Find A Book Publisher
How To Find a Literary Agent — And Avoid Scams
Author: Dee Power
It can be an extremely difficult task to break into the book publishing world when you begin with no writing credits and no publishing industry contacts but definitely not impossible. New writers break in every day and get paid handsomely for their work.
The major pitfall is that in their eagerness to make progress, new writers often fall prey to individuals seeking to separate the author from his or her money.
The writer’s ally here is the Internet. It’s possible to get fairly detailed information about any agent or publisher’s reputation and then decide whether you want to do business with them.
Anyone can call themselves a literary agent or a publisher. The listings in the literary agency directories are not necessarily vetted, or checked by the publisher. Anyone buying a set of ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is considered a publisher.
How to Find a Literary Agent Without Being Scammed
Literary agents vary widely in ethics, dedication and competence.
You should never leave your career totally in the hands of an agent. It’s up to you to sell your work as well.
Types of things to watch out for with literary agents:
Charging the author a fee up front, to be accepted as a client. This fee can be called a reading fee, or a monthly “office expenses” charge. The best agents, and most successful ones, only charge a percentage fee of royalties the author earns, typically 15%. Suppose a realtor charged you a fee to come over and tour your house before getting the listing? How quickly would you show that realtor the door?
Charging back unusually large “postage and copying fees” to send out an author’s work. One crooked agency accepts almost every client that contacts them, but in the fine print of the contract they charge “postage and handling” of up to per submission they send out on your behalf. It doesn’t cost to send a letter and a sample chapter of a book to a publisher. This company makes a fortune from these fees whether or not they successfully market any of their clients work.
Directing authors toward specific editing services or giving author’s names to these services. Sometimes they even own the editing service. Some agents make a significant portion of their income from referral fees from these services.
Demanding that a critique be completed before the agency decides to offer representation. The fee for the critique may be minimal, perhaps even less than 0. But if the average agency is contacted by 90 writers a week that fee can add up.
Terms in agency contracts with writers vary widely. The contract must be read carefully.
The agent contacts publishers pretty much at random. The agent’s value to you is in the relationships they have with publishers, so that if the publisher hears from them, they know the book is worth taking a look at. Ask to see copies of rejection letters that come back from publishers. If it looks like just a form letter response, rather than a letter you would send to an acquaintance, you can bet the agent may be just picking names out of a directory of publishers.
The agent refuses to provide the names of clients or titles sold. Sales are an agent’s life blood and reputation. If an agent won’t name names it could be because there aren’t any sales.
Puts forth a weak effort or gives up on the client’s project after a few months. You have a right to ask how active the agent is going to be. How many publishers are they going to contact, how will they follow up? You have a right to periodic reports as to whom they have contacted and the results. You must determine how much time and attention they are really going to give you.
Look for these warning signs and you won’t find a literary agent who is a scam.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/writing-articles/how-to-find-a-literary-agent-and-avoid-scams-194520.html
About the Author
Discover How You Can Achieve Your Dream And Get Your Book Published. Sneak peek of Dee Power’s new book, The Publishing Primer. Get your free chapter. Find out how books get in bookstores. How bookstores select titles. How the bestseller lists work. What boosts a book to the top of the bestseller list? And frequently asked questions about publishing
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Angie,
It’s far from easy but it can be done. This seems like a long list but it will help get your foot in the door of a literary agent.
Here’s everything you’ll need to know.
Read on:
Writing a book takes more than just sitting down and putting your idea into words. There are a lot of things that you have to consider.
Keep an eye out for spelling and grammar errors. When typing fast with fresh ideas in our heads, we tend to forget ourselves. Check and recheck your work. Editors are very expensive these days.
You’ll need to know how to write an effective ‘query letter’ to a literary agent. The letter will also include a synopsis that will hold the interest of the agent, and want to make him or her ask for the first three chapters of your work. Never send a manuscript to a publisher or literary agent without querying first.
You’ll need to know how to format your manuscript. This includes the fonts (size and type) that most agents, editors, and publishers want. These are usually Courier New and Times New Roman (12 pt). Short stories and novels are formatted differently. You will need to follow submission guidelines just as they are laid down for your submissions. Anything less will result in your manuscript sent back or destroyed unread.
You will need to know what Point of View (POV) is. Know how to write in First Person Point of View. You’ll need to know the can and can not of each.
Do you know how to write dialogue? How to format dialogue? This is very important and allows the author and his/her characters to communicate with the reader. Remember dialect as well. Dialect is how a person speaks. Your characters may be highly educated or dumber than dishwater. ‘Ain’t got none’ is highly acceptable when used properly by a character who is even less than street smart.
It’s a good idea to know some of the publishing laws. The use of names and places.
These include
o Delivery Of Satisfactory Copy
o Permission for Copyrighted Material
o Grant Of Rights
o Proofreading and Author’s Corrections
o Advances and Royalties
o Author’s Warranties and Indemnities
o Copies to Author
o Option Clause
Learn how to get a ‘word count of your work. Some novels have a prologue and an epilogue. You’ll need to know how to write them and why they’re used.
Know what the word ‘genre’ means. Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction; These are all genres.
One of the most important issues in manuscript submitting is the proper ‘page set up’ for your work. This includes margins, indents, and paragraphs. Most editors will want to see your manuscript double spaced. This allows the editor to use his/her proofreaders marks between the lines. Most margins will be one inch all around with a ragged right margin and an even left.
