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Marly Rusoff &
Associates is an intentionally small agency. While we
offer the same support and resources of many bigger agencies, we try to be
available to our writers during all stages of the writing and publishing
process, and that takes time. Here are some submission guidelines.
Please begin with a query letter, sent either by post or e-mail. If you
e-mail the query, please use only the query account posted on the contact
page. Your query letter should be concise, perhaps one or two pages. Include
a brief summary or synopsis of your project and any pertinent author
information, including relevant writing history. Do remember to include an
e-mail address if you send your query by mail and do include a word or page
count.Please keep in mind:
 | No PDF files (Adobe Acrobat) but Microsoft Word compatible |
| Please do not send us CDs. A good query letter will suffice. |
| Please do not direct us to websites... Again a one page letter will do it and if we
feel there's a match we will call you right away. |
Please send queries to query email account only; those sent to
office, rights, or individual agent e-mail accounts will be discarded. The
query account is set to send you an immediate confirmation when your message
is received. If you do not receive a confirmation, it is likely we will
never see your query.
If it appears that we might make a good match, we will ask you for more
material. We use Microsoft Word; please send your pages as a file attachment
compatible with this format. For clarity, double space the text and use a
font of 12 points.
We do not return manuscripts unless original art or other special materials
were sent at our request. Therefore, please, no need for return postage!
We receive many submissions daily and cannot respond personally to each and
every one. Please forgive us if we do not get back to you; our silence is
not meant as a slight or a judgment on your work. In the event that your
project seems like a good match for our agency, we will contact you as soon
as possible. 
We do not charge reading fees for requested pages, even though more
than one person will often read a work before a decision is made. Once
we receive your material, we try to read it as soon as possible, but
please be patient.
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Non Fiction Proposals
If your proposal is for a nonfiction work, please include detailed
information on your platform, i.e. what special
qualifications you bring to your subject, as well as any
special access you might have to potential readers through
media or speaking engagements. This is often the first thing
a publisher will ask when considering a non-fiction project. |
Before You Submit
If you wish to submit your novel, please do not contact
us until it has been completed and read by other trusted
readers. Have you revised and reworked it? Is it as good as
you can possibly make it? An
agent is not an editor and, while we will give you feedback,
we cannot take on material that needs
substantial revision. Editors see so many novels today that
they can afford to pass on a manuscript that requires
work, knowing that the next day’s mail will
likely bring another, possibly in near perfect shape. Many
writers today work with freelance editors to polish their
material before it goes out.
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