[Havlen]

I should note that I don't claim to be an expert on agents (and, being from the U.S., I can't saw what U.K. agents might want/expect).

However, I've never seen that advice given, and I have seen just the opposite (leave it to one book in the pitch). That doesn't mean the advice isn't out there -- I haven't read the entire internet... yet!

At the very most, I would only put a blurb in the biographical section like "I am currently working on my next novel" and leave it at that.

Personally, I wouldn't even put that much. The one thing I do know is that it is the writing that will sell. That includes the writing of the query letter, synopsis, and the book itself. I wouldn't waste the space on mentioning another project because in the end if an agent loves what you've written they are going to ask to see more, and if they don't love it then nothing in the query letter is going to convince them to want to see more.

It is kind of like the objective in a resume. A lot of people advise to put one in, but you should almost never have one on your resume. It won't get you the job, so it can only hurt you.

Again, these are just my opinions. I'll be interested to see what John has to say on the subject.