Is there a way of finding a legitimate literary agent without having to randomly pull names out of publishing directories?
Yes. Read publishing industry magazines and trade journals, as well as writing organizations’ newsletters that regularly disclose the identities of authors and their agents. Also, check the acknowledgement pages in published books similar to yours for references to agents. And finally, if you are willing to pay the fee, use the services of Agent Research and Evaluation (AR&E), an agent data base maintained by Bill Martin in New York City. Bill can match you and your manuscript with agents who have had success with books like yours. This approach can save a lot of time.
