Snag a How-to Book Agent: Where to Target Your Queries

How-to books are a big market in the book publishing industry. If you are writing one you know that getting the right literary agent, one that has a specialty in the how-to genre division, is crucial to your book's success or failure. How to books are huge because of the economy and the need to be frugal and resourceful. More people are starting to do things for themselves. How to books are an easy stepping stone to get used to the project that lie ahead, or to fix whatever is broken in your life yourself. If you are a writer in this niche, then an agent that specializes in your talents is crucial to your success.

Average writers, no matter what their skill level, will not have much credibility in the big markets. You will need a serious platform for this market. Make sure you have a web presence and a good speaking platform where you can do conferences and seminars on your topic once your book is out. Have an ezine, a newsletter, or a high ranking website under your belt. Give talks in your community. The better you look on paper, the easier it will be to get that business book proposal into the sell pile.

Below are literary agents that all deal with how-to books and are all, at the time of this article's writing, taking submissions and queries. Each literary agent is profiled with contact information and the other genres they represent. Polish off that query, make that hook the best it can be, and good luck in your quest for representation. Competition is brutal and the fight for the slots at the publishing houses can get messy. You need a competent agent going to work for you, one who knows the market trends and which houses are seeking what type of manuscripts. They can more easily find a home for your book than you can, they can also get your foot in the door of the publishing houses that don't even look at unsolicited manuscripts.