This excerpt is from “Success, Your Path to a Successful Book,” by Maralyn D. Hill and Brenda C. Hill.

We have met many agents… some of them well known in New York and L.A. circles. We liked most of them, and some helped us when writing our first book.

Linda Formichelli writes about the poor American publishing companies in a 2007 issue of Writer’s Digest, The old rules don’t apply anymore.

Linda suggests how to be recognized with a query letter to agents or editors: “Include their full contact information, the proper salutation (not Hey or Ho), use spell check and read over the email before sending it to eliminate those snafus that spell check doesn’t catch.”

You can look up everything you want to know about agents in the 2008 Guide to Literary Agents, by Chuck Sambuchino (updated annually). Another good one released in 2008 is Secret Agents by Chuck Sambuchino. In this one, Chuck lists 23 North American new and established agencies that will take new writers. They cover most genres and are hunting for the next breakout book. http://www.writersdigest.com/ has an ongoing blog about agents.

Maralyn D. Hill & Brenda C. Hill
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