querying publishers

You tailor it to their guidelines, but I've queried agents and publishers using the same basic template. ALWAYS READ THE SPECIFIC GUIDELINES OF EACH AGENT/PUBLISHER.

Echoing KTC.

Adding another question to the mix, do you approach publishers and agents at the same time? My current plan involves approaching publishers once I've exhausted appropriate agents, but I'm curious what paths others have taken.

Ditto KTC & aka eraser. You might have to change a couple of sentences, but that's about it.

deborahlea said:

Adding another question to the mix, do you approach publishers and agents at the same time? My current plan involves approaching publishers once I've exhausted appropriate agents, but I'm curious what paths others have taken.

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dont approach publishers until you've exhausted the agents. no agent wants to take you on and then be told that you've already approached publishers and was turned down. that leaves them nowhere to send the book.

nevada said:

dont approach publishers until you've exhausted the agents. no agent wants to take you on and then be told that you've already approached publishers and was turned down. that leaves them nowhere to send the book.

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That was my rationale, as well. Thanks for weighing in!

Ditto what Nevada said. EMPHATICALLY.

Timely questions and answers! Last night, reviewing "Writer's Market" I realized I'd only focused on agents. I could query publishers! Great to know the best way to handle it: agents first, then publishers. Thanks all!

Novelists, I would advise you to query agents first. An agent will get you a publisher, but not many publishers will review unagented work. And everyone is right: don't leave an agent out in the cold with nowhere to send your book because you have already queried all the publishers yourself.

A note - if you absolutely positively cannot get an agent to represent your work, try doing a major revision or a different work. It might be your second book that clicks with an agent.