Those are the odds of an unpublished author convincing a literary agent to represent your novel, according to Mark Malatesta at Literary-Agents.com. “The best book agents can get as many as 1,500 ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about books, publishing, authors and readers Literary agent Eric Smith of P.S. Literary represents young adult novels, ...

From a query letter to sample chapters—a book proposal determines if your brilliant idea makes it to print. Here is some practical advice to make sure your pitch sings.

For unpublished authors eager to see their words for sale on bookstore shelves, finding a literary agent is often the first step in their publication process. But how do you know which literary agent ...

There are countless ineffective ways to pitch a manuscript, ranging from the slightly boneheaded (addressing a female literary agent as “Mr.” in a query letter) to the more extravagantly awkward ...