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Pitching an Agent: The Paul Bresnick Literary Agency

A one-man shop headed by a former editor who's looking for books that in some way convey what it is to be American.

Number of agents: One
Number of clients: About 45
Notable clients: Newly appointed New Yorker pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, New York Times reporter John Leland, Yiddish with Dick and Jane author and humorist Ellis Weiner, and Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Terry McDermott.
Percentage of unsolicited material accepted: About 1 percent.
Fiction vs. nonfiction: 25 percent fiction; 75 percent nonfiction.

Background: In the first and longest phase of his publishing career, Paul Bresnick was a somewhat high-profile book editor. His name is familiar to music junkies—they know him as the series editor of Da Capo's yearly "Best Music Writing"...

The How to Pitch series is worth its weight in gold. In just the first month I'd already benefited enough to consider the cost of joining well worth it. -- Gaen Murphree