title: Agents, Editors and You: The Insider's Guide to Getting Your Book Published (Writers Market Library)
author: Michelle Howry
description: The Herculean effort required to write a book can seem almost negligible when compared with the energy it takes to line up a hardworking agent, a caring editor, and an acceptable contract. <i>Agents, Editors, and You</i>, edited by Michelle Howry, is a substantial primer for the uninitiated. The book is divided into four sections: Preparing and Submitting Your Manuscript, Selling Your Manuscript, Publishing 101, and Trends in Publishing Today. Howry and the publishing professionals included here emphasize that just as a writer's work is scrutinized, so should the writer examine the work of the agent and the editor, the value of the contract, and the promotion plan. Issues of contemporary concern--e-queries, e-publishing, self-publishing, and even an odd riff on anthrax in the mail--are given their due. The many interviews with and essays by well-regarded agents and editors put a human face on what can often seem from the outside like a corporate monolith. And it is particularly nice to know that, at least according to Jonathan Galassi, editor in chief of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, "there's plenty of room for idealism in publishing today." <i>--Jane Steinberg</i>
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  ## [**Acknowledgments**](9780062839381_Contents.xhtml#r_idParaDest-40)
  
  
  I’ve wanted to write this story since I was a teenager but was too afraid to.
  I began my career as a screenwriter in Hollywood, often being told to stop
  writing about Iranian and queer people. My editor, Alessandra Balzer, pulled
  this story out of me after I pitched numerous ideas I thought were more
  “commercial.” I am deeply grateful to her for encouraging storytelling that is
  personal and daring, and to the whole team at Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins for
  supporting that mission.
  
  
  Writing a book is a solitary and insecure experience, but much less so with an
  agent who gets you. Mitchell Waters is always there for me when I need someone
  to send pages to and discuss them with. There would be no books without him,
  and I am deeply grateful to him and the Curtis Brown team, including Steven
  Salpeter, Anna Abreu, and one of the people who has had the greatest impact on
  my life and career, Holly Frederick.
  
  
  I hope