We use them because they work well — for us, and for you.

1. Please create a book proposal that follows the instructions on our Submission Guidelines page.
   
   
2. Your book proposal must be sent via e-mail unless we specifically request otherwise. We do not read unsolicited hard-copy queries or proposals.
   
   
3. Never send us a complete manuscript until we ask to see it.
   
   
4. Be sure to send us all the materials specified in our Submission Guidelines; leaving out items will seriously slow down our efforts to evaluate your proposal.
   
   
5. Don't send your book proposal to more than one Hartline agent.

1. Put these exact words in the Subject line: Initial Submission From Author
   (NOTE: we are likely to ignore and/or delete messages with attachments that don't have this Subject line).
   
   
2. Include your query letter in the body of your e-mail message.
   
   
3. Combine the other items in a single attachment (put them in a single Microsoft Word document).
   
   
4. Be sure that your attached document can be read by the current version of Microsoft Word. This is the word processor we use. If you aren't certain, save the document as a "Rich Text Format" (.rtf) file which can be read by Microsoft Word. Virtually every modern word processing program can output Rich Text Format files.
   
   
5. Please take care not to send us an attachment that contains macro (or other) viruses. Our antivirus software will simply strip away the complete attachment.

If a Hartline agent asks you send a follow-up submission by conventional mail (e.g. a complete manuscript), use the appropriate address, below. These days, most authors tell us to recycle manuscripts after we read them. If you want your manuscript returned, be sure to include sufficient first-class postage for the package. Please do not send us personal checks, money orders, or cash for postage.

Allow 8-12 weeks for us to fully evaluate your submission (we try to work faster!). It won't speed up our evaluation process if you call or write to us. Please recognize that a literary agent spends much of each working day reading — and evaluating — submitted book proposals and manuscripts. As we explained on the Submission Guidelines page, we do not respond to unsolicited proposals unless we are interested in seeing more of the proposed manuscript. If you have not heard back from Hartline Literary Agency within 12 weeks of submitting an unsolicited proposal, please assume that we do not intend to pursue your query further