Are you prepared to do a lot of ‘research’ involving your work? Remember that many professionals such as, doctors, lawyers, nurses, public accountants, judges, architects, bricklayers, engineers, and police officers read, too.
Do you know what a sub-plot is? This is a plot that comes ‘under’ the main plot. The hero may be after the vampire, but the mob may be after the hero as well. This is a sub-plot.
Can you take rejection and constructive criticism? If you’re easily hurt in the feelings department, then writing may not be your forte. Critics will tear you apart or build you up. The best writers in the world “King, Patterson, Koontz, J.K. Rowling, and many others” have been torn up one side and down the other. You can’t please everyone.
If you decide to hire an editor, remember: Your manuscript will be double spaced, which means there will be twice as many pages. A 600 page novel could cost you around $1800.00, some even more depending on what the editor charges per page. Then there’s the hourly rate that some charge. Usually it’s within the range of $65.00. So, if they work on your book for 18 hours, that’s another $1170.00 + $1800.00 = $2970.00
These are the things you must know to work at your craft. Don’t let these things deter you from writing. There are books in libraries and bookstores that can teach you all of these things. Buying these books (if you want to be a serious writer) is the best thing to do. Why? Well, because you can use a yellow marker to highlight all the points of interest. Then you can use the front of the book to make page references to those markings in order to check back on them at a later date, when you need to.
You’ll need to get a copy of Writer’s Market for the current year. This has literary agents whom you can send out query letters to. Some of them allow email queries. They also have a website. Google: Writer’s Market.
I wish you the best of luck!
Hi. What have you heard mostly about self publishing? Self publishing companies now have all the resources to publish photo books with the same productivity and efficacy as that of regular black and white books. And yes – they can also be displayed in bookstores. Some people might cast off self publishing as not effective because they have such high expectations with their book sales.
The thing is, How well a book sells is heavily dependent on what the author’s goals are and how actively they choose to promote their book. Some authors are very visible, talking on the radio, organizing book signings, and reaching and exceeding their sales goals. On the flip side, some authors that have only sold a few copies, mostly to friends and family, because that’s all they wanted to sell. I believe authors will sell more and more copies as they are continued to be introduced to services that will give them the ability to market their books more effectively, but in the long run, sales are a reflection of each author’s goals. If becoming a bestselling author is your goal, you will be working to achieve maximum sales. If you are publishing your family’s history or a personal memoir you may only wish to have your book available to family and friends. How well your book sells is entirely up to you.
General Research Guides for Students:
http://find articles.com/
Easy to use links that will help with all your research needs, try typing a keyword or two into the search engine and see what happens.
http://vos.ucsb.edu/index. asp
http://www.aresearchguide. com/
http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/…… 886…
http://www.studentresearcher.com/………. search/…
http://www.chacha. com/
Please note that you have to write these links into your address bar as one word to get the links to work.
Bear:
Try putting Canadian or USA in front of book publishers.
I have written and self published two books. Browse to Publishers & Agents. Many publishers out there. They will tell you how to send your manuscript and also what kind of stories they handle. I sent out many, many and got three answers to the negative. One took three years to answer. This is why I went the self publish route. Be very carefull, there are bad guys out there trying to get as many of your $$ as they can for nothing. Check (Warnings & Cautions for Writers.) Also, my books are listed on the net in Amazon and others and in three years I have sold not one book this way. The only way to sell books is with Book Signings. If you decied to go self publish, contact me and I will help for no charge.
Wayne Russell, The Vagabond Writer
Hi! I live in Virginia too! Okay, so i found a few sites but all you have to do is google it 🙂
http://www.midatlanticbookpublishers.com/
http://www.brandylanepublishers.com/
If you don’t like these try yellow pages!!
http://yellowpages.theyellowpages.com/yellow-pages/categories/Book+Publishers/Media/VA/A/select-city.html
Hope I helped!!
P.S. please follow my blog where i review books at thebookmark-9.blogspot.com
thanks!!
You start by querying literary agents. This is done with a one page letter describing yourself and your book. Sometimes the agent will request you include the first few pages or chapters, but that is an individual preference.
There are several websites out there that will help you find an agent, my favorite is QueryTracker.net at http://www.querytracker.net/ . It is free and has a list of literary agents and also tools to help you keep track of who you already queried and who you haven’t, plus more.
They do a good job of keeping the crooks off their lists, but it is still a good idea to double check at http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html.
There are a lot of crooks out there. Never pay anyone to read or publish your book. A real agent will never ask for money except as a percentage of your royalties.
Keep in mind that finding an agent and getting published is not an easy process. Some people have to query hundreds of agents before they find one who will accept them (sadly, some never get accepted), but be persistent and keep trying.
You should also visit http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums one of the largest forums for writers. They can be very helpful.
Good luck.
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Try
writer’s Digest site on Timothy Hallinan; also Author Assist com.
I’d search Google or Yahoo for company address and web site. You should find all contact information online.
Go to your city library’s reference department and ask for the latest Writer’s Market. While you’re there, see if they have the Writer’s Handbook too. Those books list practically every U.S. book publisher who’d take on your projects.
For Canadian publishers your best bet is the Writers’ Guide to Canadian Publishers, put out by the Writers Union of Canada. Have a look at their website:
<http://www.writersunion.ca/gp_findapublisher.asp>
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