New American Author.

[fontlow]

I am new to this forum, but it has me intrigued. As are many here, I am a new author looking for a publisher. I have tried the Agent route, and was constantly being asked for money up front. They sent my work to 6 different publishing houses over the course of a year... I could have done that much myself and gotten faster results.
Anyway, they left me with little to no feedback. My work covers a variety of interests from sci-fi to occult to horror to comedy, all rolled into one package. At first my agent says this was a wonderful thing, then when I pressed for why my book was not moving at all, I was told that publishers were having trouble finding exactly what genre to place it in... I told them to keep it towards fantasy, but I was told to find another agent since I cut them off on funds.
I am now trying to contact publishers myself. Any suggestions of ones that are amenable to new and previously unpublished authors?

[iansales]

Were you not aware of Yog's Law? Legitimate agents do not ask for money upfront.

[Lacedaemonian]

Welcome to the forums mate.

I like that law and from my exerience on these boards he is not the only person to be squeezed for cash by an agent.

[fontlow]

Yep, chalk it up to inexperience and the excitement/desire of wanting to be published. I've learned a valuable lesson... almost a $400 lesson at that. Could have been a whole lot more as I have read horror stories of people spending thousands!
My question still remains though, know any good publishers or agents for me to use? I am very confident in my work, or else I would not have put any of my money into trying to get it out there.

[iansales]

Check out swivet :: (noun) :: a state of extreme agitation

But also check out Preditors & Editors and Writer Beware Blogs!

THere's also John Jarrold here in the UK, who post regularly on the forum. He has his own thread.

[gil]

Let's see some of your work in Critiques.

[Havlen]

AgentQuery is a good place to look for agents:

AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher

I believe they try to keep scam-agents out of the listing. Also, researching agents by checking the bewares forum at Absolute Write is a good idea:

Bewares and Background Check - Absolute Write Water Cooler

This forum goes hand in hand with Preditors and Editors and Writer's Beware linked above by iansales.

[Tirellan]

What Havlen said.

I've found both sites to be very reliable sources of information about agents

It is getting increasingly hard to find worthwhile publishers who will look at unagented work. Even those that do, take an eternity to read submissions and reply.

[fontlow]

Thank everyone so much for the help! I absolutely adore agent query! Wish I had found this forum a year or more ago... but alas, mistakes made make me wiser in the future.