1999 Guide to Literary Agents: 500 Agents Who Sell What You Write (Guide to Literary Agents)

Editorial Review:

It is increasingly difficult, these days, to get an editor to look at an "unagented" manuscript. The right agent can provide entrée to the right editors, and Writer's Digest's annual Guide to Literary Agents will help you determine just who those right agents are. Though some of the top literary agencies go missing here, this annual tome is still the most comprehensive of its kind. The 550 agencies listed are divided by type and cross-referenced by specialty, location, and "openness to submissions." While this guide's primary value is in its listings, the articles are worth noting, as well. Aside from the usual pieces on queries, rights, and agents from hell, this year's edition features a discussion with two agents about the effect of the conglomeration of the publishing business on writers.

For the best insight into an agency, check out the "Tips" section at the end of its listing. While one recommends you "sell yourself like a product" (Bart Andrews & Associates), another "will ignore the adjectives you may choose to describe your own work" (Jabberwocky Literary Agency). The Linda Roghaar Literary Agency advises unappetizingly that "the process of finding the right agent is like eating an elephant--you do it one bite at a time." And agent Malaga Baldi once again provides the best description of the many roles an agent may play in a writer's life. "To one author I may serve as a nudge," she says, "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." --Jane Steinberg

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Indispensable for authors with a finished manuscript in hand:

I got the 1999 copy of this incredible guide from a friend who is currently writing her own non-fiction book. It is an incredible resource for both the aspiring and the accomplished writer. Of course, the listings of agents will change from year to year, but what is most useful about this guide is its articles on agents and the publishing industry. The authors have also done a very good job of including a list of helpful resources and organizations for writers of all stripes.

However, this book is most... more info

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indispensable - and entertaining:

An indispensable book for anyone unfortunate enough to be looking for an agent. No other guide to agents is as well laid-out, as comprehensive, or as up to date. There's also entertainment value in comparing the arrogant posturing of so many agents, who act like they'll only accept the Great American Novel (and even then only if the manuscript is double-spaced!), with the kind of discount-table fodder they've succeeded in foisting onto publishers. But as long as publishers are too lazy to do their own... more info

the standard directory of literary agents:

This is the 1999 version of the standard guide to literary agents. It has the same strengths and same weaknesses as the 1998 and earlier editions of this same work. Aside from the usual additions and subtractions in the listing pages, the only major difference from last year's book is the new introductory articles. Most of these articles are reprints from previous issues of Writers Digest magazine, but they're generally well worth reading. (Of course, this book is kinda like Playboy Magazine in that no one... more info

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