Article by Chuck Rothman on (almost) everything you need to know about agents, including how to avoid scams.

Yesterday, PW reported on the launch of AgentInbox, a new service from collaborative writing website WEbook.

“AgentInbox is a service that connects publication-ready authors with reputable, vetted literary agents,” says the service’s FAQ for writers. Writers enter their book’s “vital stats,” including title, genre, query letter, and all or part of the manuscript (there are several tutorials to help with the polishing process). They can then check AgentInbox’s roster of participating agents and choose which ones they’d like their submission to go to. WEbook staff pre-screens submissions, then forwards them on to the agents chosen.

An Opinion by Victoria Strauss There’s conflicting wisdom on the subject of whether or not a writer needs a literary agent for first-time publication.  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 […]

A Brief History of Fees Fees in Their Infinite Variety If you’ve queried literary agents based on listings in various popular market guides, or on information you found online, you may have had the experience of hearing from an agency that describes itself as non-fee-charging, but somehow wants you to give it money anyway. What’s […]

First off, definition: an exclusive means just what it sounds like. You are giving an agent the opportunity to consider your work exclusively and you are agreeing that you will not submit to another agent until you’ve heard “yea” or “nay” from that agent. Sometimes exclusives are open-ended, sometimes there’s a time period attached.

This contract was written under the direction of the SFWA® Contracts Committee. The model or sample contracts have been written as a guide to writers in understanding common publishing contracts and to help them negotiate better contracts. They are not intended to be used as boilerplate contracts by publishers, writers, or agents, nor should such […]

Author John E. Stith describes the process by which an author might acquire an agent.

by Gideon P. Smith Thirty years ago, I was first interviewed about my research. Five minutes after it ended, I had no idea what I had said. When I read the resulting article, my heart sank. The science and implications were wrong, I was misquoted, and I was described as a “ball of random energy.” […]

by Michael Capobianco I first encountered Jerry Pournelle in the early 80s on the pages of the computer professional magazine Byte, where he had a column called “Chaos Manor.” I had just purchased an expensive Texas Instruments 99/4 home computer and was writing some primitive game software for it with friends from college. Jerry’s column […]

by the SFWA Publications Crew Editor’s note: This article is part of the SFWA Presents: Get to Know… series, which includes informational pieces about SFWA programs, committees, and initiatives, and also interviews with the SFWA volunteers who work to support their fellow writers in the industry. The Career Mentorship Program aims to connect writers who […]