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Submissions

We only consider queries via e-mail. Please send all queries to submissions@wsherman.com. See below for instructions.

Don’t call us.  We’ll call you if we are interested in pursuing your project.

E-Mail:

Please send all e-mail submissions to submissions@wsherman.com.  We ask that you include your last name, title, and the name of the agent you are submitting to in the subject line.  For fiction, please include a query letter and your first 10 pages copied and pasted in the body of the email.  We will not open attachments unless they have been requested.  For non-fiction, please include your query letter and author bio.

Due to the large number of e-mail submissions that we receive, we can only reply to e-mail queries in the affirmative.  We respectfully ask that you do not send queries to our individual e-mail addresses, and any that we receive will be deleted unread.

Please note that we do NOT represent the following:

  • Poetry
  • Screenplays
  • Cozy mysteries
  • Westerns, science fiction, horror, or fantasy
  • Children’s picture books

Guidelines for your query:

DO:

  • Write a gripping query letter that tells us what your book is about
  • Tell us why your project would be a good fit for our agency
  • Tell us why this book has an audience, and why you’re the one to write it (particularly for non-fiction)
  • Include information about your credentials to write this book, publications and prizes, awards, and conferences
  • Compare your book to other titles that are similar
  • Tell us which well-known writer’s work yours resembles
  • Limit your query to one page
  • Include a double-spaced table of contents and overview (non-fiction)
  • Include the double-spaced first ten pages (fiction)
  • Provide us with your email, phone number, and address
  • Read the books on how to find an agent – there are several. There is much valuable information that will help you throughout this process

DON’T:

  • Refer me to your website for a reading sample
  • Tell me about agents who have turned you down
  • Call to see if we received the material
  • Send me a query for something I turned down before (even if you rewrote it)
  • Tell me about several books I can choose from.  Please pick one!
  • Send to our personal email addresses.  This usually ends up in our spam filter! Please use submissions@wsherman.com
  • Drop it off in person
  • Tell me that your manuscript has been professionally edited
  • Tell me that your book would also be great as a movie—one project at a time!
  • Focus on how unpublished you are
  • Send attachments. Please paste both your sample and query letter into the body of your email. We will not open unsolicited attachments

The bottom line is: do your homework. Be as well prepared as possible. Read the books that will help you present yourself and your work in the best possible light and kindly follow our submission procedures. We have infinite respect for those writers who craft compelling query letters and follow our guidelines. Remember, there is an art to creating a truly sensational query letter!

Thanks for your interest in our agency. We wish you all the best!