Agents Needed

[Matthew]

Does anyone know of a good literary agent for poets and fiction writers. I just finished my third manuscript. I self published my first two books "Last American Roar" and "Organic Hotels" only to discover that I'm no sales person and and my sales numbers suck. So now I'm looking to go with a real publishing house but most require agents. I discovered that the web is a mine field of scams; which includes Publish America, major scam

[Pleasures Chest]

Have you tried submitting your work directly through a publishing house that sells your type of books?

Here is a link I've found useful. It lists agents alphabetically. It also contains notes as to whether they recommend the agent or not.

By the way, which self-publishing company did you use for your first two books?

[Matthew]

I used lulu.com. They are great in the sense that you have total control over your work and they do offer some promotional services. But those services are expensive and you need to spend what amounts to a full time job getting your work known. lulu is better for already established writers which.

[Matthew]

you forgot the link.

[Sean]

Basically, web-searching is going to be your friend. Just look for literary agents. You'll get sites like authoradvance.com or the like. Try to find a book that's similar to the one you've written and see if you can find the agent that sold it. Then, query them. Good luck. I've been looking for an agent for my new novel for a heckuva long time now. I think my query list is over 200 tries now. It ain't easy. They're all looking for the next Twilight or Harry Potter.

[Clive]

I checked "Last American Roar" and it's poetry. Trying to market poetry is about as easy as a fly swimming through a barrel of treacle.

[Nina]

Try Poet's Market. And even with a traditional publisher, you will be doing most, if not all, the marketing and promoting.

[Matthew]

My book the News Factory is now released, now all I need is a publicist. I'm terrible at marketing.