• Hartline Literary Agency represents fiction and non-fiction books to leading mainline and inspirational publishers. Over the years, we have built productive working relationships with editors that help us advise you and guide your work toward the most appropriate markets.
• We currently represent many award-winning authors, and we seek to add both established and promising authors to our list of clients. If we recognize potential in your work we will do our best to achieve the exposure and attention it deserves.
• Our core strength is representing inspirational fiction and non-fiction books for adults. We do not market childrens books, short fiction, screenplays, scripts, poetry, or magazine articles. We are prepared to represent most genres in commercial fiction except science fiction and fantasy. We are probably not the right agency to market your literary fiction, nor are we likely to appreciate manuscripts that contain extraordinary violence, unnecessary profanity, or gratuitous sexuality.
• Hartline Literary Agency follows high ethical standards:
  • We don’t charge fees for reading or evaluating your work (including outlines, proposals, and manuscripts)
  • We try to respond to queries as quickly as possible (although our workload sometimes stretches the evaluation process longer than we—or you—would like)
  • We don’t make referrals to related providers of coaching or editing services
  • We have a straightforward, traditional fee structure. Our fee is 15 percent of royalties and advances earned by the work we represent. We pass on to you other charges incurred in submitting your work to publishers (such as copying, retyping (if necessary), postage, and delivery services)
  • We are diligent in protecting funds we receive in your behalf (our policy is to pay earnings received from a publisher as soon as our bank has cleared the publisher’s check).
• Hartline Literary Agency strives to be accessible, rather than distant or unapproachable. Our clients often tell us that we are friendly and service-oriented, that they enjoy being represented by Hartline agents. We’re proud of our reputation, and also of the rapport we’ve built with major publishers.

We represent:

Our core strength is representing inspirational fiction and non-fiction books for adults.We are prepared to represent most genres in commercial fiction except science fiction and fantasy.

We do not represent:

We do not market childrens books, short fiction, screenplays, scripts, poetry, or magazine articles.

We are probably not the right agency to market your literary fiction, nor are we likely to appreciate manuscripts that contain extraordinary violence, unnecessary profanity, or gratuitous sexuality.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions

• PLEASE honor our submission guidelines. Concerning unsolicited manuscripts, if you have not heard back from Hartline Literary Agency within 12 weeks of submitting, please assume that we do not intend to pursue your query further.
• Joyce Hart works primarily with published authors unless you have met at a Writer’s conference. Also,she will look at referrals by a client or an editor. Joyce Hart will accept both e-mail and USPS proposals.
• Tamela Hancock Murray,Terry Burns, and Diana Flegal are looking at selected first-time authors, published authors and referrals. Tamela and Terry accept only e-mail submissions. Diana will accept e-mail, UPS or USPS proposals but now prefers email proposals per below requirements. No zip files.
• All e-mail submissions sent to Hartline Agents should be sent as MS Word or .rtf files attached to an e-mail with a query letter in the email itself. Do not send the entire proposal in the body of the e-mail.

Guidelines for Your Fiction Proposal

• Your fiction proposal should include the following items:
  • Cover Letter
  • Proposal cover page
  • One-page “sell sheet”
  • Biographical sketch
  • Story synopsis
  • Market analysis
  • Competitive analysis
  • Marketing strategies (if any)
  • History of the manuscript (if any)
  • The First Three Chapters

