302 Moved. 302 Moved. So, how do you find an agent to promote your work? Right here is a good place to start. Browse (by location or by topic) or search through our directory of agents to find the right agent for you. Remember, it is important to approach agents that deal with the type of book you intend to publish. Finding a Literary Agent can be the making of a writing career. What Does A Literary Agent Do? There is more to being a writer than stringing words together. Unless you can persuade someone to publish the words you slave over, your writing will remain unknown and unread and writing will drain rather than fill your bank account. That's where a Literary Agent comes in.
An agent will give your work a much better chance of escaping the slush piles that threaten to overwhelm the office space of all successful publishers. Can I Trust An Agent Listed in This Directory? The WritersNet Directory of Literary Agents may include agents who charge a reading fee for reviewing a manuscript. Articles & Posts. 302 Moved. IntroductionDishonest AgentsAmateur, Marginal, and Incompetent AgentsTelling Questionable From ReputableAgents Who Are Also PublishersAdditional CautionsOne Last, Very Important ThingLinks Introduction There’s conflicting wisdom on the subject of whether or not a writer needs a literary agent for first-time publication by a traditional publisher. Many professional writers (and some how-to-get-published books) will tell you that you should make your first sale yourself, and only then, contract in hand, go looking for an agent to close the deal.
“Established agents are reluctant to represent first-timers,” they’ll tell you, or “The kind of agent you can get before you’ve published anything isn’t the kind of agent you’d want.” It’s no coincidence that the people who say this are often older writers who got their start before the mid-1980′s, when the merger mania that has so drastically transformed the publishing industry really took off. But things have changed. A lot. Dishonest Agents. 302 Moved. 302 Moved. If you've never truly considered writing a book, take another look at the rubbish filling bookshelves at airport kiosks. The "authors" of that stuff are laughing all the way to the bank. While English majors and real literary types are screaming at each other in the stuffy halls of academia or the pages of The New Yorker, these clowns are quietly rehashing tired plots and making millions for it.
You're a smart person, so we see no reason you shouldn't take a crack at making bank as well. (Heck, even if you're a ding-bat, we think you should give it a try. Al Gore's books sold millions.) Here's how you too can tap into the wallets of all those gullible readers out there. 1. The first rule of getting a book published is to avoid writing a book. Agents -- what do they do, exactly? An agent is a separate individual who performs much of this filtering process. Agents, in turn, don't particularly like reading 300-page manuscripts either. But you say, "Wait. 302 Moved.