You certainly can, if you have the time to do this and know who to contact and how. You could spend a weekend or several evenings putting your own list together; and you could spend several more hours to send out the queries individually (or spend several hundred dollars for the software to send out multiple queries). But we've already done that, and we spend a few hours each week keeping the lists updated, based on the latest deals for major publishers and agents. And then we also help people write an effective query letter, and we review all the letters before they go out and make suggestions.

We have had hundreds and hundreds of clients in the past few years, and if you go to the testimonials section, you'll see comments from people who have used this service, which includes people in major writing organizations and a few agents. Many clients have used the service multiple times, including an agent who sent out 7 queries. And you'll see reports of deals with top agents and major publishers. So we know this works.

You get a report of the names of all the editors and agents who receive your e-mail. And if you request it, we can exclude the names of selected companies or individuals.

It depends how you measure success. Virtually all of our clients have gotten responses, showing that contacts do read these queries -- some as many as 40 to 60, even 100+ responses. (One client with a particularly strong manuscript got over 200 responses from agents and editors, and even got calls from the presidents and VPs from major publishing houses). About 80-90% of our clients have gotten requests to send their manuscript or script. And many have signed with agents, syndicates, publishers, and producers. Go to our testimonials section to see some of their comments. We can open the door for you and help you write a strong query letter that will be read. But then your success depends on the strength of your manuscript or script.

We can help you send out a strong, compelling query letter resulting in a great response from agents or publishers. But then the results will depend on your own manuscript or script and the current market for that topic. Even signing with a top agent won't guarantee an immediate sale. So we can certainly guarantee helping you make the best pitch to the right people; then the follow-up and results are up to you.

No, this isn't the case. First, we limit the number of clients to 1-2 a day, no more than 4 to 5 a week, and normally clients have a range of interests (from non-fiction and fiction adult books to children's books, scripts, and articles and columns). So the average agent, editor, or producer gets no more than 1 or 2 queries a week from our clients. Second, all queries go out under your own name with the subject clearly identified. Third, we send out targeted mailings, based on the interests of the editors or agents. Additionally, when agents or editors indicate that they don't want any more queries (such as an agent who doesn't want any more clients or an editor who only wants queries from agents), we drop them from the database for mailings -- though so far, the vast majority of agents and editors are receptive to e-mail queries. And, when agents or editors leave or change their e-mails, we update our database.

Even if you're a successful published writer in your own field, you can benefit from a review or need some help writing your letter, because this is a different type of letter. You are writing a marketing pitch, and we have found that a certain approach gets a greater response. Also, many times when you are close to your subject, you may not include enough explanation or detail, so the reader fully understands what you are writing about (this is particularly true for fiction writers). Or you may put in too much detail and background information in the beginning (particularly true for nonfiction writers), rather than quickly featuring the main points of your book. Thus, we provide you with guidelines on how to write a good query letter, and our review can help you fine-tune your letter. Or we can write a powerful letter for you, since we have learned what works.

If you are sending an e-mail query, only send that. Keep it simple, text only, and no pictures or attachments, since many people won't open these. We recommend using your e-query letter simply to attract interest, and then let the contact tell you what he or she wants. More information on how a query letter should look can be found on our Resources page.

We provide tested guidelines on what works, plus we do an initial review of your query letter when you send it in. Then, we do some tightening and polishing as part of our regular service, and we'll help you come up with a strong subject line, too. Should your query letter need some major revisions to be effective, we'll let you know, and then you can either rewrite it yourself or use our query writer service.

If you have a compelling book and can quickly and professionally describe it, you may still attract interest from an editor at a major publisher - and you can always refer your book to an agent for follow-up after you attract some initial interest. We have found from numerous mailings for clients that many editors at the major houses have been receptive, although it is true some editors will only work directly with agents. We have been screening out such editors who have told us this, when we have sent out e-mails to introduce our service or for clients. Already most of our clients have gotten requests to send proposals and manuscripts from editors at major publishing companies and from large New York and California based agents, among others. Generally, clients report about 10-15 requests to see manuscripts, though one client got 40 responses from editors and agents and another got 60 requests from agents alone. So we know our e-mail approach works.

The answer is, "It depends." It depends on the type of book you are writing, the current market, and many other factors. In some cases, you can do both - look for an agent and pitch your book at the same time. For details on what to do, see our article on this subject: "Should You Get an Agent or Pitch Your Book Yourself?"

We don't include these numbers, since most agents and editors don't want to receive phone calls unless they give you the phone number, and you can always contact them by e-mail to make sure they receive your material.

Many writers have asked us about this, since these are essentially short marketing pitch letters (about 300-400 words) and they require a different type of writing. But we can write it for you. You send us a draft of what you want to say or 2-3 pages of about you, your project, and the market. Then, we send you back a finished letter ready for you to review, and once you make any final changes and give your final okay, we send out the e-query for you or send you files with your letter and envelopes or labels ready to print out for a postal query. See our cost page for this additional service.

Good agents might well be receptive to such e-mails, because they see them as a way to get promising new writers, and they can quickly decide if they want more information. A good short query letter is the key to getting your project considered by an agent - as well as by an editor. And most of our clients have already gotten these responses from top agents, so we know this service can help you get a good agent.

First, the e-mails come from the writers, with their e-mail addresses and not from us. Secondly, we provide a preliminary screening, and if someone has a project that sounds terrible, we would turn them down. Also, during this review, we can advise a writer if they have a poor query letter, so they can fix it or bring in a professional writer - or we'll refund their fee. If we do get clearly unsalable projects, we're prepared to screen out such clients and refund their money, because we know the continued success of this service depends on us sending out e-mails that agents and editors want to read. Also, as we grow, if necessary, we will limit the number of clients we accept, so we don't send any editor or agent more than 1 or 2 e-mails a day for our clients.

Yes, we absolutely agree that editors, agents, and publishers have their areas of specialization. That's why this isn't a scattershot approach. Rather, we have categorized agents, editors, and publishers by their major areas of interest, so we target those that match your type of project when we do our mailing. We use keyword searches, for example, to indicate what types of books an editor is looking for, and we regularly track the deals they sign to contribute to this keywords list.

We constantly keep our lists up to date in several ways. First, whenever we add new editors or agents, we do a test to check their e-mails and occasionally send queries to introduce or re-introduce ourselves. We drop any listings if we get return e-mails or the editors or agents advise us they don't want to receive e-mails. Second, each time we do a mailing, we use any returned e-mails to clean our list. Third, we regularly check the industry publications -- LMP (Literary Marketplace), Publishers Lunch, the Agents Research and Evaluation Service, and various writers newsletters and services -- to get new listings and make changes (such as when an editor is promoted).

If you can get a great referral from a personal contact, great. But often someone else's agent may be busy or may not be right for you. Also, our service will give you a greater range of interested agents to choose from than relying on your personal network.

We have decided not to include small and independent publishers unless they have attained a wide enough distribution to be recognized in the mainstream of the industry (such as by being cited in Publishers Lunch). The reason we don't include them is because this service is targeted to the professional writer or to the writer with a high quality manuscript with good commercial potential. Many professional and nonfiction writers don't want to submit materials to these small and independent publishers, since they usually pay low or no advances and often have limited distribution. Also, given the economics of the marketplace, many small and independent publishers have turned to co-publishing, subsidy, or print-on-demand publishing in which the writer is expected to contribute a share of the costs. But whatever the process, distribution and returns are limited. Since most writers are not interested in such arrangements, we don't want to include such publishers.