How I Got My First Literary Agent.

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Daniel Kemp

Part of an Interview I gave to Real Writers’ Guide.

How I Got My First Agent: author Daniel Kemp

Posted: January 8, 2014 | Author:  | Filed under: How I Got My First Agent, Literature, Tips | Tags: , ,, , , , , , ,  |1 Comment »

Everybody wave hello to ‘How I Got My First Agent’ – a new regular feature at Real Writers’ Guide.

It’s exactly what you might think – personal accounts from writers about how they managed to snare their first rep.

To kick things off, meet Daniel Kemp, who secured a literary agent with his first book Look Both Ways, Then Look Behind – at the age of 62!

If you think that’s an achievement then get this: his second novel The Desolate Garden, published in March 2012 was picked up within eight weeks of being on shelves by a London production company to be made into a $30 million movie.

We’ll dig further into Kemp’s career at a later date. For now, let’s hear more about how he got that agent.

“I sent a typed manuscript of that first story to about a hundred or so agents, receiving only a few replies all of which were negative,” he tells me. “One night the telephone rang and it changed my life. On hearing an agent say that he was interested, I really did think I had made it.

“How wrong can you be? That’s when the hard work started, and it’s still going on. The fact that The Desolate Garden has been optioned (I have now been paid twice for that privilege) is no guarantee of acceptance by readers nor outlets. Sheer persistence and self-belief are the only tools that you, as a writer have. They must be used to the fullest extent.”

Notice that Kemp sent his story to ‘a hundred or so’ literary agents to get just one reply. That’s the kind of hit ratio we’re looking at here, so a) send you work to as many inboxes as possible and b) send it to even more when you don’t hear anything back.

“You can operate without an agent,” Kemp adds, “but they know the business far better than the average writer, so again it’s that quality of being persistent and believing in you and the work that is created.

“First find a list, then research what each agent specialises in. Send them whatever material they require, and then cross everything and wait.”

Look out for more editions of ‘How I got my first agent’ from RWG and more wise words from every type of writer I can get my hands on.

The Desolate Garden..Amazon….Com

The Desolate Garden..Amazon….Co

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About Daniel Kemp

At the age of seventy-six, Daniel Kemp has started his second year of studying the science of Psychology at the Open University. He is a member of The Society of Authors and also a bestselling writer. However, in early September 2025, he was diagnosed with cancer. He is now in palliative care at home, being looked after by his ex-wife. When he was writing his novels, he enjoyed writing stories that appealed to those who liked challenging themselves to solve mysteries that were set out before their eyes, but they couldn't. His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself! On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic incident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden. Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for six years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company. All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter Publishing Company which has added an edition titled The Heirs And Descendants Collection, which holds all four books of that series, alongside an edition titled The Lies And Consequences Collection which contains all four volumes of that series. He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed executive of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel. Less
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