1. Proposal Cover Page
   • Include the title, author’s name, your physical address, your email address, the genre of your novel (e.g. cozy romantic mystery, Civil War historical, women’s fiction), and the length (word count). Also put Represented by: Agent’s name, Hartline Literary Agency. Agent’s address, phone and e-mail.
2. One-page sell sheet
   • A one page overview that summarizes your novel.
3. Biographical sketch
   • List your writing experience, your education, your achievements, and your prior publishing history.
4. Story Synopsis
   • Prepare a one to three page synopsis of your story.
5. Market analysis
   • Identify your novel’s audience (the specific categories of readers your book is aimed at) and describe your ability to sell books at speaking engagements, seminars, conferences, and other events.
6. Competitive analysis
   • Identify novels published within the past five years that are similar to your proposed work. Tell us why your book should be published, and explain how your book is superior and/or provides a new slant on your topic.
7. Marketing strategies
   • Increasingly, fiction authors are encouraged to promote their novels themselves through writers’ conferences, book signings, and web sites. We suggest you establish a web site, and you’ll need to create promotional giveaways, arrange your own book signings, or attend writers’ conferences. Think out of the box.
8. History of the manuscript
   • Please tell us if the manuscript has been submitted to editors and/or publishers by yourself or another agent.
9. The first three chapters
   • For fiction send the first three chapters. Non-fiction can be your choice of the first three or what you feel best showcases your book.

Guidelines for Your Non-Fiction Proposal

• Your non-fiction proposal should be a single MS Word document attached to a query email if you are submitting via e-mail.
• A one page query is sufficient. Here is our suggested format:
  • A single paragraph that introduces the proposed book
  • An “overview” of the intended work—including the expected word count and a brief description of the target audience
  • A few sentences about the writer that highlights his or her credentials and explains why he/she will be a credible author of the book
  • A concluding paragraph that summarizes the strengths of the book.
• Your non-fiction proposal should include the following items:
  • Cover Letter
  • Proposal cover page
  • Proposal table of contents
  • One-page “sell sheet”
  • Biographical sketch
  • Description of the book
  • Chapter outline
  • Market analysis
  • Competitive analysis
  • Marketing strategies (if any)
  • History of the manuscript (if any)
  • Three chapters- can be your choice -what you feel best showcases your book.

1. Proposal Cover Page
   • Include the title, author’s name, your physical address, your email address, the genre of your novel (e.g. self help, spiritual growth etc., and the length (word count). Also, Represented by: agent’s name, Hartline Literary Agency, agent’s address, phone and e-mail address.
2. Proposal table of contents
   • Include a contents page for your proposal that provides page numbers for the items, below.
3. One-page sell sheet
   • A one page overview that summarizes your proposed book in an exciting manner.
4. Biographical sketch
   • List your writing experience, your education, your achievements and your prior publishing history.
5. Description of the book
   • Describe your book in detail, including its purpose, the intended audience, the argument(s) you’ll make, and what the reader will take away when he or she reads the book.
6. Chapter outline
   • A chapter outline is a detailed table-of-contents for your work that briefly summarizes the content of each chapter. A four or five line paragraph describing each chapter is sufficient.
7. Market analysis
   • Identify your book’s audience and describe your ability, if any, to sell books at speaking engagements, seminars, conferences, and other events.
8. Competitive analysis
   • List competitive books and briefly describe their contents. Summarize the differences between your book and its predecessors, highlighting why your book will fill a gap or meet an unmet need.
9. Marketing plan
   

   A marketing plan is a vital element of every non-fiction book proposal. It is up to the author (working with the agent) to prove that a sizeable target audience for the book exists, to sharply define this target market, and to evaluate competitive books (if any) in the marketplace.

10. History of the manuscript
    • Please tell us if you or another agent has submitted the manuscript—or earlier versions—to editors and/or publishers.
11. Three sample chapters
    
    • Provide three chapters that are likely to impress us and editors. The chapters need not be sequential.

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. Do not send your book proposal to more than one Hartline agent.

To E-mail Your Book Proposal…

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.

To Send a Follow-Up Submission By Conventional Mail…

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.

Please Be Patient

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

Our Addresses

Mrs. Joyce Hart
Literary Agent
joyce@hartlineliterary.com
123 Queenston Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
412.829.2483
Mr. Terry Burns
Literary Agent
terry@hartlineliterary.com
1414 Sunrise Dr #51
Amarillo, TX 79104
806.584.6464
Mrs. Tamela Hancock Murray
Literary Agent
tamela@hartlineliterary.com
10383 Godwin Drive
Manassas, VA 20110

Mrs. Diana Flegal
Literary Agent
diana@hartlineliterary.com
123 Queenston Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
412.829.2483