1998 Guide to Literary Agents: 500 Agents Who Sell What You Write (Serial) [Paperback]

Don Prues (Editor), Chantelle Bentley (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Serial | Publication Date: January 1998

Writers who seek the career counseling and marketing strategies an agent can provide will delight in this comprehensive book that lists more than 500 literary agents and script agents in the United States and Canada. Includes the 22 questions to ask before signing a contract.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

We've all heard the horror stories about agents who charge exorbitant reading fees, make referrals to expensive book doctors, suspiciously send contracts before even speaking with you, or sign you up and never call (or return calls) again. "Bad literary agents," warns Don Prues, editor of 1998 Guide to Literary Agents, "can ruin writing careers." But let's face it: almost all the books that major publishers buy come from agents or book packagers. And most agents are honest, hard-working folk whose prosperity depends on their ability to bring success to their clients. 1998 Guide to Literary Agents is essential for the writer in search of an agent, not just for its listings of more than 500 agencies (including script agents), but also for the education it provides on how to find, snare, interview, and work with an agent. The listings themselves include information about agents' prior professional experience, what each agency is looking for, recent sales (how many books, who wrote them, and who bought them), writers' conferences the agents attend, and tips for writers. One agent, Malaga Baldi, offers a particularly apt description of the ideal agent's role: "To one author I may serve as a nudge, to another a confidante, and to many simply as a supportive friend. I am also a critic, researcher, legal expert, messenger, diplomat, listener, counselor and source of publishing information and gossip."

Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898798205
• ISBN-13: 978-0898798203
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,046,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the definitive guide to literary agents, November 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: 1998 Guide to Literary Agents: 500 Agents Who Sell What You Write (Serial) (Paperback)

This is probably the best available book for people (like me) who are in search of a literary agent. It consists of short, just the facts ma'am, listings with all the basic data, e.g., name, address, name of the contact person(s), listing of recent sales, whether or not you'll get hit up for a fee, etc. This book's big weakness is, not surprisingly, that its compilers take the agents' side rather than the writers' side, which means that the info tends to be very bland. Another big weakness is that many prominent agencies (e.g., The Wylie Agency, the Endeavor Agency, and a number of others) are not listed at all, because they asked to be left out, in order to minimize the number of incoming submissions.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book-very informative, full of info, yet concise., October 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: 1998 Guide to Literary Agents: 500 Agents Who Sell What You Write (Serial) (Paperback)

I was very excited about finding and using this book. I queried several agents listed. Agents that seemed to be looking for my work, judging by the description. I followed the excellent suggestions on submitting queries.No problem with the book. The sequel to this book should be why agents don't respond to queries. I included SASE's every time, wrote legible, direct, well-written queries. For eleven agents I queried, only three responded. The title for the sequel should be "How To Contact Rude Arrogant Agents Without Having To Be An Already Existing Bestselling Author." Thanks.