Those considering self-publishing should get a current copy of Dan Poynter’s longstanding classic The Self Publishing Manual, and also check out his website: parapublishing.com. Every book author should read the current edition of John Kremer’s 1001 Ways To Market Your Books, and check out his site bookmarket.com.

Technically, no screenwriter needs an agent; realistically, slogging it solo (without agent or manager) is many, many times harder than approaching prospective buyers through a good rep.

Websites for new screenwriters? Sounds like a good topic for a Self Editing Blog post. Start with my Lonely Keyboard site for extreme-depth interviews with working pros; Simply Scripts for free downloadable screenplays; and Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood the latest Hollywood tidbits.

Unless you have a personal relationship with someone in the industry–and sometimes even when you do have such relationships–your first step should be to get yourself a good agent or manager. They can do so much more than you can, so much faster, that it is (in most cases) a poor use of your time to duplicate those efforts.

Now, if you just can’t get a good rep on board, you have no choice–but if a work is a) really good and b) really commercial, your rep search shouldn’t take too long. Keep in mind that you may (or may not) wind up with different reps for books and screenplays, as not all reps handle both (or handle both effectively).

In fact, since you’ve brought this up, I think I’ll make finding a good rep the topic of an upcoming Self Editing Blog post.

Thanks