Customer Reviews

2005 Guide to Literary Agents (Guide to Literary Agents)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Finding an agent is one of the most challenging pursuits you'll encounter as a writer. The 2005 Guide to Literary Agents helps you with your search in countless ways.

This year's newly revamped guide contains more than 400 literary and script agents who don't charge fees. Each agent's policies have been weighed against the guidelines held by the Association of Authors' Representatives. Every one of the agents listed have been evaluated to make sure you don't run into any problems with agents who make their money off of writers instead of making money off of selling your work.

You'll also find listings for other professionals such as publicists and production companies. For those looking to enhance their talent, you'll want to check out the contest and writers' conference listings.

Complete help on finding and landing an agent is also available inside with articles like Author-Agent Etiquette, How to Find the Right Agent and The Art of the Synopsis, to name just a few. Complete sections on contacting agents and before you sign, including an invaluable scam alert, are vital to making your agent choice successful.

Whether you're searching for your first agent or looking for a change, the 2005 Guide to Literary Agents is an essential for your personal library. The new design makes finding your type of agents and narrowing your list even easier so you can make a wise choice and get back to the business of writing.

In today's publishing world, acquiring an agent is perhaps the most difficult task a writer faces - even more difficult than getting an manuscript published. The 2005 Guide to Literary Agents provides essential guidance to those who have a finished and polished book manuscript or script, and who wish to find representation. While this book won't make the process easy, its helpful listings and articles will direct writers toward the best agents for their work.

Unlike many of the Writer Digest Books guides, this one contains valuable information in its articles: "FAQs About Agents"; "Author-Agent Etiquette"; "Agents Share Their Secrets"; "How to Find the Right Agent"; "How Do I Contact Agents"; "The Art of the Synopsis"; and more. Of course, the listings themselves, of over 600 literary agents, constitute the bulk of the book. Each entry contains contact info, what kind of material the agents represents, terms, and, often, recent sales. Near the end, the editors provide a section on writers' conferences, where many authors meet their eventual agents. (Note that many agents do not wish to be listed in this book because of the volume of submissions it generates.)

If you want to get your book published by a major publisher, you must have an agent. Publishers now rely on agents to screen manuscripts for them, to weed out the unprofessional and the boring, so that when you acquire an agent, you've conquered a large part of the battle. Beyond that, however, you'll need an agent who has extensive connections within publishing, who knows exactly which editors like your kind of material, and how to present your work in the best possible light. Finding that agent among the listings here won't be easy, but at least Writers Digest Books will give you a gentle push in the right direction.

Highly recommended for those who already have a polished book manuscript or script. For those who aren't yet ready to find representation, save your money for next year's guide.

All of Writer's Digest resource books are excellent. If you think about it, where else would this vital industry contact information be available? I'm getting irritated with "Quack's" comments on every Writer's Digest review page. He obviously never sent a query or manuscript to an agent (as he probably can't write one to begin with) because I've had a lot of luck sending queries, proposals, and manuscripts to agents and publishers who "say" they aren't accepting new authors, etc. I have one book deal in the works because I sent my proposal to a publisher who clearly stated, "No new authors." So Quack needs to get a life, learn how to write, and stop being such a kill joy. He'll never be a successful writer...or a successful anything. He's just too pessimistic. If you're serious about writing, you need all of the contacts and resources you can get. This book will get you started on the right path.

I am purchasing this because a friend of mind had last years edition in her library. If you do anything Duck Quack tells you to do, you will be thrown out of any publishing house in America. All of it is rude, crass and will not get you any closer to acheiving your goal. Read this book and many others, take it's advice, and stay within the realm of professional, responsible behavior--then the rest of us will not have to read complaints from editors and publishers about pushy, difficult writers who think they deserve special treatment and don't follow protocol.

The 2005 Guide to Literary Agents is a great list of literary agents. At the time I was using it, the information was up-to-date and contained all the relevant information that an aspiring author would need before attempting to contact one of the agents. If you're buying this book thinking it's automatically going to get you a literary agent simply because you're using it, then you're buying it for the wrong reason. This book merely shows you how to contact the agents. It doesn't make any other guarantees, but then again, it's not supposed to.

I haven't actually tried to submit anything using this book but I am going to begin sending out query letters using information from this book. Because I haven't actually used the information in the book I can't say what kind of results it will garner but that would probably depend more on my material and letters than the information in this book. There are a lot of advice articles and I can saw that my letters and approach is going to be much better than it would have been had I not bought this book. I think the book is worth the price that I paid for it for the articles alone much less the contact information for which the book is really intended.

In fairness this is a guide to literary agents. No doubt. The catch is the premise that from this book one can pitch his or her's manuscript. Well the pitch can be made but it will not be read. You will get your response with a dear john "your project" card. (They cannot even find the time to write down the title of your book.) Why is this? Why do the agents allow their names' and adresses' in these books. It's vanity, all vanity. Now they have a new gimmick. It's advice. "I'm too busy, have too many clients anyhow, have you tried Writer's Market??? That's the kiss off. Er, please never send me anything again. A few will actually mention that the three chapters that they requested in their advertising blurb and you sent them were disposed of unread. So what to do? Call them up. Call'em. Find out if they want to read your stuff or not. Better yet get on a program of meeting agents and editors. This is all about money, not creativity. Maybe you can bribe a credible editor (not an agent) to read your work. (I know everybody tells you not to do this.) Sometimes you have to succomb to extream measures. You're a creator, be creative. But save your copying dough and your envelopes and the postage and the time and give these agents a call. If they don't have time to take your call they certainly dont have time to read your stuff. Be tough.