New York

New York is the center of gravity for literary agenting in the English-speaking world. The city is home to the large majority of major agencies, and its density of editors, imprints, and publishing houses means New York-based agents typically have the closest, most direct relationships with the people who acquire books.

Nearly every genre and category is represented among the city's agents, from literary fiction and nonfiction to commercial and genre fiction. For most authors targeting major publishers, a New York agent remains the most conventional and often most effective route into that market, though location matters far less than it once did given how much of the submission and negotiation process now happens remotely.