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Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents 2017: Who They Are, What They Want, How to Win Them Over
Still the Best Guide for Getting Published
If you want to get published, read this book!
Comprehensive index lists dozens of subjects and categories to help you find the perfect publisher or agent.
Jeff Herman’s Guide unmasks nonsense, clears confusion, and unlocks secret doorways to success for new and veteran writers! This highly respected resource is used by publishing insiders everywhere and has been read by millions all over the world.
Jeff Herman’s Guide is the writer’s best friend. It reveals the names, interests, and contact information of thousands of agents and editors. It presents invaluable information about more than 350 publishers and imprints (including Canadian and university presses), lists independent book editors who can help you make your work more publisher-friendly, and helps you spot scams. Jeff Herman’s Guide unseals the truth about how to outsmart the gatekeepers, break through the barriers, and decipher the hidden codes to getting your book published.
Countless writers have achieved their highest aspirations by following Herman’s outside-the-box strategies. If you want to reach the top of your game and transform rejections into contracts, you need this book!
If you want to get published, read this book!
Comprehensive index lists dozens of subjects and categories to help you find the perfect publisher or agent.
Jeff Herman’s Guide unmasks nonsense, clears confusion, and unlocks secret doorways to success for new and veteran writers! This highly respected resource is used by publishing insiders everywhere and has been read by millions all over the world.
Jeff Herman’s Guide is the writer’s best friend. It reveals the names, interests, and contact information of thousands of agents and editors. It presents invaluable information about more than 350 publishers and imprints (including Canadian and university presses), lists independent book editors who can help you make your work more publisher-friendly, and helps you spot scams. Jeff Herman’s Guide unseals the truth about how to outsmart the gatekeepers, break through the barriers, and decipher the hidden codes to getting your book published.
Countless writers have achieved their highest aspirations by following Herman’s outside-the-box strategies. If you want to reach the top of your game and transform rejections into contracts, you need this book!
- GenresWritingNonfiction
672 pages, Paperback
Published October 4, 2016
3 people are currently reading
372 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 21, 2017
If you want a lighthearted yet no-nonsense guide to traditional publishing, look no further than Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents 2017: Who They Are, What They Want, How to Win Them Over.
No, really.
I love writers and publishers guides. They’re on my Christmas list every year. But this is the first one I’ve read cover to cover and come back for more. And that’s saying something.
Laid out like any other writers guide, there are essays and articles on writing advice, publishing information, and an introduction to planet literary agent before getting to the good stuff. The listings. Who’s buying, who’s selling, who’s looking for what and when. It’s all good stuff, and I can’t get enough.
Jeff Herman has a wonderful sense of humour, which helps make typical writing and publishing advice come alive and keeps the reader engaged. The listings follow an interesting format, with the agency or agent answering a series of questions. It gives you a good sense of who they are and what they do and each get equal space in the book.
Agent Questions
Describe the kinds of works you want to represent
Describe what you definitely don’t want to represent
How do you want writers to pitch to you?
Describe your education and professional history
How did you become an agent?
Knowing what you do now, would you do it again? If not, what might you do instead?
Do you charge fees? If yes, please explain
When and where were you born, and where have you lived?
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
List some of the titles you have recently placed with publishers
Describe your personality
What do you like reading/watching/listening to on your own time?
Do you think the business has changed a lot over the past few years? If yes, please explain
What do the “Big 5” mean to you?
How do you feel about independent/small presses?
What are your feelings about self-publishing?
Do you think Amazon is good or bad—or both—for the book business?
What do you like and dislike about your job?
What are ways prospective clients can impress you, and what are ways they can turn you off?
How would you describe the “writer from hell”?
Describe a book you would like to write
Do you believe in a higher and/or lower “power”?
Thorough, right?
There’s also a section dedicated to Canadian publishers, which I heart.
No, really.
I love writers and publishers guides. They’re on my Christmas list every year. But this is the first one I’ve read cover to cover and come back for more. And that’s saying something.
Laid out like any other writers guide, there are essays and articles on writing advice, publishing information, and an introduction to planet literary agent before getting to the good stuff. The listings. Who’s buying, who’s selling, who’s looking for what and when. It’s all good stuff, and I can’t get enough.
