New Member!

Good Morning! My name is Norma Mansfield/McDonough and I have been reffered to this site for council and advise. I have recently finished and have had edited a collection of Essays. My Editor has asked me to step out of my comfort zone and find an Agent. So here I am hoping to find those of you experienced willing to suggest my next step. I am excited to have gotten this far and realize I am still in incubus state. I waited 55 years to share these writings and realize getting published is VERY difficult. Looking forward to hearing from you! Many Thanks! Norma

Welcome, Norma!

You can head to our "Market Listings" section to browse the agent listings, or do a keyword search for "nonfiction" and select the "Literary Agents" category. 

Have any of your book's essays been published before?

Sarah C. Lange, associate editor, The Writer

Welcome to our Forum, Norma. A couple early thoughts for you. First, if you haven't already, I'd suggest trying to get some of your essays published in newspapers or magazines. That would give them more of a hook with potential agents. Also, I'd suggest starting to take a good look at the book Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents 2010. It's about 20 bucks from Amazon or you should be able to find it at the library or through inter-library loan. It's a very good starting point.

-- Ron Kovach, senior editor, The Writer

-- Ron Kovach, senior editor, The Writer

Hello Norma

Agent search can be really frustrating--and when you find one, you still don't get paid yet!    But it works best when well-organized and methodical.

I compiled this post as a sort of "primer"  for people starting off on The Quest

http://linrobinson.com/linrob.php?itemid=86

Good luck

Hi Norma,

First of all, welcome to this site.  I have found it to be very helpful, and the people are really nice here.  I have gotten a lot of useful information from them.  I think you'll like it .  Secondly, I am a 50 year old who has been writing since junior high, but never took my writing seriously until a few  years ago.  Oh well, they say when the time is right . . .

Good Luck to you