live and a contributor to The Onion, and I’ve recently been commissioned to write a sitcom pilot for BBC Radio. Matthew co-founded Princeton University’s improvisational comedy troupe and has published several short and small stories in literary journals and magazines. (By night, of course, I am a supervillain and Matthew is my meddling do-gooder arch-enemy, neither of us suspecting that his most hated foe is actually his writing partner in a mask.)
We have completed the text of our manual, which runs to approximately 15,000 words. If you think you might be willing to consider representing us and “The Government Manual for New Superheroes,” I would be delighted to send you a copy of the complete manuscript or of our proposal… unless, of course, my meddling do-gooder arch-enemy manages to stop me first.
Sincerely,
Jacob Sager Weinstein
Needless to say, this was the version I sent out; when Matthew was sending it out, he swapped around the names. We sent this query out to… Jeez, I dunno. Matthew? How many agents did we query? A dozen? Two dozen? A few of these were to agents to whom we had personal referrals, but most were sent out cold. (It goes without saying that we proofread this letter very carefully before sending it out, and if we made any changes to it to tailor it to a particular agent, we proofread those changes with equal care. We were very aware that this was our only chance to make a good first impression.)
And as it happened, one of these cold queries ended up turning into a referral…
To Be Continued