. . . until recently I was under the impression that you should copyright your work before you send it to an agent or publisher. . . .
It is copyrighted the moment it takes physical form (on paper or as computer file). REGISTRATION of copyright is a different thing.
Spend some time at
www.copyright.gov -- read the Copyright Basics and the FAQs.
Here are some other suggestions.
Basic homework
Go to some big bookstores, with pen and notebook. Look through the kinds of books you want to write. You should of course already be reading such books, as it is unlikely that you can write well what you do not choose to read.
Take notes on publishers. Take notes on mentions of agents in acknowledgments. Those publishers and agents are potential targets for your manuscript.
Contact publishers who publish the kind of book you have written or want to write. Ask for their guidelines for authors. (You might be able to find them on the Web.) Study the guidelines.
See which publishers accept unagented submissions. See the next section for resources, and also look at publishers’ websites. Publishers that do not accept “unsolicited submissions” might read a query letter. If the publisher responds to the query with a request for a book proposal or manuscript, then the manuscript or book proposal is solicited, not unsolicited.
Look up information (see next section) on agents who have represented manuscripts like yours or are seeking the kind of thing you have written.
Keep a running list of potential agents and publishers. You can do that in a file on your PC or on plain old note cards or in a notebook. Leave room for adding comments later.
Hit the books
A handful of essential reference books belong on your shelves, well thumbed, marked up, and flagged with Post-Its.
Trade references
- Writer’s Market (latest edition), published by Writer’s Digest Press. This annual volume lists numerous publishers of books and periodicals and some literary agents, with useful information on what sorts of books they accept and other conditions. It also includes articles on writing and publishing.
- Guide to Literary Agents (latest edition). Another annual from Writer’s Digest Press. It includes chapters on formatting manuscripts, writing queries, and more.
- Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents (latest edition). This is a more selective guide, but also more detailed. It excludes periodicals, as the focus is on books. It also includes valuable articles on such topics as writing queries and book proposals.
- The Writer’s Handbook (latest edition), published by The Writer Books. Another directory of publishers plus advice on writing. Older volumes, which might be available in libraries, can be valuable for their articles on many aspects of writing. (This annual might not be as easy to find as the ubiquitous Writer’s Market.)
- Literary Marketplace. This is the comprehensive guide to publishers and literary agents. You can find it in large libraries.
If you have to pick only one, I recommend
Writer’s Market.
Resources for finding agents and publishers
In addition to the articles in
Writer’s Market and comparable books in the previous section, the following are worth your time and money:
- Bulletproof Book Proposals, by Pam Brodowsky and Eric Neuhaus (Writer’s Digest Books, 2006).
- The Making of a Bestseller, by Brian Hill and Dee Power (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2005).
- How to Get a Literary Agent, by Michael Larsen (Sourcebooks, 2006). Larsen is a long-established agent (Larsen/Pomada Agency).
--Ken
