What is your "success rate" for sending unsolicited query letters to major publishers? Do these publishers read them and are your clients getting results with this strategy? 

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 kudos section to see some of their comments (from 50+ clients).   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.

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I'm not sure whether to send an e-mail query, postal query, or both?  What do you recommend?

A good way to start is using an e-mail queries to those contacts with e-mails and see what kind of response you get.  Then, you can send a postal query to selected contacts who didn't respond to your e-mail query or who don't have e-mails or accept e-mail submissions.   There is great variation in who is open to e-mails in different fields, and sometimes contacts who say they don't accept e-mail submissions do when you send a compelling query with a project that interests them.   However, we have dropped some contacts who have made it clear they never accept e-mails.

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Should I send a postal query if I have already sent an e-mail query according to the report I have gotten from you?

Definitely, if you haven't gotten a response to your e-query -- though don't send it if you have already gotten a "not interested" reply.   That's why we offer both options, so you can send out pre-addressed letters to contacts who don't respond or who don't have e-mails. 

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What should I include with my query letter? 

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.  If you are sending a postal query, then you can send your query letter by itself or as a cover letter with a few additional pages.  We have guidelines for how to write these letters and for writing a 2-3 page summary about your book that is available to clients.  Then, if you do get an expression of interest, find out what they want and send that. 

I'm a new writer, and I don't know if any of the medium and larger publishers you currently list will be interested in my work. Don't I need an agent to contact them?

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 be 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. 

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Is it better to find an agent or pitch my book directly to a publisher?

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?"

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When you send me a report of the agents or editors and publishers you have contacted for me, why don't you include the phone numbers or fax numbers?

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.

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Even though I'm a writer, I'm still not sure about how to write the best query letter. Though your letter template for clients is helpful in knowing what to write and about how long to make it, I'm still not sure about how to write this to be most effective.

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.  The cost of this service is $90, and generally your letter will be written within 24 hours.

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Why should a successful agent want to get e-mails from unknown writers? Aren't most good agents already swamped with queries from the slush pile?

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.

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Won't good agents and editors ultimately be turned off from getting e-mails from you, if they get a lot of e-mails from writers with unsalable projects or poorly written queries? And if they get such e-mails, won't that make it difficult for me to query these agents or editors?

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. So far this hasn't happened, since our first clients have come through our own contacts, from referrals from people we know, and from organizations of professional writers. But 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.

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How can a scattershot approach to a group of agents or editors work, when the writer knows nothing about these agents or editors. Some agents specialize in literary fiction; some specialize in self-help books. And editors specialize, too. So there's no point sending your proposal to an agent or editor specializing in a different subject.

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.  Also, it doesn't matter if the writer knows nothing about these agents or editors. What's important is that we do know, so we can target your book for you. 

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I'm looking for an experienced agent, who already has a strong network of publishing connections; not a wannabe who has never made a significant sale. A search for such an agent certain takes some effort, and often takes some time to expect a response for such an agent. Why should an experienced agent want a flood of miscellaneous queries? So won't only the wannabe agents with a lack of significant sales respond?

Unfortunately, your question is based on a lot of assumptions that aren't the case. First, our service includes many experienced agents, as well as newer and eager agents working with the larger agencies. We have intentionally screened out the newest not yet established agents or agents outside of the major publishing areas. Also, we have included only newer agents who come recommended by people in the industry. 

Your question also assumes that it has to take a very long time to get a response from an agent. However, we have found that agents who are receptive to e-mail queries generally reply in 1-2 days -- some in a matter of hours. Now that the technology has changed, there is an easier and faster way to get an agent - though the secret is having a good project and a powerful query letter that gets read!

Finally, you may think successful experienced agents won't respond, but that's simply speculation. In our first weeks of testing the service with our first dozen clients, we found a 90% response rate, with clients averaging responses from 10-20 agents and 8-15 publishers -- plus two writers got a phenomenal response -- 40 editors and agents for one; 60 agents for the other.  And these responses have come from agents from the larger agencies and editors from big seven publishers.  Now after over a year in business and a great track record, we know this approach works.  Our successes -- and our satisfied clients -- speak for themselves. 

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How do I know these editors or agents are still in their positions?  What if they leave their company or go out of business?  How do you keep your lists up-to-date?

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).  We also make phone calls to publishers to check on additions.  Then, we send all new listings an e-mail to test them out.

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I'm a member of a writers' group and can get referrals to agents from other members.  Why would I need your service?

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.

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Why can't I simply do my own mailing to editors or agents myself using their e-mails?  Why do I need your query service?

Sure, you can do your own mailings or compile your own lists.  But it will usually take you hours and hours to gather this information, and some of this information, such as the private e-mails, is not generally available -- or only available through expensive subscription services.  Then, once you do get this information, it will take you time to organize it to do your own mailing to each editor or agent   We save you the time and hassle, since we have already obtained this information, put it in a database, and have software that automates the process.  So by using our service, you not only have the benefit of our industry information, but you have more time to devote to your own work.  And the time you save is like money, too.

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Why don't you have a list of small and independent publishers, such as in the Writer's Market?   Will you add such a list?

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.