Moo Pig Wisdom is a brilliant combination of Antiquity and Prequel Modern Flea Market. We respectfully ask you to mind your children while here.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

How to find a Literary Agent: Avoid Mass Mailings, Warning Tip #7

Food for Thought...

If you're intent on getting your work into the hands of readers, a professional literary agent is likely to have the expertise and connections to make publishing your work a reality.


How to Find a Literary Agent
By eHow Careers & Work Editor
Things You’ll Need:
Briefcases
Address Books
Copiers
Postage Stamps
Envelopes
Portfolios
Laptop Computer

Step1
Narrow down your search for an agent by finding one or more who specializes in your subject matter. For lists of agents and their specialties, consult "Guide to Literary Agents, 2000," "Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents, 2000-2001" or the Association of Authors' Representatives Web site (aar-online.org).

Step2
Research any similar books that the agency has published.

Step3
Check out the number of clients the agent represents, the percentage of new writers represented, recent sales and how the agency deals with such critical issues as contracts, advances and marketing.

Step4
Write a one-page query letter to the agent including your publishing history, education and relevant biographical information. (For example, if your book is a medical thriller and you are a doctor, mention your expertise.) Also include information that may catch the agent's attention: how you got his or her name and any associates or friends in common.

Step5
Make sure your query is succinct, professional and error-free.

Step6
Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

Step7
Wait six weeks to call and ask about the status of your query. An accomplished agent receives up to 1,000 queries each month, so be patient.

Step8
Be prepared to follow up with an outline and the first three chapters of your book if an agent is interested.


  1. Tips and Warnings
    While a few publishers accept submissions directly from the author, most of the large publishers will only consider manuscripts from an agent.

  2. Even if you have dozens of book ideas, pitch just one at a time.

  3. It is not necessary to include any additional material or manuscripts. If an agent is interested, he or she will request sample chapters and an outline.

  4. Join a professional organization or association that focuses on your topic of choice. These groups often publish lists of the best agents who specialize in particular genres.

  5. Check the Acknowledgments pages of some books that are similar to yours to find out which agents represented them.

  6. Some agents charge a "reading fee" simply for reading the manuscript or writing samples you submit. However, agents who charge reading fees are barred from membership in the Association of Authors' Representatives and are usually less reputable - and less effective - than those who do not.


  7. Avoid mass mailings to vast numbers of agents. It's unprofessional and a waste of time and money.

2 comments:

Pribek said...

Don't you know, you could make more money as a butcher?
So, don't waste your time on me

MooPig said...

Yes, I play around a lot, but hey, for a man of pause, it's after all unhealthy.

Blog Archive

SUNDAY :: bishop FM 105.9 Auckland



[Go To SOURCE]

Gary Grainger LIVE BluesShow from Auckland, 6 to 8PM LondonTime .... you listen too.

DISCLAIMER

: It is PROHIBITED by law to use our service or the information it provides to make decisions about consumer credit, employment, insurance, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. MooPig Wisdom does not provide consumer reports and is not a consumer reporting agency. The information available on our website may not be 100% accurate, complete, or up to date, so do not use this information as a substitute for your own due diligence, especially if you have concerns about a person’s criminal history. MooPig Wisdom does not make any representation or warranty about the accuracy of the information available through our website or about the character or integrity of the person about whom you inquire. So dip your balls in turpentine and get rid of your own fleas before calling me out.

Ask Someone Who Cares -- SUCH AS SUCH MULCH

To report any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist,
homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, please click
--ask_someone_who cares -- ASWC to report with pertinent details.

Anyone posting such material will be immediately mesquitte blackened over a very hot pit fire down at C and J's BBQ on Harvey-Elmo-Weedon Road, and permanently removed from all servers, its IP
owner will be locked in a small room with back issues of
The ECONOMIST, and one scratchy re-mix 8-track tape of Steely Dan's first album...
IP addresses might be recorded to aid us in enforcing these conditions, that is if we cared.

A Fantastically Flawed Script for a Jazz Rock Opera -- "GAZA"

A Fantastically Flawed Script for a Jazz Rock Opera -- "GAZA"
GAZA by Pat Darnell for the Age of Attritionally Challenged

Email MooPigster Customers' Alert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CywR3ouHKP4
If you receive this post via email, you notice it is mostly 'blank'.
We at MooPig Surmise, that at this point, one either says:
"WOW, I'm off the hook, and don't have to pay any attention to that pesky MooPig STUFF!!"
-- OR --
"Hey, where is it ...?"
The answer is: "IT IS A youTUBE presentation"... and you will now click on the http above to go see this modern miracle of technology.

MooPig Wisdom is Your Life-Line to Parody:
24\7 -- We accept all Calls from Contestants

MPW Unique Value Proposition, UVP
Shards of Evidence ... Opinion and Editorial ... We Blunderbuss indigestible Ersatz of Readers' and Writers' ... Explain Strategies of quasi-firms... and some not so quasi ... 110% Proof
One Only
Advertisement Only One
Publisher of Satire ... Enemy to Bombast ... Very Swank ... More Fun to Write than to Read

MooPig Wisdom is online to provide spring board for writers.
MooPig is the Writers' Writer that encourages voice, content, and style. PD

Bill Gaines said it

Bill Gaines said it
"My staff and contributors create the magazine," declared Gaines. "What I create is the atmosphere."