Book Review - The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent

[Billy Burgess]

The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent:
Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published
BY: Laura Cross
WITH FOREWARD By: Andrea Campbell
PUBLISHED BY: Atlantic Publishing
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60138-403-4
Pages: 288
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

 Do you have a manuscript/novel written and you can’t find a publisher? Have you thought about getting a literary agent to represent your work? The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent: Everything You Need to Know to Become Successfully Published is the right book for you.

 With close to 200,000 new books coming out every year, it is hard to get published by a big name publishing houses. Most don’t even allow unsolicited manuscripts from new authors. The best chance that you have in getting into the houses is to hire a literary agent. Getting an agent may sound easy, but it can be a lot harder than you think.

 The book guides you into the process of editing your book and sending your queries to a qualified agency. Make sure you find the right agent that accepts the genre that you are writing in. You will learn how to write an incredible submission that any literary agent will notice. You’ll learn about contracts and how to go about accepting offers.

 This is a great guide book for professional and beginning writers. The book explains all the ups and downs in hiring an agent, but there is so much more in it. There are great articles by other writers and editors, who give great tips. You’ll learn how to use blogs, and social networks to gain a clan of readers. The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent also has an index of the six large publishing houses and their imprints, glossary of terms, and samples of successful Query Letters and Synopses.  After reading this, you’ll be ready to hire an agent. I recommend checking this book out.

[Marian Perera]

I checked Laura Cross on Amazon. She doesn't seem to have published anything under that name except for this book. If a writer needs information on how to find an agent, they might want to first consult successful authors who already have agents.

 

I would also not call the process "hiring" an agent, because the writer should not be paying the agent anything. The agent's fees come out of whatever the publisher pays the writer.

 

Finally, it's nice that the book has "great articles" by other writers and editors. But doesn't it have anything from agents?

[Billy Burgess]

Yes, there are a few articles from other agents.