Jeff Herman has a wonderful sense of humour, which helps make typical writing and publishing advice come alive and keeps the reader engaged. The listings follow an interesting format, with the agency or agent answering a series of questions. It gives you a good sense of who they are and what they do and each get equal space in the book.
Agent Questions
Describe the kinds of works you want to represent
Describe what you definitely don’t want to represent
How do you want writers to pitch to you?
Describe your education and professional history
How did you become an agent?
Knowing what you do now, would you do it again? If not, what might you do instead?
Do you charge fees? If yes, please explain
When and where were you born, and where have you lived?
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
List some of the titles you have recently placed with publishers
Describe your personality
What do you like reading/watching/listening to on your own time?
Do you think the business has changed a lot over the past few years? If yes, please explain
What do the “Big 5” mean to you?
How do you feel about independent/small presses?
What are your feelings about self-publishing?
Do you think Amazon is good or bad—or both—for the book business?
What do you like and dislike about your job?
What are ways prospective clients can impress you, and what are ways they can turn you off?
How would you describe the “writer from hell”?
Describe a book you would like to write
Do you believe in a higher and/or lower “power”?
Thorough, right?
There’s also a section dedicated to Canadian publishers, which I heart.
Read
October 24, 2021An invaluable resource, despite being a few years old. (There is a slightly newer one, 2019, but this is the one they had at the library.) I've been collecting information about how to get published for a while now, but this filled in a lot of gaps about the process and the industry (Big 5 vs independents..). Particularly useful were the agent profiles. Fewer than in Writer's Market, but way more detailed. I went through them smartphone in hand, searching up any promising agents to find out their current status and interests. And I found someone who sounds perfect for my work - whom I don't think I would have noticed without what she said in her profile - plus a bunch of other good fits :D My only criticism would be that the guide is a little weak on resources for science fiction and fantasy, listing only one independent SFF publisher for instance, when even I can name at least one more just off the top of my head, and googling reveals a whole list of them. Not too surprised though, since SFF is still viewed as fringe and weird by people who focus on mainstream stuff. And in fact, as I skimmed the agent profiles, I actually thought myself lucky for being able to skip all the ones who don't take fantasy because it greatly cut down the number of agents I had to consider :p
June 11, 2023
In his first 100 pages, the author provides helpful information that if he hadn't peppered the section with hit-and-miss humor, could have been condensed considerably. Between his and his wife's opinions (who has her own chapters), they don't sugarcoat the industry or the process of getting published.
The next 300+ pages are divided into List sections: Literary Agents; Publishing Conglomerates; Independent Presses; Freelance Editors, which were the most helpful additions to the book.
Although this appeared to be a current edition (the 29th-January 2023), the author seemed to include much outdated information from previous editions. I imagine it would be hard to keep a guide of this kind up-to-date.
If he mentioned, for example, that most Agents now use an industry-wide form for submissions, I didn't read it. Or that the larger Publishers on the whole don't accept unagented, unsolicited submissions. And it would have been helpful if he'd divided the Publishers and the Presses by those who DO accept unsolicited, unagented submissions, and those who don't, and then further divided them into those looking for fiction vs. those interested in non-fiction. It would save the reader time.
The next 300+ pages are divided into List sections: Literary Agents; Publishing Conglomerates; Independent Presses; Freelance Editors, which were the most helpful additions to the book.
Although this appeared to be a current edition (the 29th-January 2023), the author seemed to include much outdated information from previous editions. I imagine it would be hard to keep a guide of this kind up-to-date.
If he mentioned, for example, that most Agents now use an industry-wide form for submissions, I didn't read it. Or that the larger Publishers on the whole don't accept unagented, unsolicited submissions. And it would have been helpful if he'd divided the Publishers and the Presses by those who DO accept unsolicited, unagented submissions, and those who don't, and then further divided them into those looking for fiction vs. those interested in non-fiction. It would save the reader time.
July 5, 2018
Excellent reference. All kinds of information that unpublished authors can use.
November 23, 2018
Informative but gave very little incite.
Read
April 17, 2019Fabulous resource!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews