Guide to Literary Agents, 2000: 500 Agents Who Sell What You Write (Guide to Literary Agents, 2000)

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Get connected to the agents that can make your writing career happen. 2000 Guide to Literary Agents puts it all at your fingertips, featuring complete and accurate contact information on more than 500 free and fee-charging literary and script agents.

Using easy-to-reference indexes and icons, you'll quickly locate the best agents to represent your work among listings that provide all the critical details you need. Along with who to send what and where, you'll also get key advice on how to send your work, including: tips for locating the right agent, guidance on understanding and negotiating fees and contracts, do's and don'ts for contacting an agent, and much more.

And a special section just for script writers offers the expertise of David Trottier, author of The Screenwriter's Bible and Neill Hicks, author of Scriptwriting 101, in addition to a range of agents who share their perspectives on this ever-changing market.

Success in publishing, as in many other fields, depends primarily on who you know. Whatever you can do to foster connections--attend writers conferences, take workshops, haunt book signings--increases your chances of a referral, or even an introduction. It is those very connections that are most likely to lead a writer to an agent and even a publisher. But there are enough stories each year of writers who have garnered representation without any connections at all to prove that it can be done.

There are those agents who prefer not to be listed in this guide at all; others are listed but insist that they are not seeking new clients. But the majority of the 550 agencies (representing books and scripts) included here are at least somewhat open to taking on new writers. This year's listings, in addition to the basics, include symbols denoting an agency's interest level in new clients; also, a "reading list" section has been added in which individual agents may disclose the periodicals they scout for new talent. With listings such as these, no author should feel as if she is blindly submitting her work. Sure, trying to find an agent can feel like an act of desperation--especially when one realizes that securing representation is just the first step. But no author should have to feel, as did Ann Darby (The Orphan Game), that looking for an agent makes her feel "like a young woman from an earlier century who was determined to get married, and it didn't matter whom the suitor was as long as she got married."

Agents, like writers, are individuals. No two are seeking exactly the same thing in a client. But they seem to be more or less in agreement on one thing: "No bribes necessary," says agent Sebastian Gibson, "just brilliant writing." --Jane Steinberg

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GREAT BOOK:

I just purchased 2000 Guide to Literary Agents, and it was worth every penny. The book is the best one out there for seeking an agent. It has everything I need to research and find the right agent for me. The next question is, will that agent know a great story when they see one? We'll find out.

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